Source: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title42.1/chapter7/
Timestamp: 2017-11-21 10:19:54
Document Index: 667211140

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 2', '§ 18', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42', '§ 42']

Code of Virginia Code - Chapter 7. Virginia Public Records Act
Table of Contents » Title 42.1. Libraries » Chapter 7. Virginia Public Records Act
Chapter 7. Virginia Public Records Act.
§ 42.1-76. Legislative intent; title of chapter.
The General Assembly intends by this chapter to establish a single body of law applicable to all public officers and employees on the subject of public records management and preservation and to ensure that the procedures used to manage and preserve public records will be uniform throughout the Commonwealth.
1976, c. 746.
§ 42.1-76.1. Notice of Chapter.
Any person elected, reelected, appointed, or reappointed to the governing body of any agency subject to this chapter shall (i) be furnished by the agency or public body's administrator or legal counsel with a copy of this chapter within two weeks following election, reelection, appointment, or reappointment and (ii) read and become familiar with the provisions of this chapter.
2006, c. 60.
§ 42.1-77. Definitions.
"Archival quality" means a quality of reproduction consistent with established standards specified by state and national agencies and organizations responsible for establishing such standards, such as the Association for Information and Image Management, the American National Standards Institute, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
"Archival record" means a public record of continuing and enduring value useful to the citizens of the Commonwealth and necessary to the administrative functions of public agencies in the conduct of services and activities mandated by law that is identified on a Library of Virginia approved records retention and disposition schedule as having sufficient informational value to be permanently maintained by the Commonwealth.
"Archives" means the program administered by The Library of Virginia for the preservation of archival records.
"Conversion" means the act of moving electronic records to a different format, especially data from an obsolete format to a current format.
"Disaster plan" means the information maintained by an agency that outlines recovery techniques and methods to be followed in case of an emergency that impacts the agency's records.
"Essential public record" means records that are required for recovery and reconstruction of any agency to enable it to resume its core operations and functions and to protect the rights and interests of persons.
"Lifecycle" means the creation, use, maintenance, and disposition of a public record.
"Metadata" means data describing the context, content, and structure of records and their management through time.
"Migration" means the act of moving electronic records from one information system or medium to another to ensure continued access to the records while maintaining the records' authenticity, integrity, reliability, and usability.
"Original record" means the first generation of the information and is the preferred version of a record. Archival records should to the maximum extent possible be original records.
"Preservation" means the processes and operations involved in ensuring the technical and intellectual survival of authentic records through time.
"Private record" means a record that does not relate to or affect the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official ceremonial duties of a public official, including the correspondence, diaries, journals, or notes that are not prepared for, utilized for, circulated, or communicated in the course of transacting public business.
For purposes of this chapter, "public record" shall not include nonrecord materials, meaning materials made or acquired and preserved solely for reference use or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience or reference, and stocks of publications.
"Records retention and disposition schedule" means a Library of Virginia-approved timetable stating the required retention period and disposition action of a records series. The administrative, fiscal, historical, and legal value of a public record shall be considered in appraising its appropriate retention schedule. The terms "administrative," "fiscal," "historical," and "legal" value shall be defined as:
1. "Administrative value": Records shall be deemed of administrative value if they have continuing utility in the operation of an agency.
2. "Fiscal value": Records shall be deemed of fiscal value if they are needed to document and verify financial authorizations, obligations, and transactions.
3. "Historical value": Records shall be deemed of historical value if they contain unique information, regardless of age, that provides understanding of some aspect of the government and promotes the development of an informed and enlightened citizenry.
4. "Legal value": Records shall be deemed of legal value if they document actions taken in the protection and proving of legal or civil rights and obligations of individuals and agencies.
1976, c. 746; 1977, c. 501; 1981, c. 637; 1987, c. 217; 1990, c. 778; 1994, cc. 390, 955; 1998, cc. 427, 470; 2005, c. 787; 2006, c. 60.
§ 42.1-78. Confidentiality safeguarded.
Any records made confidential by law shall be so treated. Records which by law are required to be closed to the public shall not be deemed to be made open to the public under the provisions of this chapter. Records in the custody of The Library of Virginia which are required to be closed to the public shall be open for public access 75 years after the date of creation of the record. No provision of this chapter shall be construed to authorize or require the opening of any records ordered to be sealed by a court. All records deposited in the archives that are not made confidential by law shall be open to public access.
1976, c. 746; 1979, c. 110; 1990, c. 778; 1994, c. 64; 2006, c. 60.
§ 42.1-79. Records management function vested in The Library of Virginia.
A. The archival and records management function shall be vested in The Library of Virginia. The Library of Virginia shall be the official custodian and trustee for the Commonwealth of all public records of whatever kind, and regardless of physical form or characteristics, that are transferred to it from any agency. As the Commonwealth's official repository of public records, The Library of Virginia shall assume ownership and administrative control of such records on behalf of the Commonwealth. The Library of Virginia shall own and operate any equipment necessary to manage and retain control of electronic archival records in its custody, but may, at its discretion, contract with third-party entities to provide any or all services related to managing archival records on equipment owned by the contractor, by other third parties, or by The Library of Virginia.
