Sec. 441.187. DESTRUCTION OF STATE RECORDS. (a) A state record may be destroyed by a state agency if:

(1) the record appears on a records retention schedule approved under Section 441.185 and the record's retention period has expired;

(2) a records destruction request is submitted to the state records administrator and approved by the director and librarian, or the designee of the director and librarian, for a state record that does not appear on the approved records retention schedule of the agency; or

(3) the record is exempted from the need to be listed on a records destruction request under rules adopted by the commission.

(b) A state record may not be destroyed if any litigation, claim, negotiation, audit, open records request, administrative review, or other action involving the record is initiated before the expiration of a retention period for the record set by the commission or in the approved records retention schedule of the agency until the completion of the action and the resolution of all issues that arise from the action, or until the expiration of the retention period, whichever is later.

(c) The director and librarian may destroy any state record in the physical custody of the commission under Section 441.182 whose minimum retention requirements have expired without the consent of the agency head if, in the opinion of the director and librarian and either the attorney general or the state auditor, there is no justification under this subchapter or other state law for the record's further retention.

(d) A state record may be destroyed before the expiration of its retention period on the approved records retention schedule of the state agency that has custody of the record only with the special consent of the director and librarian and, if the record possesses fiscal or financial value, with the concurrent consent of the state auditor.

(e) The commission may adopt rules prescribing the permissible means by which state records may be destroyed.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 873, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.