The Legislature declares that:

(1) Programs for the systematic and centrally correlated management of state and local records will promote efficiency and economy in the day-to-day record-keeping activities of state and local agencies and will facilitate and expedite governmental operations;

(2) Records containing information essential to the operations of government, and to the protection of the rights and interests of persons, must be safeguarded against the destructive effects of all forms of disaster and must be available as needed. It is necessary to adopt special provisions for the selection and preservation of essential state and local records, thereby insuring the protection and availability of such information;

(3) The increasing availability and use of computers is creating a growing demand for electronic access to public records, and state and local agencies should use new technology to enhance public access to public records and to reduce costs in maintaining, preserving, or retaining public records;

(4) There must be public accountability in the process of collecting, sharing, disseminating, and accessing public records;

(5) The Legislature has oversight responsibility for the process of collecting, sharing, disseminating, and providing access, including electronic access, to public records and establishing fees for disseminating and providing access;

(6) Several state agencies, individually and collectively, are providing electronic access to public records through various means, including the portal;

(7) New technology has allowed state agencies to offer electronic information and services through various means, including the portal;

(8) As technology becomes available, state and local agencies should continue to explore providing electronic information and services to individuals, businesses, and other entities; and

(9) There is a need for a uniform policy regarding the management, operation, and oversight of systems providing electronic access to public records or electronic information and services.

For purposes of the Records Management Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) State agency means any department, division, office, commission, court, board, or elected, appointed, or constitutional officer, except individual members of the Legislature, or any other unit or body, however designated, of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of state government;

(2) Agency head means the chief or principal official or representative in any state or local agency or the presiding judge of any court, by whatever title known. When an agency consists of a single official, the agency and the agency head are one and the same;

(3) Local agency means an agency of any county, city, village, township, district, authority, or other public corporation or political entity, whether existing under charter or general law, including any entity created pursuant to the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the Joint Public Agency Act. Local political subdivision does not include a city of the metropolitan class or a district or other unit which by law is considered an integral part of state government;

(4) Record means any book, document, paper, photograph, microfilm, sound recording, magnetic storage medium, optical storage medium, or other material regardless of physical form or characteristics created or received pursuant to law, charter, or ordinance or in connection with any other activity relating to or having an effect upon the transaction of public business;

(5) State record means a record which normally is maintained within the custody or control of a state agency or any other record which is designated or treated as a state record according to general law;

(6) Local record means a record of a local political subdivision or of any agency thereof unless designated or treated as a state record under general law;

(7) Essential record means a state or local record which is within one or the other of the following categories and which shall be preserved pursuant to the Records Management Act:

(a) Category A. Records containing information necessary to the operations of government under all conditions, including a period of emergency created by a disaster; or

(b) Category B. Records not within Category A but which contain information necessary to protect the rights and interests of persons or to establish or affirm the powers and duties of state or local governments in the resumption of operations after a disaster;

(8) Preservation duplicate means a copy of an essential record which is used for the purpose of preserving the record pursuant to the act;

(9) Disaster means any occurrence of fire, flood, storm, earthquake, explosion, epidemic, riot, sabotage, or other conditions of extreme peril resulting in substantial injury or damage to persons or property within this state, whether such occurrence is caused by an act of nature or of humans, including an enemy of the United States;

(10) Administrator means the State Records Administrator;

(11) Board means the State Records Board;

(12) Electronic access means electronically collecting, sharing, disseminating, and providing access to (a) public records or (b) electronic information and services;

(13) Electronic information and services means any data, information, or service that is created, generated, collected, maintained, or distributed in electronic form by a state agency or local agency through transactions with individuals, businesses, and other entities by means of electronic access;

(14) Portal means the state's centralized electronic information system by which public records or electronic information and services are provided using electronic access;

(15) Public records includes all records and documents, regardless of physical form, of or belonging to this state or any agency, branch, department, board, bureau, commission, council, subunit, or committee of this state except when any other statute expressly provides that particular information or records shall not be made public. Data which is a public record in its original form shall remain a public record when maintained in computer files; and

(16) Network manager means an individual, a private entity, a state agency, or any other governmental subdivision responsible for providing the infrastructure and services needed to implement and operate the portal and for directing and supervising the day-to-day operations and expansion of the portal.

