Length of time agencies must hold on the public records
Q: Are there legal guidelines for the length of time Board meeting documents and recordings must be kept?
A: Under Cal. Gov’t Code Section 6200, the destruction of public records is a crime unless otherwise authorized by law. Section 6200 provides:
Every officer having the custody of any record, map, or book, or of any paper or proceeding of any court, filed or deposited in any public office, or placed in his or her hands for any purpose, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years if, as to the whole or any part of the record, map, book, paper, or proceeding, the officer willfully does or permits any other person to do any of the following:
(a) Steal, remove, or secrete.
(b) Destroy, mutilate, or deface.
(c) Alter or falsify.
Section 6201 provides that “[e]very person not an officer referred to in Section 6200, who is guilty of any of the acts specified in that section, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.” The enumeration of civil executive officers in Cal. Govt. Code Section 1000 includes “such other officers as fill offices created by or under the authority of charters or laws for the government of counties and cities or of the health, school, election, road, or revenue laws.”
As the California Attorney General explained in a 1981 opinion (64 Op. Atty. Gen. Cal. 317), exceptions to this prohibition against the destruction of public records have been enacted that authorize certain public agencies to destroy public records in specified circumstances. The statutory scheme that applies to public records of a county can be found at Government Code section 26200 et seq. (Chapter 13 of Title 3, Part 2). Section 26202 provides that a county board of supervisors may authorize the destruction of duplicate records in the files of any officer or department of the county at any time. Section 26203 provides that the board may authorize the destruction of certain other records that are more than two years old. Other specific sections apply to other specific records and circumstances. It is also possible that local ordinances, rules, and policies come into play.