Nebraska State Seal

Nebraska Laws Pertaining to
Libraries & Library Operations

Chapter 84. State Officers
RECORDS MANAGEMENT ACT
§§ 84-1201-1204, 1220, 1227

Statute: 84-1201
Legislative intent.

The Legislature declares that:
  1. Programs for the systematic and centrally correlated management of state and local records will promote efficiency and economy in the day-to-day record-keeping activities of state and local governments and will facilitate and expedite governmental operations;
  2. Records containing information essential to the operations of government, and to the protection of the rights and interests of persons, must be safeguarded against the destructive effects of all forms of disaster and must be available as needed; wherefore it is necessary to adopt special provisions for the selection and preservation of essential state and local records, thereby insuring the protection and availability of such information;
  3. The increasing availability and use of computers is creating a growing demand for electronic access to public records, and agencies should use new technology to enhance public access to public records;
  4. There must be public accountability in the process of collecting, sharing, disseminating, and accessing public records;
  5. The Legislature has oversight responsibility for the process of collecting, sharing, disseminating, and providing access, including electronic access, to public records and establishing fees for disseminating and providing access;
  6. Several state agencies, individually and collectively, are providing electronic access to public records through various means, including gateways; and
  7. There is a need for a uniform policy regarding the management, operation, and oversight of systems providing electronic access to public records.

Source:
Laws 1961, c. 455, § 1, p. 1385; Laws 1997, LB 590, § 3.

Statute: 84-1202
Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Records Management Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
  1. Agency means any department, division, office, commission, court, board, or elected, appointed, or constitutional officer, except individual members of the Legislature, or any other unit or body, however designated, of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of state government or of the government of any local political subdivision;
  2. Agency head means the chief or principal official or representative in any such agency or the presiding judge of any court, by whatever title known. When an agency consists of a single official, the agency and the agency head are one and the same;
  3. State agency means an agency of the state government;
  4. Local agency means an agency of a local political subdivision, including any entity created pursuant to the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the Joint Public Agency Act;
  5. Local political subdivision means any county, city, village, township, district, authority, or other public corporation or political entity, whether existing under charter or general law, including any entity created pursuant to the Interlocal Cooperation Act or the Joint Public Agency Act. Local political subdivision does not include a city of the metropolitan class or a district or other unit which by law is considered an integral part of state government;
  6. Record means any book, document, paper, photograph, microfilm, sound recording, magnetic storage medium, optical storage medium, or other material regardless of physical form or characteristics created or received pursuant to law, charter, or ordinance or in connection with any other activity relating to or having an effect upon the transaction of public business;
  7. State record means a record which normally is maintained within the custody or control of a state agency or any other record which is designated or treated as a state record according to general law;
  8. Local record means a record of a local political subdivision or of any agency thereof unless designated or treated as a state record under general law;
  9. Essential record means a state or local record which is within one or the other of the following categories and which shall be preserved pursuant to the Records Management Act:
    1. Category A. Records containing information necessary to the operations of government under all conditions, including a period of emergency created by a disaster; or
    2. Category B. Records not within Category A but which contain information necessary to protect the rights and interests of persons or to establish or affirm the powers and duties of state or local governments in the resumption of operations after a disaster;
  10. Preservation duplicate means a copy of an essential record which is used for the purpose of preserving the record pursuant to the act;
  11. Disaster means any occurrence of fire, flood, storm, earthquake, explosion, epidemic, riot, sabotage, or other conditions of extreme peril resulting in substantial injury or damage to persons or property within this state, whether such occurrence is caused by an act of nature or of humans, including an enemy of the United States;
  12. Administrator means the State Records Administrator;
  13. Board means the State Records Board;
  14. Electronic access means collecting, sharing, disseminating, and providing access to public records electronically;
  15. Gateway means any centralized electronic information system by which public records are provided through dial-in modem or continuous link;
  16. Public records includes all records and documents, regardless of physical form, of or belonging to this state or any agency, branch, department, board, bureau, commission, council, subunit, or committee of this state except when any other statute expressly provides that particular information or records shall not be made public. Data which is a public record in its original form shall remain a public record when maintained in computer files; and
  17. Network manager means an individual, a private entity, a state agency, or any other governmental subdivision responsible for directing and supervising the day-to-day operations and expansion of a gateway.

Source:
Laws 1961, c. 455, § 2, p. 1385; Laws 1969, c. 841, § 1, p. 3167; Laws 1979, LB 559, § 1; Laws 1980, LB 747, § 1; Laws 1991, LB 25, § 2; Laws 1991, LB 81, § 12; Laws 1997, LB 590, § 4; Laws 1999, LB 87, § 99. Effective date August 28, 1999.

