AN ACT Relating to the state oral history program; amending RCW 40.14.020; adding new sections to chapter 43.07 RCW; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The secretary of state, at the direction of the oral history advisory committee, shall administer and conduct a program to record and document oral histories of current and former members and staff of the Washington state legislature, current and former state government officials and personnel, and other citizens who have participated in the political history of Washington state. The secretary of state shall contract with independent oral historians and through the history departments of the state universities to interview and record oral histories and shall contract to produce verbatim transcripts of these interviews. The tapes and tape transcripts shall be indexed and made available for research and reference through the state archives. The transcripts, together with current and historical photographs, may be published for distribution to libraries and for sale to the general public.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. An oral history advisory committee is created, which shall consist of the following individuals:

(1) Two members from the house of representatives to be designated by the speaker of the house of representatives;

(2) Two members from the senate to be designated by the president of the senate;

(3) The chief clerk of the house of representatives;

(4) The secretary of the senate; and

(5) The secretary of state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The oral history advisory committee shall have the following responsibilities:

(1) To select appropriate oral history interview subjects;

(2) To select transcripts or portions of transcripts, and related historical material, for publication;

(3) To advise the secretary of state on the format and length of individual interview series and on appropriate issues and subjects for related series of interviews;

(4) To advise the secretary of state on the appropriate subjects, format, and length of interviews and on the process for conducting oral history interviews with subjects currently serving in the Washington state legislature;

(5) To advise the secretary of state on joint programs and activities with state universities, colleges, museums, and other groups conducting oral histories; and

(6) To advise the secretary of state on other aspects of the administration of the oral history program and on the conduct of individual interview projects.

Sec. 4. RCW 40.14.020 and 1986 c 275 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

All public records shall be and remain the property of the state of Washington. They shall be delivered by outgoing officials and employees to their successors and shall be preserved, stored, transferred, destroyed or disposed of, and otherwise managed, only in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. In order to insure the proper management and safeguarding of public records, the division of archives and records management is established in the office of the secretary of state((~~, and, under the administration of~~)). The state archivist, who shall administer the division and have reasonable access to all public records, wherever kept, for purposes of information, surveying, or cataloguing, shall undertake the following functions, duties, and responsibilities:

(1) To manage the archives of the state of Washington;

(2) To centralize the archives of the state of Washington, to make them available for reference and scholarship, and to insure their proper preservation;

(3) To inspect, inventory, catalog, and arrange retention and transfer schedules on all record files of all state departments and other agencies of state government;

(4) To insure the maintenance and security of all state public records and to establish safeguards against unauthorized removal or destruction;

(5) To establish and operate such state record centers as may from time to time be authorized by appropriation, for the purpose of preserving, servicing, screening and protecting all state public records which must be preserved temporarily or permanently, but which need not be retained in office space and equipment;

(6) To set standards by rule for the durability and permanence of records required by law or for other reasons to be filed and maintained permanently or for very long periods of time by state and local agencies;

(7) To gather and disseminate to interested agencies information on all phases of records management and current practices, methods, procedures, techniques, and devices for efficient and economical management and preservation of records;

(8) To operate a central microfilming bureau which will microfilm, at cost, records approved for filming by the head of the office of origin and the archivist; to approve microfilming projects undertaken by state departments and all other agencies of state government; and to maintain proper standards for this work;

(9) To maintain necessary facilities for the review of records approved for destruction and for their economical disposition by sale or burning; directly to supervise such destruction of public records as shall be authorized by the terms of this chapter;

(10) ((To conduct an oral history program to record and document the oral history of former members and staff of the Washington state legislature, former state government officials and personnel, and other citizens of interest through recording memoirs, processing and making transcripts of the tapes, and taking photographs. The tapes, transcripts, and photographs shall be indexed, shall be available for reference, and shall be properly preserved;

~~(11)~~)) To adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW to carry out the state archivist's duties under this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Sections 1 through 3 of this act are each added to chapter 43.07 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect on July 1, 1991.