public records; digital media; copies

Plain English Breakdown

The source text contains minor formatting errors (e.g., 'this state' vs 'the state') but the legal meaning remains clear.

SB1340: Rules for Keeping Public Records on Paper or Digital Media

This bill updates the law to allow permanent public records in Arizona to be kept as digital copies if they meet specific quality standards set by state officials.

What This Bill Does

• Requires permanent public records of the state, counties, cities, towns, or other political subdivisions to be written on paper, a digital medium, or another durable material that meets state standards.
• States that any digital record meeting the director's standards is considered of durable and permanent quality.
• Mandates that all permanent public records are stored according to rules created by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.
• Allows officials to destroy paper or other physical records only after making a certified compliant digital copy and finishing required notifications.

Who It Names or Affects

• Public officers responsible for creating, keeping, or transcribing public records
• State agencies, counties, cities, towns, and other political subdivisions in Arizona

Terms To Know

Permanent public records

Official documents that must be kept for a long time by the government.

Digital medium

Electronic storage formats used to save files, which are considered durable if they meet state standards.

Compliant digital copy

A digital version of a record that meets the specific quality standards set by the director and receives proper certification.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not list the exact technical details for what makes a digital medium compliant.
• The text does not specify which notification procedures must be completed before destroying paper records.
• No effective date is provided in this document, so it is unclear when these rules begin.

Official Summary Text

SB1340 - public records; digital media; copies

Current Bill Text

SB1340 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
public records; digital media; copies

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1340

Introduced by

Senator
Shope

AN
ACT

amending section 39-101, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to public records.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 39-101, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
39-101.

Permanent public records; quality; storage; compliant digital
copy; violation; classification

A. Permanent public records of
the

this
state, a county, city or town, or
other
another
political subdivision of
the

this
state
,
shall be transcribed or
kept on paper
, a digital medium
or
other
another
material
which

that
is of durable or permanent quality and
which
that
conforms to standards established by the director of the
Arizona state library, archives and public records.�
Any digital
medium that conforms to the standards established by the director of the
Arizona state library, archives and public records is considered of durable or
permanent quality.

B. Permanent public records
that are
transcribed
or kept as provided in subsection A
of this section
shall
be stored and maintained according to standards for the storage of permanent
public records established by the director of the Arizona state library,
archives and public records.

C. A public officer who is charged
with transcribing or keeping public records pursuant to this section may
destroy a public record that is on paper or another material only after
creating a compliant digital public record that receives proper certification
and after completing any required notification procedures.

C.
D.
A
public officer
who is
charged with transcribing or
keeping
such
public records
pursuant to
this section

and
who violates this section is
guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.
END_STATUTE