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Sec. 1 Purpose.
The University of Texas System recognizes the need for orderly management and retrieval of all official state records, in accordance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.
Sec. 2 Responsibility for Records Management Program.
Each institutional president, as the head of the state agency, is responsible for establishing and overseeing a records management program for the institution as outlined in Texas Government Code Chapter 441.183.
Each institutional president will appoint a Records Management Officer (RMO) to represent the institution in all issues of records and information management policy, responsibility, and statutory compliance pursuant to Texas Government Code Section 441.184.
The U. T. System RMO serves as coordinator of meetings of U. T. System and the institutions to collaborate on records and information management issues. In addition, the U. T. System RMO is available to assist institutional RMOs and any staff who are assigned records and information management responsibilities.
Sec. 3 Handbook of Operating Procedures.
A Records and Information Management policy is to be included in institutional Handbooks of Operating Procedures.
Sec. 4 Records Retention Schedule.
The RMO of each institution will submit the institution’s Records Retention Schedule (‘retention schedule”), including all amendments, directly to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for approval and certification in accordance with Texas Government Code 441.185 and 13 Texas Administrative Code Sections 6.1-6.10.
The retention schedule provides a list of official state records for every department of the institution and prescribes mandatory minimum retention periods. The retention schedule must be recertified periodically in accordance with the timeline established by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and should be kept current through amendments between recertifications. Appropriate approval procedures must be followed and completed before submission of the retention schedule to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission for certification.
All state records must be retained in accordance with the retention schedule, notwithstanding the legal holds described in Section 5.
4.1 Archival Records. Archival records must be identified in the retention schedule, transferred to the archives of the institution when retention is met, and preserved until the institutional archivist determines upon reappraisal that further preservation is not merited. Electronic archival records are additionally subject to the requirements of 13 Texas Administrative Code Section 6.95.
4.2 Electronic Records. Official records kept only in electronic format must be identified and must comply with the administrative rules of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (13 Texas Administrative Code Sections 6.91-6.98).
4.3 Microforms. Documents may be maintained for the prescribed retention periods in microform if the reproduction is accomplished pursuant to a procedure that complies with Texas Government Code Section 441.188 and 13 Texas Administrative Code Sections 6.21-6.35.
4.4 Vital Records. Vital records should be identified and protected in accordance with Texas Government Code Section 441.183.
Sec. 5 Destruction of Records.
The retention schedule of each institution serves as the basis for the lawful disposition of state records under Texas Government Code Section 441.187. Unless subject to one of the provisions below, a record should not be retained past its approved retention period.
5.1 Legal Hold. A state record may not be destroyed if any litigation, claim, negotiation, audit, public information request, administrative review, or other action involving the record is initiated before the expiration of the retention period for the record set in the approved institutional retention schedule.
5.2 Records Not Listed on Retention Schedule. State records not listed on the retention schedule may only be destroyed after receiving approval by officials at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission using Form RMD 102, Request for Authority to Dispose of State Records.
Destruction of state records must be documented. The form and manner of documentation may be determined by each institution.
Convenience copies should be destroyed when they cease to be useful and should never be kept longer than the official state record.
Definitions
Archival State Record - any state record of enduring value that will be preserved on a continuing basis by the institutional archives until its archivist indicates that based on a reappraisal of the record it no longer merits further retention.
State Record - any written, photographic, machine-readable, or other recorded information created or received by or on behalf of U. T. System or any of its institutions that documents activities in the conduct of the state business or use of public resources. The term does not include library or museum material made or acquired and maintained solely for reference or exhibition purposes, an extra copy of recorded information maintained only for reference (“convenience copy”), or a stock of obsolete forms or publications originally intended for distribution.
Vital State Record - any state record necessary to the resumption or continuation of state agency operations in an emergency or disaster, the recreation of the legal and financial status of the agency, or the protection and fulfillment of obligations to the people of the state.
