Subject of Possible Rule Making: Washington state digital archives; collecting and managing records at the digital archives.

     Statutes Authorizing the Agency to Adopt Rules on this Subject: RCW 40.14.020.

     Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: These rules will:

•	Define terms related to acquiring and archiving public records in electronic formats;
•	Describe required procedures and protocols related to acquiring, transferring and archiving public records in electronic formats at the Washington state digital archives;
•	Describe agency duties and responsibilities with respect to digital archives and records;
•	Address document authentication, chain of custody, and use of encryption for records at the digital archives.

     Process for Developing New Rule: Negotiated rule making; and initial proposed rule language will be developed by the Office of the Secretary of State (OSOS). OSOS will create a stakeholder group of known interested parties. OSOS will take commit [comments] from other interested parties before and after publication in the register. Finally, public comment will be taken at public hearings prior to final adoption.

     Process for Developing New Rule:

     Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Shane Hamlin, P.O. Box 40220, Olympia, WA 98504-0220, phone (360) 902-4141, fax (360) 586-5629, e-mail shamlin@secstate.wa.gov.

October 5, 2005

Steve Excell

Assistant Secretary of State

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