The Secretary of State is hereby designated the State Records Administrator. The administrator shall establish and administer, within and for state and local agencies, (1) a records management program which will apply efficient, cost-effective, modern, and economical methods to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of state and local records, (2) a program for the selection and preservation of essential state and local records, (3) establish and maintain a depository for the storage and service of state records, and advise, assist, and govern by rules and regulations the establishment of similar programs in local political subdivisions in the state, and (4) establish and maintain a central microfilm agency for state records and advise, assist, and govern by rules and regulations the establishment of similar programs in state agencies and local political subdivisions in the State of Nebraska.

(1) The State Records Board is hereby established. The board shall:

(a) Advise and assist the administrator in the performance of his or her duties under the Records Management Act;

(b) Provide electronic access to public records or electronic information and services through the portal;

(c) Develop and maintain the portal for providing electronic access to public records or electronic information and services;

(d) Provide appropriate oversight of a network manager;

(e) Approve reasonable fees for electronic access to public records or electronic information and services pursuant to sections 84-1205.02 and 84-1205.03;

(f) Have the authority to enter into or renegotiate agreements regarding the management of the portal in order to provide individuals, businesses, and other entities with electronic access to public records or electronic information and services;

(g) Explore ways and means of reducing the costs of agencies to manage record retention, expanding the amount and type of public records or electronic information and services provided through the portal, and, when appropriate, implement changes necessary to effect such purposes;

(h) Explore new technologies as a means of improving access to public records or electronic information and services by individuals, businesses, and other entities and, if appropriate, implement the new technologies;

(i) Explore options of expanding the portal and its services to individuals, businesses, and other entities;

(j) Have the authority to grant funds to a state or local agency for the development of programs and technology to improve electronic access to public records or electronic information and services consistent with the act; and

(k) Perform such other functions and duties as the act requires.

(2) In addition to the administrator, the board shall consist of:

(a) The Governor or his or her designee;

(b) The Attorney General or his or her designee;

(c) The Auditor of Public Accounts or his or her designee;

(d) The State Treasurer or his or her designee;

(e) The Director of Administrative Services or his or her designee;

(f) Three representatives appointed by the Governor to be broadly representative of banking, insurance, and law groups; and

(g) Three representatives appointed by the Governor to be broadly representative of libraries, the general public, and professional members of the Nebraska news media.

(3) The administrator shall be chairperson of the board. Upon call by the administrator, the board shall convene periodically in accordance with its rules and regulations or upon call by the administrator.

(4) Six members of the board shall constitute a quorum, and the affirmative vote of six members shall be necessary for any action to be taken by the board. No vacancy in the membership of the board shall impair the right of a quorum to exercise all the rights and perform all the duties of the board.

(5) The representatives appointed by the Governor shall serve staggered three-year terms as the Governor designates and may be appointed for one additional term. Members of the board shall be reimbursed for expenses as provided in sections 81-1174 to 81-1177.

(1) The board may employ or contract with a network manager. A network manager may be an individual, a private entity, a state agency, or another governmental subdivision. The board shall prepare criteria and specifications for the network manager in consultation with the Department of Administrative Services. Such criteria shall include procedures for submission of proposals by an individual, a private entity, a state agency, or another governmental subdivision. Selection of the network manager shall comply with all applicable procedures of the department. The board may negotiate and enter into a contract with the selected network manager which provides the duties, responsibilities, and compensation of the network manager.

(2) The network manager shall provide the infrastructure and services needed to implement and operate the portal and shall direct and supervise the day-to-day operations and expansion of the portal. The network manager shall (a) attend meetings of the board, (b) keep a record of all portal operations, which shall be the property of the board, (c) maintain and be the custodian of all financial and operational records, and (d) annually update and revise the business plan for the portal in consultation with and under the direction of the board.

(3) The board shall finance the operation and maintenance of the portal from revenue generated pursuant to sections 60-483 and 84-1205.02.

Except as provided in sections 49-509, 52-1316, and 60-483 and article 9, Uniform Commercial Code, the board may establish reasonable fees for electronic access to (1) public records or (2) electronic information and services, through the portal. Fees for electronic access to public records shall not exceed the statutory fee for copies of public records in other forms. Any fees collected under this section shall be deposited in the Records Management Cash Fund.