B. The Librarian of Virginia shall name a State Archivist who shall perform such functions as the Librarian of Virginia assigns.
C. Whenever legislation affecting public records management and preservation is under consideration, The Library of Virginia shall review the proposal and advise the General Assembly on the effects of its proposed implementation.
1976, c. 746; 1986, c. 565; 1990, c. 778; 1994, c. 64; 1998, c. 427; 2005, c. 787; 2006, c. 60.
§ 42.1-79.1. Repealed.
Repealed by Acts 2005, c. 787, cl. 2.
§ 42.1-80. Repealed.
Repealed by Acts 2003, c. 177.
§ 42.1-82. Duties and powers of Library Board.
A. The State Library Board shall:
1. Issue regulations concerning procedures for the disposal, physical destruction or other disposition of public records containing social security numbers. The procedures shall include all reasonable steps to destroy such documents by (i) shredding, (ii) erasing, or (iii) otherwise modifying the social security numbers in those records to make them unreadable or undecipherable by any means.
2. Issue regulations and guidelines designed to facilitate the creation, preservation, storage, filing, reformatting, management, and destruction of public records by agencies. Such regulations shall mandate procedures for records management and include recommendations for the creation, retention, disposal, or other disposition of public records.
B. The State Library Board may establish advisory committees composed of persons with expertise in the matters under consideration to assist the Library Board in developing regulations and guidelines.
1976, c. 746; 1977, c. 501; 1981, c. 637; 1990, c. 778; 1994, cc. 64, 955; 2003, cc. 914, 918; 2005, c. 787; 2006, c. 60.
§ 42.1-83. Repealed.
Repealed by Acts 2006, c. 60, cl. 2.
§ 42.1-84. Repealed.
§ 42.1-86. Essential public records; security recovery copies; disaster plans.
§ 42.1-86.1. Disposition of public records.
A. No agency shall sell or give away public records. No agency shall destroy or discard a public record unless (i) the record appears on a records retention and disposition schedule approved pursuant to § 42.1-82 and the record's retention period has expired; (ii) a certificate of records destruction, as designated by the Librarian of Virginia, has been properly completed and approved by the agency's designated records officer; and (iii) there is no litigation, audit, investigation, request for records pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.), or renegotiation of the relevant records retention and disposition schedule pending at the expiration of the retention period for the applicable records series. After a record is destroyed or discarded, the agency shall forward the original certificate of records destruction to The Library of Virginia.
C. Each agency shall ensure that records created after July 1, 2006 and authorized to be destroyed or discarded in accordance with subsection A, are destroyed or discarded in a timely manner in accordance with the provisions of this chapter; provided, however, such records that contain identifying information as defined in clauses (iii) through (ix), or clause (xii) of subsection C of § 18.2-186.3, shall be destroyed within six months of the expiration of the records retention period.
1990, c. 778; 1998, c. 427; 2005, c. 787; 2006, cc. 60, 909.
§ 42.1-87. Archival public records.
§ 42.1-88. Custodians to deliver all records at expiration of term; penalty for noncompliance.
Any custodian of any public records shall, at the expiration of his term of office, appointment or employment, deliver to his successor, or, if there be none, to The Library of Virginia, all books, writings, letters, documents, public records, or other information, recorded on any medium kept or received by him in the transaction of his official business; and any such person who shall refuse or neglect for a period of ten days after a request is made in writing by the successor or Librarian of Virginia to deliver the public records as herein required shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.
1976, c. 746; 1994, c. 64; 1998, c. 427.
§ 42.1-89. Petition and court order for return of public records not in authorized possession.
The Librarian of Virginia or his designated representative such as the State Archivist or any public official who is the custodian of public records in the possession of a person or agency not authorized by the custodian or by law to possess such public records shall petition the circuit court in the city or county in which the person holding such records resides or in which the materials in issue, or any part thereof, are located for the return of such records. The court shall order such public records be delivered to the petitioner upon finding that the materials in issue are public records and that such public records are in the possession of a person not authorized by the custodian of the public records or by law to possess such public records. If the order of delivery does not receive compliance, the plaintiff shall request that the court enforce such order through its contempt power and procedures.
1975, c. 180; 1976, c. 746; 1998, c. 427.
§ 42.1-90. Seizure of public records not in authorized possession.
A. At any time after the filing of the petition set out in § 42.1-89 or contemporaneous with such filing, the person seeking the return of the public records may by ex parte petition request the judge or the court in which the action was filed to issue an order directed at the sheriff or other proper officer, as the case may be, commanding him to seize the materials which are the subject of the action and deliver the same to the court under the circumstances hereinafter set forth.
1975, c. 180; 1976, c. 746.
§ 42.1-90.1. Auditing.
The Librarian may, in his discretion, conduct an audit of the records management practices of any agency. Any agency subject to the audit shall cooperate and provide the Library with any records or assistance that it requests. The Librarian shall compile a written summary of the findings of the audit and any actions necessary to bring the agency into compliance with this chapter. The summary shall be a public record, and shall be made available to the agency subject to the audit, the Governor, and the chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on General Laws and the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees of the General Assembly.
§ 42.1-91. Repealed.