BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1926
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1926 (Evans) - As Amended: April 6, 2010
Policy Committee:
JudiciaryVote:10-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the courts to create and maintain records
in electronic form. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules establishing
standards or guidelines, as specified, for creating,
maintaining, and preserving court records.
2)Authorizes the courts to create, maintain, and preserve court
records, in any form or forms (electronic, micrographic, etc.)
in a manner consistent with the rules adopted pursuant to (1).
Until the rules are adopted, courts may create, maintain, and
establish records consistent with specified industry
standards.
3)Specifies that electronic court records shall be accessible to
the public and viewable at the court in the same manner as
would be the case if they were stored and maintained as paper
records.
4)Redefines "retain permanently" so as to permit the destruction
of paper records provided that electronic versions of those
records are maintained permanently according to prescribed
standards and guidelines.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Likely significant ongoing savings to the courts, due to a
reduced need for storage space and records management
associated with paper documents. In order to realize these
savings courts may incur costs, within existing budgeted
AB 1926
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resources, for equipment necessary to create and maintain
electronic records.
2)Minor absorbable one-time costs for the Judicial Council to
adopt the required rules for document management.
COMMENTS
Purpose . According to the author and sponsor (Judicial
Council), AB 1926 is intended to save the courts considerable
time and expense by permitting the courts to create and maintain
electronic court records in lieu of paper records. The Council
notes that under existing law, courts must maintain records in
paper for the duration of statutory retention periods and
sometimes permanently. As a result, nearly two million linear
feet of storage space is devoted to court records. Because many
courthouses lack sufficient space, many records must be
maintained at off-site storage facilities.
Electronic records would obviate the need for physical storage
space and allow staff to access these records almost instantly
instead of traveling to off-site facilities.
This bill changes existing law by authorizing the courts to
create electronic records from existing paper records, and then
requires the courts to maintain and preserve those electronic
records in accordance with standards to be established by the
Judicial Council. According to the author, the total cost
associated with records management in 2005-06 was $21.8 million,
with annual storage costs totaling $1.8 million. The author and
sponsor contend that allowing courts to create, maintain, and
preserve records in electronic form will result in significant
long-terms savings.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081