Management Of Records In The State Archives

The current practices of the department of personnel (department) and the state archivist concerning state archives and records are clarified and codified. Specifically, the act clarifies or codifies that:

• All governmental agencies, including state agencies and local governments, are subject to the requirements in law regarding state archives and records;
• The state archivist, rather than the executive director of the department, is charged with the day-to-day responsibilities specified in law concerning state archives and records, including promulgating rules and determining when records should be transferred to the department;
• The state archives, created in the department, consists of a permanent records program for records that the department will permanently keep and maintain and a records center for records that have been transferred to the department for storage;
• The state archivist may establish fees to cover the costs of storing records in the records center;
• Each state agency is required to have a records management program;
• The attorney general is no longer involved in determining the legal, administrative, or historical value of records;
• If a public officer intends to destroy or dispose of original records that are determined to be of legal, administrative, or historical value, the public officer is required to take specified actions to reproduce the record and ensure that copies of the record remain accessible; and
• The state archivist may convene a records advisory board consisting of representatives from governmental agencies that have an interest in the preservation of records. Each governmental agency that participates in the records advisory board will be asked to determine the appropriate person from the agency to participate in the work of the board. If created, the board will have several goals regarding the management, preservation, accessibility, retention, and appraisal of records.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)