Native American Death Certificates

Sovereign Bodies Institute filed this request with the Mendocino County Clerk of Mendocino County, CA.
Submitted Oct. 1, 2020
Est. Completion None
Status
Fix Required

Communications

From: Sovereign Bodies Institute

Subject: California Public Records Act Request: Native American Death Certificates

Mail


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Informational copies of all American Indian and Alaska Native death certificates held by the Mendocino County Clerk's office.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Sovereign Bodies Institute

From:

Subject: Public Records Act Request sent to Mendocino County

Email

To Whom It May Concern:

The County of Mendocino has received your request for informational copies of all American Indian and Alaska Native death certificates. This request was received by Mendocino County April 14, 2021.

Unfortunately, the County does not index death certificates in a way that the requested death certificates could be identified without reviewing each death certificate, of which there are over 30,000. Consequently, the County objects to this request as unduly burdensome, see City of San Jose v. Superior Court, 2 Cal. 5th 608, 627 (2017), and denies the request pursuant to California Government Code section 6255.

However, if you believe there may be another way to identify the records you requesting please let me know and I would be happy to discuss that with you. Additionally, if you are able to narrow your request to a time period of 5 years or less, the County could reasonably provide the records for that time period.

Additionally, the fee for each informational death certificate is $21.

Please let us know how you would like to proceed.

Brina Blanton, Deputy County Counsel
Mendocino County Counsel Office, Administration Center
501 Low Gap Rd., Rm. 1030, Ukiah, CA 95482
Main Office Line: (707) 234-6885; Fax: (707) 463-4592
Email: blantonb@mendocinocounty.org

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