BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 479 (Block) - State Records.
Amended: April 4, 2013 Policy Vote: GO 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 6, 2013 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 479 makes numerous changes to the management
and archiving of state records within the Department of General
Services (DGS) and the Secretary of State's Office (SOS).
Fiscal Impact:
First year costs of $303,000 and annually of $288,000 for
the transfer of three staff positions from DGS to SOS. This
is an interagency funds transfer and except for $15,000 in
transitional expenses, it will not result in any new costs.
Personnel being transferred from the CalRIM program consist of 3
PYs (Records Management Analyst II).
Background: Current law provides that the Department of General
Services stores records for state departments under a program
entitled CalRIM. CalRIM assists state agencies in achieving an
efficient records management program, whereby, the Secretary of
State keeps items that are deemed to have a historical value in
the State Archives. The SOS is responsible for the preservation
and indexing of material deposited in the State Archives,
administers a Local Government Records Program, and conducts a
governmental history documentation program to provide a
continuing documentation of state policy development through the
use of oral history.
CalRIM and the State Archives review and approve records
retention schedules prepared by state agencies. The State
Archives' staff determines whether records identified on an
agency retention schedule have archival value and should
therefore be transferred to the Archives at the end of the
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record lifecycle.
With the advent of electronic records, former rules governing
retention, preservation and access to records are outdated or
have been partially superseded. In addition, state agencies now
routinely store and delete files from computer services, whereas
in previous years state documents were printed by the Office of
State Publishing and sent for storage to the State Archives
and/or Library. Digital publishing of documents often makes
traditional hard copy document storage and retention practices
ineffective in preserving and archiving state publications. SB
479 seeks to create a system that will ensure that digital
records created by state agencies will be available in the
future.
Proposed Law: SB 479 does the following:
1) Changes the name of the "Keeper of the Archives" to the
"Chief of Archives".
2) Transfers the responsibility of state records management
from the Department of General Services to the Secretary of
State.
3) Provides that DGS will continue to operate the State Records
Center, retaining its staff and its responsibility for storing
records for state agencies.
4) Provides that employees employed by the DGS in the
California Records and Information Management Program will be
transferred to the Secretary of State, and retain all civil
service rights.
5) Makes numerous technical, nonsubstantive, conforming and code
maintenance changes.
SB 479 transfers three staff positions and their files from the
California Records Information Management (CalRIM) program
housed with the State Printer under DGS to the Secretary of
State under the State Archives Division.
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Staff Comments: The positions of the three CalRIM program
individuals who will be moving from DGS to the Secretary of
State's office are funded from service charges collected by DGS
from all state agencies. It is anticipated that this funding
mechanism will continue. According to the Secretary of State,
the Archives Division already has desks, computers, chairs and
work space for the three staff positions. Program files and
small equipment can easily be moved in an agency van.
SB 479 is intended to promote efficiency and reduce duplication
of efforts relating to the storage and archiving of state
records.