(1) Any state agency other than the courts or the Legislature desiring to enter into an agreement with a private vendor or the network manager to provide electronic access to public records or electronic information and services for a fee shall make a written request for approval of such fee to the board. The request shall include (a) a copy of the contract under consideration if the electronic access is to be provided through a contractual arrangement, (b) the public records or electronic information and services which are the subject of the contract or proposed fee, (c) the anticipated or actual timeline for implementation, and (d) any security provisions for the protection of confidential or sensitive records. The board shall take action on such fee request in accordance with section 84-1205.02 and after a public hearing held at its next regularly scheduled meeting that is at least thirty days after receipt of the request. The board may request a presentation or such other information as it deems necessary from the requesting state agency.

(2) A state agency other than the courts or the Legislature may charge a fee for electronic access to public records without the board's approval for a one-time sale in a unique format. The purchaser may object to the fee in writing to the board, and the one-time fee shall then be subject to approval by the board according to the procedures and guidelines established in sections 84-1205 to 84-1205.03.

(3) Courts or the Legislature providing electronic access to public records or electronic information and services for a fee shall make a written report. The report shall be filed with the State Records Board by the State Court Administrator for the courts and the chairperson of the Executive Board of the Legislative Council for the Legislature. The report shall include (a) a copy of the contract under consideration if the electronic access is to be provided through a contractual arrangement, (b) the public records or electronic information and services which are the subject of the contract or proposed fee, (c) the anticipated or actual timeline for implementation, and (d) any security provisions for the protection of confidential or sensitive records. The State Records Board may request a presentation or such other information as it deems necessary. The courts and the Legislature shall take into consideration any recommendation made by the State Records Board with respect to such fees.

(4) Courts and the Legislature may charge a fee for electronic access to public records for a one-time sale in a unique format without providing a report to the board as required under subsection (3) of this section.

The board shall provide annual reports to the Executive Board of the Legislative Council and Nebraska Information Technology Commission on its activities pursuant to sections 84-1205 to 84-1205.03. The report submitted to the executive board shall be submitted electronically.

(1) With due regard for the functions of the state and local agencies concerned, and with such guidance and assistance from the board as may be required, the administrator shall:

(a) Establish standards, procedures, and techniques for the effective management of public records;

(b) Make continuing surveys of paperwork, microfilm, and electronic storage operations, and recommend improvements in current records management practices, including, but not limited to, the economical use of and cost reductions in space, equipment, and supplies employed in creating, maintaining, storing, preserving, and servicing records;

(c) Establish standards for the preparation of schedules providing for the retention of records of continuing value and for the prompt and orderly disposal of records no longer possessing sufficient administrative, legal, historical, or fiscal value to warrant their further retention; and

(d) Obtain from the state or local agencies concerned such reports and other data as are required for the proper administration of the records management program, including organizational charts of agencies concerned.

(2) The administrator shall establish standards for designating essential records, shall assist state and local agencies in identifying essential records, and shall guide such agencies in the establishment of programs for the preservation of essential records.

(3) The administrator may advise and assist members of the Legislature and other officials in the maintenance and disposition of their personal or political papers of public interest and may provide such other services as are available to state and local agencies, within the limitation of available funds.

In accordance with general law and with the rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the administrator and the board as provided in section 84-1216, the head of any state or local agency shall:

(1) Establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the efficient, cost-effective, modern, and economical management of the record-keeping activities of the agency;

(2) Make and maintain records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency, designed to furnish information to protect the legal and financial rights of the state, and of persons directly affected by the agency's activities;

(3) Make and submit to the administrator schedules proposing the length of time each record series warrants retention for administrative, legal, historical, or fiscal purposes, after it has been made in or received by the agency, and lists of records in the custody or under the control of the agency which are not needed in the transaction of current business and do not possess sufficient administrative, legal, historical, or fiscal value to warrant their further retention;

(4) Inventory the records in the custody or under the control of the agency and submit to the administrator a report thereon, containing such data as the administrator shall prescribe, including his or her recommendations as to which of such records, if any, should be determined to be essential records. He or she shall review the inventory and report periodically and, as necessary, shall revise the report so that it is current, accurate, and complete;

(5) Comply with the rules, regulations, standards, and procedures issued and set up by the administrator and the board and cooperate in the conduct of surveys made by the administrator pursuant to the Records Management Act; and

(6) Strive to reduce the costs to manage record retention.

