Virginia Code 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.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 42.1-86.1
- Agency: means all boards, commissions, departments, divisions, institutions, and authorities, and parts thereof, of the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions and includes the offices of constitutional officers. See Virginia Code 42.1-77
- Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
- Librarian of Virginia: means the State Librarian of Virginia or his designated representative. See Virginia Code 42.1-77
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- record: means recorded information that documents a transaction or activity by or with any public officer, agency, or employee of an agency. See Virginia Code 42.1-77
- Records retention and disposition schedule: means a Library of Virginia-approved timetable stating the required retention period and disposition action of a records series. See Virginia Code 42.1-77
B. No agency shall destroy any public record created before 1912 without first offering it 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.