4/19/2008 7:24:00 PM Public records storage bill goes to governor
KINGMAN - Described as a money-saving bill by Sen. Ron Gould, Gov. Janet Napolitano will decide if public records can be stored solely electronically.
The bill was sent to Napolitano's office on Wednesday after passing the Senate and House of Representatives unopposed.
"There is a lot of talk of a big divide between parties, but most people with common sense would agree on 80 percent," Gould said. "It's that other 20 percent we debate over. It's a common sense idea on public records."
The bill would permit public records to be kept exclusively on photography, film, microfiche, digital imaging or other type of reproduction or electronic media. An amendment to the bill requires the preservation and storage of hard copies of historic documents designated by the state and/or county.
Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, was the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 1456 with Rep. Trish Groe, R-Lake Havasu City, as the co-sponsor. The efforts to make the move was initiated by Mohave County Public Defender Dana Hlavac, Gould said.
The Public Defender's Office began looking at the possibility of digitally storing records since 2002, Hlavac said. The primary reason to do so was to save money on current and future storage.
"It appears to be a very minor bill," Hlavac said, "but it is a very significant bill with all the money that could be saved."
Hlavac estimated that his office alone could save between $7,000 and $8,000 a year by utilizing digital storage.
This isn't the first year the bill has been in the legislative system. During last year's legislative session, a similar bill was killed in the committee based off of concerns of the reliability of storage.
For this year's session, the bill granted the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records Office final approval for the storage method. The office has already supported the Public Defender's Office method, Hlavac said. The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission also signed off on the bill, which was very beneficial, Hlavac added.