In addition to the duties enumerated in section 84-1207, each state agency head shall designate a records officer from the management or professional level who shall be responsible for the overall coordination of records management activities within the agency.

(1) The administrator may make or cause to be made preservation duplicates of essential records or may designate as preservation duplicates existing copies thereof. A preservation duplicate shall be durable, accurate, complete, and clear and, if made by means of photography, microphotography, photocopying, film, microfilm, optical imagery, or similar processes, shall be prepared in conformity to standards prescribed and approved by the board.

(2) A preservation duplicate made by a photographic, photostatic, microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic, optical imagery, or similar process which accurately reproduces or forms a durable medium for so reproducing the original shall have the same force and effect for all purposes as the original record, whether the original is in existence or not. A transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of such preservation duplicate shall for all purposes be deemed a transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of the original record.

(3) No copy of an essential record shall be used as a preservation duplicate unless, under the general laws of the state, the copy has the same force and effect for all purposes as the original record.

The administrator may establish storage facilities for essential records, preservation duplicates, and other state records and may provide for a system of charges to allocate the cost of providing such storage among the state agencies utilizing the storage services. The system of charges shall, as nearly as may be practical, cover the actual costs of operating the storage facilities.

(1) The administrator shall properly maintain essential records and preservation duplicates stored by him.

(2) An essential record or preservation duplicate stored by the administrator may be removed by the regularly designated custodian for temporary use when necessary for the proper conduct of his office, and shall be returned to the administrator immediately after such use.

(3) When an essential record is stored by him, the administrator, upon the request of the regularly designated custodian thereof, shall provide for its inspection or for the making or certification of copies thereof, and such copies, when certified by the administrator, shall have the same force and effect for all purposes as if certified by the regularly designated custodian.

(1) When an essential record is required by law to be treated in a confidential manner, the administrator, in effectuating the purposes of the Records Management Act, shall protect its confidential nature, as well as that of any preservation duplicate or other copy thereof. Any hospital or medical record submitted to the administrator for microfilming or similar processing shall be made accessible in a manner consistent with the access permitted similar records under sections 71-961 and 83-109.

(2) Nothing in the Records Management Act shall be construed to affect the laws and regulations dealing with the dissemination, security, and privacy of criminal history information under the Security, Privacy, and Dissemination of Criminal History Information Act.

The administrator shall review periodically, and at least once each year, the program for the selection and preservation of essential records, including the classification thereof and the provisions for preservation duplicates and for the safeguarding of essential records and preservation duplicates to insure that the purposes of the Records Management Act are accomplished.

(1) Each records retention and disposition schedule submitted to the administrator shall be reviewed by the State Archivist for purposes of selection of archival and historical material, and all such material shall be identified as such on the schedule. When the State Archivist has determined that all archival and historical material has been properly identified and that no disposition, except by transfer to the State Archives of the Nebraska State Historical Society, has been recommended for such material, the State Archivist shall approve such records retention and disposition schedule and return it to the administrator.

(2) The administrator shall review each records retention and disposition schedule submitted, and if the recommended retention periods and the recommended dispositions satisfy audit requirements and give proper recognition to administrative, legal, and fiscal value of the records listed therein and if the records retention and disposition schedule has been approved by the State Archivist, such records retention and disposition schedule shall be approved by the administrator.

All state agency heads and all local agency heads are hereby authorized to dispose of the records of their agencies in accordance with records retention and disposition schedules which are applicable to their agencies if such schedules have been approved by the administrator pursuant to section 84-1212.01. Each agency head shall report any such records disposition to the administrator on forms provided by the administrator.

(1) All records made or received by or under the authority of or coming into the custody, control, or possession of state or local agencies in the course of their public duties are the property of the state or local agency concerned and shall not be mutilated, destroyed, transferred, removed, damaged, or otherwise disposed of, in whole or in part, except as provided by law.

