Rhode Island § 38-3-6 - Public Records Administration

§ 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) Proposed schedules shall be sent to the offices of the attorney general and the auditor general. Within one hundred twenty (120) days of receipt, the attorney general and the auditor general may, within their discretion, provide the administrator with comments regarding the proposed schedule. If the proposed schedules are not returned to the administrator within one hundred twenty (120) days of receiving the proposed schedule, the proposed schedule may nonetheless be made final for use in records disposition pursuant to § 38-3-7(4).

(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, may 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 enduring value and that have not yet met minimum retention as determined by the records control schedules may be transferred to the state records center after the twentieth year or when no longer considered active.

(e) Public records determined to be of permanent value according to the records retention schedule and by the administrator in consultation with the state archivist, shall be transferred to the state archives following assessment after the twentieth year, if not sooner, if the transfer of custody is in the best interest of the record.

(f) Title to any record placed in the records center shall remain with the agency placing the record in the center.

(g) Title to any record transferred to the state archives, as authorized in this chapter, shall be vested in the program and shall be made available to the public.

(h) 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 provisions of § 38-2-2.

(i) Provide a public research room where, upon policies established by the program, the records in the state archives may be studied.

(j) No public record shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by any agency without prior notice to, and approval by, the program pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Records without established retention in an approved records retention schedule cannot be destroyed.

(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; and

(3) Standards for the reproduction of records for security or with a view to the disposal of the original record.