Court records: preservation guidelines.

Existing law provides that court records may be preserved in any form, including electronic forms, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize courts to create and maintain records in electronic forms, as specified, and would authorize the signing or verification of trial court documents using a computer or other technology. Existing law requires that court records be preserved in accordance with standards or guidelines adopted by the American National Standards Institute or the Association for Information and Image Management. This bill would delete these provisions and would instead require the Judicial Council to adopt rules to establish the standards and guidelines for the creation, maintenance, reproduction, and preservation of court records, and would require that these standards and guidelines reflect industry standards for each medium used, ensure the accuracy and preserve the integrity of the records, and ensure that the public can access and reproduce the records. The bill would further require that court records be preserved in accordance with these rules. Under existing law, "retain permanently" means that the original court record shall never be transferred or destroyed. This bill would revise this definition to mean that the record shall be maintained in accordance with the rules established by the Judicial Council.