Question
Under what circumstances can government agencies (i.e., a city government) destroy records? I see requests to destroy records from time to time on City Council agendas and this piqued my interest. One recent item stated that said records were “at least two years old” and ready to be destroyed. That seems odd but I can’t find any reference in the public records law.
Answer
Government Code section 34090 addresses the destruction of public records by a city:
“Unless otherwise provided by law, with the approval of the legislative body [i.e., the City Council] by resolution and the written consent of the city attorney the head of a city department may destroy any city record, document, instrument, book or paper, under his charge, without making a copy thereof, after the same is no longer required.”
The section then provides some exceptions, including:(a) records affecting the title to real property or liens thereon, (b) court records, (c) records required to be kept by statute, (d) records less than two years old, and (e) the minutes, ordinances, or resolutions of the legislative body or of a city board or commission.
If the records have been put on microfilm or copies preserved in some other fashion, section 34090.5 allows destruction of the original without City Council approval under section 34090.
Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.