The NYC Health Department maintains the Vital Records for the city of New
York. Currently, birth records are supposed to be turned over to the city's
Municipal Archives 100 years after the birth and 50 years after the death of
people in NYC. Once that happens, the records become public records and are
accessible to anyone who wants to see them. The Health Dept. is now
proposing to extend the records hold for 125 years, in the case of birth
records, and 75 years, in the case of death records. During that time,
birth records are available only to parents and the child. Death records
would be available only to the parents, children, and grandchildren of the
deceased, the informant on the certificate, and pursuant to a court order
for probating an estate. The Health Department will hold a public hearing on
Tuesday, October 24 at 10:00 at the New York City Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene, Gotham Center, 42-09 28th Street, 3rd Floor, Room 3-32, Long
Island City, 11101 to hear comments >from the public on this proposal.
Members of the general public will be given an opportunity to speak on this
issue. If you can't make the meeting, you can share your comments with the
department via their web site at
https://rules.cityofnewyork.us/content/proposed-amendment-general-vital-statistics-provisions-article-207-nyc-health-code-regarding
[or http://tinyurl.com/ybnd5kjk --Mod.]
The period for commenting will close on October 24 at 5 PM Eastern Daylight
Time.

Chuck Weinstein
Bellport, NY