I. Introduction
California's Secretary of State is statutorily identified as being the custodian of the public archives of the State (Government Code 12221). To meet this mandate, the California State Archives (CSA), a division of the Secretary of State's office, has developed a State Records Appraisal Program that identifies state agency records with permanent retention value. The records so identified are maintained at the State Archives and are made available for public inspection and research, pursuant to the Public Records Act (Government Code 6250, et seq.) and the Information Practices Act (Civil Code 1798, et seq.).
CSA's State Records Appraisal Program works in conjunction with the California Records and Information Management Program (CalRIM), which is located within the Department of General Services' Office of State Publishing. Overall policy development and coordination of the State Records Management Act (Government Code 14740, et seq.) falls to CalRIM.
II. Records Retention Schedules
Under the provisions of the State Records Management Act, each agency must establish and maintain an active, continuing program for economical and efficient management of records and information collection practices of the agency. Each agency must also comply with the rules, regulations, standards, and procedures issued by the director of General Services relative to records management.
The primary means of establishing an economical and efficient records management program is the development of records retention schedules. These schedules are, by law, required to be completed by every state agency and must include "all papers, maps, exhibits, magnetic or paper tapes, photographic films and prints, punched cards, and other documents produced, received, owned, or used by any agency, regardless of physical form or characteristics" (Government Code 14741). Further, under the State Administrative Manual (SAM), Section 1600, all agencies must perform a records inventory every five years and prepare an updated/new retention schedule that reflects the inventory. If a schedule is past the five year mark, it is considered active but non-current, and must be followed until a new schedule has been approved.
The California State Archives reviews the records retention schedules and "flags" those record series that have permanent archival value. If records are flagged for review by the Archives' State Records Appraisal Program, the records must be transferred to CSA at the end of their retention period. It is important to remember that CSA does not keep everything that has been flagged. The retention schedule review is the first in a series of appraisal steps, and once the records have been transferred to the Archives this appraisal process continues. Once records are transferred to the Archives, they become the responsibility of the Secretary of State and no longer fall under the jurisdiction of the originating agency.
It is imperative to remember that "no record shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by any agency of the state, unless it is determined by the director [of General Services] that the record has no further administrative, legal or fiscal value and the Secretary of State has determined that the record is inappropriate for preservation in the State Archives" (Government Code 14755a). If records are being destroyed without the prior approval of DGS and the Secretary of State, the agency is violating the State Records Management Act.
III. Contacts for Additional Information
For more information on the California State Archives' State Records Appraisal Program, contact Sydney Bailey, Archivist, at Sydney.Bailey@sos.ca.gov or Jessica Herrick, Archivist, at Jessica.Herrick@sos.ca.gov. Phone calls may be directed to 916/653-7715.
For research requests, please return to the California State Archives Homepage and review Collections and FAQ's. Direct research inquiries to the Reference Desk or call 916/653-2246.
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