(a) The county officer having custody of nonjudicial public records, documents, instruments, books, and papers may cause to be destroyed any or all of the records, documents, instruments, books, and papers if all of the following conditions exist:

(1) The board of supervisors of the county has adopted a resolution authorizing the county officer to destroy records, documents, instruments, books, and papers pursuant to this subdivision. The resolution may impose conditions, in addition to those specified in this subdivision, that the board of supervisors determines are appropriate.

Terms Used In California Government Code 26205.1

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • County: includes city and county. See California Government Code 19
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.

(2) The county officer who destroys any record, document, instrument, book, or paper pursuant to the authority granted by this subdivision and a resolution of the board of supervisors adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall maintain for the use of the public a photographic or microphotographic film, electronically recorded video production, a record contained in the electronic data processing system, a record recorded on optical disk, a record recorded by any other medium that does not permit additions, deletions, or changes to the original document, or other duplicate of the record, document, instrument, book, or paper destroyed.

(3) The record, paper or document is photographed, microphotographed, reproduced by electronically recorded video images on magnetic surfaces, recorded in the electronic data processing system, recorded on optical disk or reproduced on film or any other medium that is a trusted system and that does not permit additions, deletions, or changes to the original document and is produced in compliance with Section 12168.7 for recording of permanent records or nonpermanent records.

(b) Paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) do not apply to records prepared or received other than pursuant to a state statute or county charter, or records that are not expressly required by law to be filed and preserved.

For the purposes of this section, every reproduction shall be deemed to be an original record and a transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of any reproduction shall be deemed to be a transcript, exemplification, or certified copy, as the case may be, of the original.

(c) The county clerk having custody of the original or a copy of the articles of any corporation may cause the destruction of any or all the documents. “Articles” includes the articles of incorporation, amendments thereto, amended articles, restated articles, certificate of incorporation, certificates of determination of preferences, dissolution certificates, merger certificates, and agreements of consolidation or merger.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, destruction of the original records, papers, or documents is not authorized when the method of reproduction pursuant to this section is reproduction of electronically recorded video images on magnetic surfaces unless a duplicate videotape of the images is separately maintained. A duplicate copy of a record contained in the electronic data processing system, on optical disk, or on any other medium that does not permit additions, deletions, or changes to the original document shall also be separately maintained.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 569, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2001.)

  Previous section
Next section  
 Chapter 13 Contents