Iowa’s vital records could get easier to see

Proposed changes to Iowa's Administrative Rules would allow people to get uncertified copies of vital records — including information about births, deaths, marriages and divorces — by phone, mail or email and take cellphone photos of records that now cost up to $5 a page to copy.

The changes were prompted, in part, by a retired Coralville lawyer's complaint that vital records are given extra privacy not allowed under Iowa law.

'I've grown up with the idea people have the right to view public records,' Allen Welsh said.

When he started to compile a family history a few years ago, Welsh discovered many Iowa counties required him to identify himself, sign a document stating he was working on genealogy and appear in person to view the records. Copies of uncertified vital records in many counties cost $5 — five times more than copies of other public records.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, which creates the rules governing vital records, also made publishing vital records a crime punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $625 fine. State officials were trying to prohibit mass online databases of Iowa records, but some county recorders interpreted the rule as forbidding newspapers from publishing local records, such as births or marriages, according to the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

Vital records shielded

The Public Health Department registers about 100,000 life events including births, deaths, marriages and divorces, each year and maintains a record of all vital events in Iowa since 1880.

Vital records have been closely guarded because they include information that could be used by fraudsters, said Sue Meyer, Clayton County recorder and president of the Iowa County Recorders Association.

'I think about the concerns people have with identity theft,' she said.

Marriage certificates contain mothers' maiden names — often used as an online security question — and death certificates have the decedent's Social Security number. Iowa's county recorders are concerned an entity could request vital record data in bulk for criminal purposes, Meyer said.

But most of the people seeking vital records are genealogists trying to research their families, said Johnson County Recorder Kim Painter.

'I have felt for some time the Iowa Department of Public Health was overreaching with some of its rules,' Painter said. 'I wasn't comfortable not allowing people to take photographs.'

Lawyer's complaint raised issue

Welsh filed a complaint in February with the Iowa Public Information Board, asking the group to declare that vital records are governed by Iowa's Open Records Law, Chapter 22. The public health department fought back, saying its rules were adopted to adhere to Iowa Code Section 144, requiring the agency to protect the integrity of vital records and limit the potential for fraudulent use.

'Chapter 144, and not Chapter 22, governs the examination and copying of vital records and the state and county levels,' stated a March petition by the Iowa Attorney General's Office on behalf of the state health department.

However, Iowa Code Section 144.43 says records of birth, marriage, divorce and non-fetal death 'may be inspected and copied as of right under chapter 22.'

The Public Information Board's staff negotiated an informal resolution between the health department, Welsh and other parties, including the Freedom of Information Council, to free up access to vital records. The Board of Health will vote on the proposed rule changes Wednesday.

If approved, the rules would go to the Administrative Rules Committee for consideration in early March, public health spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm said.

Genealogists, historians pleased

Historians and genealogists applaud the proposed changes.

'Researching in the state of Iowa has been problematic with the rules as they now stand,' Amy Kleckner, a family historian from Webster City, wrote in a letter to the state Public Health Department. Having to visit a county recorder's office in person makes it tough to get uncertified vital records — especially for genealogists trying to research family ties from other states.

'I am in favor of the changes AR2821C proposed to help people like me with their family searches,' Kleckner said.

If the proposed rules go into effect, county recorders would no longer charge more for uncertified vital records than other records, such as those for real estate, Meyer said. Linn County this week dropped the price of uncertified vital records from $5 to $1.

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com