Impact of SB 1051 Virginia Public Records Act; availability of public records.

LegacyUser

Michael Carson said: Does FamilySearch have plans to review film restrictions on Virginia records based on the new Virginia Public Records Act?

If so, and in general, what would be the process? Can FamilySearch simple remove the restrictions, or would this require review of existing contracts, agreements, etc?

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: According to an official summary by the Legislature: (https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp...)

Virginia Public Records Act; availability of certain public records. Provides that upon a petition filed with the clerk, a judge may enter an order releasing any record in the custody of The Library of Virginia that was sealed prior to January 1, 1901. The bill also provides that notwithstanding any provisions of a previously executed contract with any department, agency, or institution of the Commonwealth or political subdivision, any individual or private entity lawfully in possession of public records created prior to January 1, 1901, or images of such records may display or publish such records in any format, including in an electronic database or on the Internet, without paying a fee to or requesting permission from the original custodian of such records.

It appears therefore that records created before 1901 can now be published without needing permission.

However FS will need to get lawyers to carefully read the law and determine which of their records are covered by the law. They may still wish to be polite and make a contract with the custodians saying that there are now no restrictions. It would also be legally tidier if they could repeal the old contracts with the permission of the custodians. Due to the pandemic, this may be impossible for some time.

I don't do Virginia genealogy, but I heard a few months ago a lot of complaints about how Ancestry.com had to remove a collection of Virginian records. That doesn't seem to be consistent with this new law, so there might be other laws and other things going on that FS needs to consider.

LegacyUser

JimGreene said: Hi Michael, I have been checking with the folks who work on our records, and here is their reply:
Does FamilySearch have plans to review film restrictions on Virginia records based on the new Virginia Public Records Act?

Yes. FamilySearch is excited to help make the pre-1901 records more broadly available over time at FamilySearch.org and its family history centers worldwide.

If so, and in general, what would be the process? Can FamilySearch simple remove the restrictions, or would this require review of existing contracts, agreements, etc?

In the case of unrestricting content that was previously restricted—as appears to be the case with the pre 1 Jan 1901 Virginia record sets—FamilySearch will need to conduct a thorough review of each related collection and grant access as deemed applicable.

LegacyUser

Michael Carson said: Thank you for taking the time to respond. It's great news for us that are doing Virginia research.