State archives: Online Archives Program.

Existing law establishes the Secretary of State as the custodian of the public archives of the State and requires him or her to maintain and properly equip safe and secure vaults for the preservation, indexing, and use of the archives. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to receive into the archives any item that he or she deems to be of historical value. This bill would require the Secretary of State to establish an Online Archives Program to be administered by the State Archives for the purpose of providing public access to state records and other records and items of historical and archival value, as specified. The bill would require the program to include, among other things, development, administration, and maintenance of an archival standards-based digital records preservation system for secure intake of, preservation of, indexing of, and public access to, public records.