(2) Any person who willfully mutilates, destroys, transfers, removes, damages, or otherwise disposes of such records or any part of such records, except as provided by law, and any person who retains and continues to hold the possession of any such records, or parts thereof, belonging to the state or local agency and refuses to deliver up such records, or parts thereof, to the proper official under whose authority such records belong upon demand being made by such officer or, in cases of a defunct office, to the succeeding agency or to the State Archives of the Nebraska State Historical Society, shall be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor.

The State Records Administrator, or any official under whose authority such records belong, shall report to the proper county attorney any supposed violation of section 84-1213 that in its judgment warrants prosecution. It shall be the duty of the several county attorneys to investigate supposed violations of such section and to prosecute violations of such section.

Whenever any state agency desires to dispose of records which are not listed on an approved records retention and disposition schedule applicable to such agency, the state agency head shall prepare and submit to the administrator, on forms provided by the administrator, a list of the records sought to be disposed of and a request for approval of their disposition, which list and request shall be referred to the board for action at its next regular or special session. On consideration thereof, the board may approve such disposition thereof as may be legal and proper or may refuse to approve any disposition, and the records as to which such determination has been made may thereupon be disposed of in accordance with the approval of the board.

The State Archives of the Nebraska State Historical Society has the authority to acquire, in total or in part, any document, record, or material which has been submitted to the board for disposition or transfer when such material is determined to be of archival or historical significance by the State Archivist or the board. The head of any state or local agency shall certify in writing to the society the transfer of the custody of such material to the State Archives. No state or local agency shall dispose of, in any other manner except by transfer to the State Archives, that material which has been appraised as archival or historical without the written consent of the State Archivist and the administrator. If such material is determined to be in jeopardy of destruction or deterioration and such material is not necessary to the conduct of daily business in the state or local agency of origin, it shall be the prerogative of the State Archivist to petition the administrator and the state or local agency of origin for the right to transfer such material into the safekeeping of the State Archives. It shall be the responsibility of the administrator to hear arguments for or against such petition and to determine the results of such petition. The State Archivist shall prepare invoices and receipts in triplicate for materials acquired under this section, shall retain one copy, and shall deliver one copy to the administrator and one copy to the state or local agency head from whom the records are obtained.

(1) If not otherwise prohibited by law, nonrecord materials, not included within the definition of records as contained in section 84-1202, may be destroyed at any time by the state or local agency in possession thereof without the prior approval of the administrator or board. The administrator may formulate procedures and interpretations to guide in the disposal of nonrecord materials, but nothing therein shall be contrary to any provision of law relating to the transfer of materials of historical value to the State Archives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

(2) Members of the Legislature and other officials are encouraged to offer their personal and political papers of public interest to the State Archives for preservation subject to any reasonable restrictions concerning their use by other persons.

The administrator shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations as may be necessary or proper to effectuate the purposes of the Records Management Act. Those portions thereof which relate to functions specifically delegated to the board shall be approved and concurred in by the board.

The Records Management Act shall apply to all state and local agencies, and the administrator shall advise and assist in the establishment of programs for records management and for the selection and preservation of essential records of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches and, as required by such branches, shall provide program services pursuant to the act.

The governing bodies of all local agencies in this state, with the advice and assistance of the administrator and pursuant to the rules and regulations adopted and promulgated pursuant to the Records Management Act, shall establish and maintain continuing programs to promote the principles of efficient records management for local records and for the selection and preservation of essential local records, which programs, insofar as practicable, shall follow the patterns of the programs established for state records as provided in the act. Each such governing body shall promulgate rules and regulations as are necessary or proper to effectuate and implement the programs so established, but nothing therein shall be in violation of the provisions of general law relating to the destruction of local records.

The administrator shall prepare a biennial report on the status of programs established by the administrator as provided in the Records Management Act and on the progress made during the preceding biennium in implementing and effectuating such programs and in reducing costs. Copies of this report shall be furnished to the Governor, the Clerk of the Legislature, and such other officials and state and local agencies as the Governor or the board shall direct. The report submitted to the Clerk of the Legislature shall be submitted electronically.

Sections 84-1201 to 84-1227 shall be known and may be cited as the Records Management Act.