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by Bill Atkinson
A state subcommittee will recommend
that Virginia look at revising the
Public Records Act to codify a procedure
for storing electronic records.
The panel,
which is studying
overall operations
of Virginia agencies,
boards and
commissions, will
ask the 2004 General
Assembly to
authorize the
study, which
comes at the request
of the Library
of Virginia.
"It's time to take another look at the
Public Records Act as we move further
into the electronic age," said Nolan T.
Yelich, director of the state library. He
called the study "a healthy exercise,
something that needs to happen."
Yelich made his comments during a
Sept. 15 meeting of the Virginia Freedom
of Information Advisory Council,
of which he is a member. The state subcommittee
asking for the study met the
following day.
The state Public Records Act establishes "
a single body of law applicable to
all public officers and employees on the
subject of public records management and
preservation." It was established before
e-mails and electronic documentation became
a standard practice.
A revised PRA, according to a report
from the library, would provide the
authority to "establish and maintain
guidelines or regulations for the creation,
transfer and archival preservation
of electronic state records and publications
[and for the] official authentication
of e-records and documents."
The issue of electronic records retention —
particularly e-mails — has been a
thorny one for state employees wondering
what needs to be kept and for how long.
The state library has always advised
people that e-mails that address public
business need to be retained in some
form because they are public records.
Roger Wiley, a Richmond lawyer
and member of the FOI Advisory Council,
repeated his lament that e-mail retention
requirements may scare some
people from government service, especially
on local governing bodies.
These folks, he said, often use their
personal computers to send e-mails, and
having to create a separate storage bin for
these e-mails creates an undue burden for
a job where the pay is often very low.
State Sen. R. Edward Houck, DSpotsylvania
and chairman of the FOI
Advisory Council, said the burden
Wiley notes "is part of the cost of government
service.
"
When you're elected, you just have
to take these things on," he added.
Bill Atkinson is the publications
editor for the Virginia Press Association.
Nolan T. Yelich |
