CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

98

Introduced by Committee on Governmental Organization (Senators Rubio (Chair), Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Blakespear, Cervantes, Dahle, Hurtado, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla, Richardson, Smallwood-Cuevas, Valladares, Wahab, and Weber Pierson)

February 19, 2026

An act to amend Section 12274 of the Government Code, relating to state government.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law, the State Records Management Act, generally requires the head of a state agency to establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient management of the records and information collection practices of the agency. The act requires the Secretary of State to determine, among other things, whether a record held by a state agency has archival value, as defined, and requires a record deemed to have archival value to be transferred to the State Archives. The act requires the Secretary of State to enforce all statutory requirements regarding the confidentiality of records transferred to the State Archives and to make the records available to authorized individuals or the public, as determined by applicable law.

This bill would revise and recast the duties of the head of a state agency and the Secretary of State to determine and transfer a record deemed to have archival value.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 12274 of the Government Code is amended to read:

12274.

The head of a state agency shall do all of the following:

(a) Establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient management of the records and information collection practices of the agency. The program shall ensure that the information needed by the agency may be obtained with a minimum burden upon individuals and businesses, especially small business enterprises and others required to furnish the information. Unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information shall be eliminated as rapidly as practical. Information collected by the agency shall, as far as is expedient, be collected and tabulated in a manner that maximizes the usefulness of the information to other state agencies and the public.

(b) Determine, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, records essential to the functioning of state government in the event of a major disaster.

(c) When requested by the Secretary of State, provide a written justification for storage or extension of scheduled retention of a record in the State Records Center for a period of 50 years or more. The Secretary of State shall review and approve any scheduled retention of a record in the State Records Center for a period of 50 years or more.

(d) (1) Shall transfer a record deemed by the Secretary of State to have archival value, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 12271, to the State Archives once it has reached the end of its administrative, legal, fiscal, or evidential value to the agency.

(2) Upon transfer of a record of archival value to the State Archives, the head of the state agency shall notify the Secretary of State if the record contains information that is not subject to public disclosure or is restricted from disclosure for a period of time pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1), the Information Practices Act of 1977 (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1798) of Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code), or other applicable federal or state law.

(e) Comply with the rules, regulations, standards, and procedures issued by the Secretary of State.

(f) Appoint a representative from the agency to serve as the Records Management Coordinator and notify the Secretary of State’s California Records and Information Management Program within 30 days of the appointment.

(g) Notify the Secretary of State when records are stored with a third-party vendor or digitized.