Make General Assembly Records Public.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 322

Short Title: Make General Assembly Records Public. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Prather, Harrison, Morey, and Helfrich (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
March 10, 2025
*H322-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO INCREASE ACCESS TO LEGISLATIVE RECORDS, TO REPEAL CHANGES 2
REGARDING THE ARCHIVING OF RECORDS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, AND 3
TO AMEND CAMPAIGN FI NANCE LAWS REGARDING FEDERAL POLITICAL 4
COMMITTEES AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS. 5
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6
SECTION 1. Section 27.7 of S.L. 2023-134 is repealed. 7
SECTION 2. G.S. 121-5 reads as rewritten: 8
"§ 121-5. Public records and archives. 9
(a) State Archival Agency Designated. – The Department of Natural and Cultural 10
Resources shall be the official archival agency of the State of North Carolina with authority as 11
provided throughout this Chapter and Chapter 132 of the General Statutes of North Carolina in 12
relation to the public records of the State, counties, m unicipalities, and other subdivisions of 13
government. 14
(b) Destruction of Records Regulated. – No person may destroy, sell, loan, or otherwise 15
dispose of any public record without the consent of the Department of Natural and Cultural 16
Resources, except as pro vided in G.S. 130A-99. Whoever unlawfully removes a public record 17
from the office where it is usually kept, or alters, mutilates, or destroys it shall be guilty of a 18
Class 3 misdemeanor and upon conviction only fined at the discretion of the court. 19
When the custodian of any official State records certifies to the Department of Natural and 20
Cultural Resources that such records have no further use or value for official and administrative 21
purposes and when the Department certifies that such records appear to ha ve no further use or 22
value for research or reference, then such records may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by 23
the agency having custody of them. 24
When the custodian of any official records of any county, city, municipality, or other 25
subdivision of government certifies to the Department that such records have no further use or 26
value for official business and when the Department certifies that such records appear to have no 27
further use or value for research or reference, then such records may be authori zed by the 28
governing body of said county, city, municipality, or other subdivision of government to be 29
destroyed or otherwise disposed of by the agency having custody of them. A record of such 30
certification and authorization shall be entered in the minutes of the governing body granting the 31
authority. 32
The North Carolina Historical Commission is hereby authorized and empowered to make 33
such orders, rules, and regulations as may be necessary and proper to carry into effect the 34
provisions of this section. When any State, county, municipal, or other governmental records 35
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 322-First Edition
shall have been destroyed or otherwise disposed of in accordance with the procedure authorized 1
in this subsection, any liability that the custodian of such records might incur for such destruction 2
or other disposal shall cease and determine. 3
(c) Assistance to Public Officers. – The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources 4
shall have the right to examine into the condition of public records and shall, subject to the 5
availability of staff and funds, give advice and assistance to public officials and agencies in regard 6
to preserving or disposing of the public records in their custody. When requested by the 7
Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, public officials shall assist the Department in the 8
preparation of an inclusive inventory of records in their custody, to which inventory shall be 9
attached a schedule, approved by the head of the governmental unit or agency having custody of 10
the records and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, establishing a time period for 11
the retention or disposal of each series of records. So long as such approved schedule remains in 12
effect, destruction or disposal of records in accordance with its provisions shall be deemed to 13
have met the requirements of G.S. 121-5(b). 14
The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is hereby authorized and directed to 15
conduct a program of inventorying, repairing, and microfilming in the counties for security 16
purposes those official records of the several counties whic h the Department determines have 17
permanent value, and of providing safe storage for microfilm copies of such records. Subject to 18
the availability of funds, such program shall be extended to the records of permanent value of the 19
cities, municipalities, and other subdivisions of government. 20
(d) Preservation of Permanently Valuable Records. – Public records certified by the 21
Department of Natural and Cultural Resources as being of permanent value shall be preserved in 22
the custody of the agency in which the reco rds are normally kept or of the North Carolina State 23
Archives. Any State, county, municipal, or other public official is hereby authorized and 24
empowered to turn over to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources any State, county, 25
municipal, or other public records no longer in current official use, and the Department of Natural 26
and Cultural Resources is authorized in its discretion to accept such records, and having done so 27
shall provide for their administration and preservation in the North Carolina State Archives. 28
When such records have been thus surrendered, photocopies, microfilms, typescripts, or other 29
copies of them shall be made and certified under seal of the Department, upon application of any 30
person, which certification shall have the same f orce and effect as if made by the official or 31
agency by which the records were transferred to the Department of Natural and Cultural 32
Resources; and the Department may charge reasonable fees for these copies. The Department 33
may answer written inquiries for nonresidents of the State and for this service may charge a 34
search and handling fee not to exceed twenty -five dollars ($25.00). The receipts from this fee 35
shall be used to defray the cost of providing this service. 36
(d1) General Assembly. – Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or order, 37
rules, or regulations promulgated or adopted thereunder, the custodian of any General Assembly 38
record shall determine, in the custodian's discretion, whether a record is a public record and 39
whether to turn over to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, or retain, destroy, sell, 40
loan, or otherwise dispose of, such records. When requested by the Legislative Services Officer, 41
the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources shall assist in the preparation of an inventory 42
of the records to which the request applies. A custodian of a General Assembly record shall not 43
certify to the Department that records have no further use or value for official business for, and 44
the Department shall not certify that such r ecords appear to have no further use or value for 45
research or reference for, a period equal to the longer of (i) the time when such records, in fact, 46
have no further use or value for official business or (ii) 10 years. If such records are records of a 47
member of the General Assembly, the 10 -year period begins at th e time the member ceases 48
serving as a member of the General Assembly. 49
(e) Archives and Records Management Fund. – The Archives and Records Management 50
Fund is established as a special revenue fund. The Fund consists of donations, gifts, devises, and 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
House Bill 322-First Edition Page 3
the fees credited to it under Chapter 161 of the General Statutes. Revenue in the Fund may be 1
used only to offset the Department's costs in providing essential records management and 2
archival services for public records pursuant to Chapter 121 and Chapter 132 of the General 3
Statutes." 4
SECTION 3. Section 5 of S.L. 2024-16 is repealed. 5
SECTION 4. Section 3 of this act is effective when it becomes law and applies to 6
contributions made or received on or after that date. The remainder of this act is effective when 7
it becomes law. 8