Statute: 84-1203
Secretary of State; State Records Administrator; duties.

The Secretary of State is hereby designated the State Records Administrator, hereinafter called the administrator. The administrator shall establish and administer, within and for state and local agencies, (1) a records management program which will apply efficient and economical methods to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of state and local records, (2) a program for the selection and preservation of essential state and local records, (3) establish and maintain a depository for the storage and service of state records, and advise, assist, and govern by rules and regulations the establishment of similar programs in local political subdivisions in the state, and (4) establish and maintain a central microfilm agency for state records and advise, assist, and govern by rules and regulations the establishment of similar programs in state agencies and local political subdivisions in the State of Nebraska.

Source:
Laws 1961, c. 455, § 3, p. 1387; Laws 1969, c. 841, § 2, p. 3169; Laws 1977, LB 520, § 1; Laws 1979, LB 559, § 2.

Statute: 84-1204
State Records Board; established; members; duties; meetings.

  1. The State Records Board is hereby established. The board shall:
    1. Advise and assist the administrator in the performance of his or her duties under the Records Management Act;
    2. Provide electronic access to public records through a gateway;
    3. Develop and maintain a gateway or electronic network for accessing public records;
    4. Provide appropriate oversight of a network manager;
    5. Approve reasonable fees for electronic access to public records pursuant to sections 84-1205.02 and 84-1205.03 and submit contracts for public bidding pursuant to section 84-1205.04;
    6. Have the authority to enter into or renegotiate agreements regarding the management of the network in order to provide citizens with electronic access to public records;
    7. Explore ways and means of expanding the amount and kind of public records provided through the gateway or electronic network, increasing the utility of the public records provided and the form in which the public records are provided, expanding the base of users who access public records electronically, and, if appropriate, implementing changes necessary for such purposes;
    8. Explore technological ways and means of improving citizen and business access to public records and, if appropriate, implement the technological improvements;
    9. Explore options of expanding the gateway or electronic network and its services to citizens and businesses; and
    10. Perform such other functions and duties as the act requires.
  2. In addition to the administrator, the board shall consist of:
    1. The Governor or his or her designee;
    2. The Attorney General or his or her designee;
    3. The Auditor of Public Accounts or his or her designee;
    4. The State Treasurer or his or her designee;
    5. The Director of Administrative Services or his or her designee;
    6. Three representatives appointed by the Governor to be broadly representative of banking, insurance, and law groups; and
    7. Three representatives appointed by the Governor to be broadly representative of libraries, the general public, and professional members of the Nebraska news media.
  3. The administrator shall be chairperson of the board. Upon call by the administrator, the board shall convene periodically in accordance with its rules and regulations or upon call by the administrator.
  4. Six members of the board shall constitute a quorum, and the affirmative vote of six members shall be necessary for any action to be taken by the board. No vacancy in the membership of the board shall impair the right of a quorum to exercise all the rights and perform all the duties of the board.
  5. The representatives appointed by the Governor shall serve staggered three-year terms as the Governor designates and may be appointed for one additional term. Members of the board shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses as provided in sections 81-1174 to 81-1177.

Source:
Laws 1961, c. 455, § 4, p. 1387; Laws 1969, c. 841, § 3, p. 3170; Laws 1979, LB 559, § 3; Laws 1989, LB 18, § 7; Laws 1997, LB 590, § 5.

Statute: 84-1220
Act, how cited.

Sections 84-1201 to 84-1227 shall be known and may be cited as the Records Management Act.

Source:
Laws 1961, c. 455, § 20, p. 1394; Laws 1979, LB 559, § 12; Laws 1997, LB 590, § 13.

Statute: 84-1227
Records Management Cash Fund; created; use; investment.

There is hereby established in the state treasury a special fund to be known as the Records Management Cash Fund which, when appropriated by the Legislature, shall be expended by the Secretary of State for the purposes of providing records management services and assistance to political subdivisions and for development and maintenance of a gateway or electronic network for accessing public records. All fees and charges for the purpose of records management services and analysis received by the Secretary of State from the political subdivisions shall be remitted to the State Treasurer for credit to such fund. Any money in the fund available for investment shall be invested by the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.

Source:
Laws 1984, LB 527, § 3; Laws 1995, LB 7, § 149; Laws 1997, LB 590, § 14.

For more information, contact Richard Miller.