2023 Rhode Island General Laws › Title 38 - Public Records › Chapter 38-3 - Public Records Administration › Section 38-3-6. - Public records custody and disposal.

§ 38-3-6. Public records custody and disposal.
(a)
Each agency shall prepare and submit to the program, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the program, record control schedules for all public records in the custody of the agency.
(b)
The offices of the attorney general and the auditor general will advise the program on the legal and fiscal values of records covered by proposed records control schedules.
(c)
Those records which are determined by an agency not to be needed in the transaction of current business but which, for legal or fiscal requirements, must be retained for specific time periods beyond administrative needs, shall be sent to the records center. The records will be kept in the center until time for disposition as provided in record control schedules.
(d)
Public records possessing permanent value as determined by approved records control schedules shall be transferred to the public records repository when no longer needed by an agency in transaction of current business.
(e)
Title to any record placed in the records center shall remain in the agency placing the record in the center.
(f)
Title to any record transferred to the public records repository, as authorized in this chapter, shall be vested in the program.
(g)
The program shall preserve and administer such public records as shall be transferred to its custody according to approved conservation and security practices, and to permit them to be inspected, examined, and copied at reasonable times and under supervision of the program; provided that any record placed in keeping of the program under special terms or conditions restricting their use shall be made available only in accordance with the terms and conditions.
(h)
Provide a public research room where, upon policies established by the program, the records in the public records repository may be studied.
(i)
The program may make certified copies under seal of any records transferred to it upon the application of any person, and the certificates, signed by the administrator or his or her designee, shall have the same force and effect as if made by the agency from which the records were received. The program may charge a reasonable fee for this service.
(j)
No public record shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by any agency without prior notice to the program.
(k)
The program shall adopt reasonable rules and regulations not inconsistent with this chapter relating to the destruction and disposal of records. The rules and regulations shall provide but not be limited to:
(1)
Procedures for preparing and submitting record control schedules to the program.
(2)
Procedures for the physical destruction or other disposal of records.
(3)
Standards for the reproduction of records for security or with a view to the disposal of the original record.
(l)
The program shall:
(1)
Establish safeguards against unauthorized or unlawful removal or loss of records; and
(2)
Initiate appropriate action to recover records removed unlawfully or without authorization.
(m)
The program may prepare and publish handbooks, guides, indexes, and other literature directed toward encouraging the management, preservation, and uses of the state’s public records resource.
History of Section.
P.L. 1981, ch. 353, § 6.