By Mr. Scaccia of Boston, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3242) of William F. Galvin relative to the creation, maintenance and preservation of  electronic public records.  State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

William F. Galvin

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act relative to electronic record standards.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 66 of the general laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition is hereby amended by adding the following new section to be known as Section 4A: -

Section 4A.  Notwithstanding any general or special law of the Commonwealth, all government and municipal electronic records as defined herein, shall be created, maintained and preserved in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the supervisor of records under the authority granted under this chapter, so as to ensure the integrity, authenticity, reliability and usability of said record for the period of time proscribed by the supervisor, the record conservation board pursuant to their authority under section 42 of chapter 30 of the general laws.

In addition, all government electronic records created or received by employees, officers or agents of the executive department as that term is defined herein and in other applicable law shall also comply with all information technology standards issued by the executive department's chief information officer.

At least once every three years, on a form provided by the supervisor and the record conservation board, the executive director or head municipal official in charge of such government agency or municipality shall certify that all electronic records systems and records meet the electronic record regulations as promulgated.  The supreme judicial court or superior court shall have jurisdiction in mandamus, on petition of the supervisor and pursuant to section 5 of chapter 249 of the general laws, to order compliance with the provisions of this section.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to any electronic record created prior to the date of enactment.  All government agencies and municipalities shall use their best efforts to comply with the reporting provision by January 1, 2006.  The supervisor and the records conservation board shall work in cooperation with government agencies and municipalities in order to bring about full compliance with the reporting provision by January 1, 2008. 

Section 2.  Section 3 of chapter 66 is hereby amended by adding the following section: -

Section 3A.  The word “electronic government record” in this chapter shall consist of any information, created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means, detailing the transaction of government business.  The term "record" shall include but is not limited to all books, maps, papers, photographs, machine-readable materials and any other electronic documentary materials which are made or received by an employee, officer or agent of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.