Record Keeping in the United States

Records Management in the Secretary of State Offices

(Source: National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS))

State government agencies are required by law to properly manage public records from creation to storage through destruction, all the while making pertinent information available when needed and protecting it from fraud and abuse at all times. As an added complication, records are being created by many users at all levels of state government, and the risks associated with data privacy and security have significantly increased. (…)

Like all state government agencies, Secretary of State offices are grappling with the explosive growth of digital information. Information that was once entirely paper and phone?based is now being collected, curated, and stored in millions of digital records and emails. A recent review of NASS member office websites turned up nearly 250 database search options associated with a wide range of state government functions, noting that “electronic records management is becoming increasingly more demanding, challenging, and complex.” (“NASS Egov Update: Online Services for State Member Websites.” NASS. January 2015).
Members of the public often contact their respective Secretary of State’s office for records?related transactions, perhaps most notably for the state business formation and filing processes that are available to the nation’s nearly 28 million small businesses (U.S. Small Business Administration statistics ). With an estimated 543,000 new businesses created in the U.S. each month, the amount spent on state processing, management, and storage of these records alone is significant.

Retention policies

Every state agency has policies governing how long records must be saved and when they can be purged, but legal requirements understandably vary from state to state (for more information on state retention schedules and policies, the Council of State Archivists provides
a state?by?state listing). Even with a strict retention schedule in place, it may be left up to
each state agency or local government to decide how to meet these requirements, and many governments are still trying to follow processes that were developed for handling paper records. According to Pew research, employees often have to decide on their own what they will do with electronic communications, such as emails and texts (Bergal, Jenni. “Save or Delete? Official Email Policies Vary by State.” The Pew Charitable Trusts).

Record Keeping and the State Laws

Select from the list of U.S. States below for state-specific information on Record Keeping:

• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Alabama Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Alaska Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Arizona Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Arkansas Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the California Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Colorado Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Connecticut Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Delaware Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Florida Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Georgia Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Hawaii Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Idaho Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Illinois Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Indiana Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Iowa Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Kansas Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Kentucky Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Louisiana Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Maine Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Maryland Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Massachusetts Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Michigan Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Minnesota Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Mississippi Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Missouri Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Montana Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Nebraska Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Nevada Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the New Hampshire Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the New Jersey Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the New Mexico Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the New York Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the North Carolina Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the North Dakota Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Ohio Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Oklahoma Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Oregon Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Pennsylvania Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Rhode Island Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the South Carolina Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the South Dakota Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Tennessee Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Texas Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Utah Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Vermont Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Virginia Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Washington Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the West Virginia Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Wisconsin Portal
• Record Keeping in the Subject Index of the Wyoming Portal

Resources

See Also

• Personnel Records
• National Criminal Records Repository
• Record On Appeal
• Land Management Bureau
• Record Of Decision
• Record

Further Reading

• Information about Record Keeping in the Gale Encyclopedia of American Law.

Record keeping

Find more information on Record keeping in relation to the Customs Trade Law in the legal Encyclopedias.

Record keeping and the International Trade Law

Resources

See Also

Further Reading

• Record keeping entry in the Dictionary of International Trade Law (Raj Bhala)
• Record keeping entry in the Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History (Thomas Carson; Mary Bonk)
• Record keeping entry in the Dictionary of International Trade
• Record keeping entry in the Dictionary of International Trade: Handbook of the Global Trade Community (Edward G. Hinkelman)

Record-keeping penalties

Find more information on Record-keeping penalties in relation to the Customs Trade Law in the legal Encyclopedias.

Record-keeping requirements

Find more information on Record-keeping requirements in relation to the Customs Trade Law in the legal Encyclopedias.

Records and record keeping

Find more information on Records and record keeping in relation to the Customs Trade Law in the legal Encyclopedias.