Texas Statutes
Subchapter J. Preservation and Management of Local Government Records
Section 441.151. Definitions

Sec. 441.151. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Commission" means the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
(2) "Custodian" means the appointed or elected public officer who by the state constitution, state law, ordinance, or administrative policy is in charge of an office that creates or receives local government records.
(3) "Depository" means a regional historical resource depository established under Section 441.153.
(4) "Director and librarian" means the executive and administrative officer of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
(5) "Essential record" means any local government record necessary to the resumption or continuation of government operations in an emergency or disaster, to the re-creation of the legal and financial status of the government, or to the protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.
(6) "Historical resource" means a book, publication, newspaper, manuscript, paper, document, memorandum, record, map, artwork, photograph, microfilm, sound recording, or other material of historical interest or value, including a local government record of permanent value transferred to the custody of the commission under Subtitle C, Title 6, Local Government Code.
(7) "Local government" means a county, including all district and precinct offices of a county, municipality, public school district, appraisal district, or any other special-purpose district or authority.
(8) "Local government record" means any document, paper, letter, book, map, photograph, sound or video recording, microfilm, magnetic tape, electronic medium, or other information recording medium, regardless of physical form or characteristic and regardless of whether public access to it is open or restricted under the laws of the state, created or received by a local government or any of its officers or employees pursuant to law, including an ordinance, or in the transaction of public business. The term does not include:
(A) extra identical copies of documents created only for convenience of reference or research by officers or employees of the local government;
(B) notes, journals, diaries, and similar documents created by an officer or employee of the local government for the officer's or employee's personal convenience;
(C) blank forms;
(D) stocks of publications;
(E) library and museum materials acquired solely for the purposes of reference or display; or
(F) copies of documents in any media furnished to members of the public to which they are entitled under Chapter 552, or other state law.
(9) "Permanent record" or "record of permanent value" means any local government record whose retention period on a records retention schedule issued by the commission is given as permanent.
(10) "Records management" means the application of management techniques to the creation, use, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of records for the purposes of reducing the costs and improving the efficiency of recordkeeping. The term includes the development of records control schedules, the management of filing and information retrieval systems, the protection of essential and permanent records, the economical and space-effective storage of inactive records, control over the creation and distribution of forms, reports, and correspondence, and the management of micrographics and electronic and other records storage systems.
(11) "Records management officer" means the person identified under Section 203.001 or designated under Section 203.025, Local Government Code, as the records management officer.
(12) "Research center" means a regional research center established under Section 441.154.
(13) "Retention period" means the minimum time that must pass after the creation, recording, or receipt of a record, or the fulfillment of certain actions associated with a record, before it is eligible for destruction.
Added by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 1248, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.95(96), eff. Sept. 1, 1995.