We are pleased to announce that the remaining 10 local government retention schedules will be published in the Texas Register on Friday, November 19, 2010. This issue will include revisions to:

Local Schedule CC: Records of County Clerks

Local Schedule DC: Records of District Clerks

Local Schedule EL: Records of Elections and Voter Registration

Local Schedule GR: Records Common to All Local Governments

Local Schedule HR: Records of Public Health Agencies

Local Schedule LC: Records of Justice and Municipal Courts

Local Schedule PS: Records of Public Safety Agencies

Local Schedule PW: Records of Public Works and Services

Local Schedule TX: Records of Property Taxation

Local Schedule UT: Records of Utility Services

These schedules will be open for public comment for a 30-day time period. Written comments on the proposed rules may be submitted to Nanette Pfiester, Program Planning and Research Specialist, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711; by fax to (512) 421-7201; or by email to nanette.pfiester@tsl.texas.gov. To read about what happens after the 30-day comment period, visit our July blog post on this subject.

The Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s next meeting is scheduled for February. At that time, we hope to gain final approval for as many of these 10 schedules as possible, making their effective date shortly afterward. Our Commission meets quarterly, so if changes are made to a schedule due to public comment, it would not be until May before they could return to our Commission for final approval, thus making their effective date sometime during the summer of 2011.

As a local government employee, changes to these retention schedules directly affect your business practices and recordkeeping. Since you are more familiar with the day to day tasks of your job processes and purpose of each record in your office, we rely on your input to help us make these schedules meet your needs more completely.