Kansas State Laws on Optical Images
§ 60-401. Definitions
As used in this article unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Evidence" is the means from which inferences may be drawn as a basis of proof in duly constituted judicial or fact-finding tribunals, and includes testimony in the form of opinion, and hearsay.
(m) "Writing" means handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing any form or communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof.
§ 60-402. Scope of Rules
Except to the extent to which they may be relaxed by other procedural rule or statute applicable to the specific situation, the rules set forth in this article shall apply in every proceeding, both criminal and civil, conducted by or under the supervision of a court, in which evidence is produced.
§ 60-459. Definitions
As used in K.S.A. 60460, its exceptions and in this section:
(f) "A business" as used in exception K.S.A. 60-460 (m) shall include every. kind of business, profession, occupation, calling or operation of institutions, whether carried on for profit or not.
§ 60460. Hearsay Evidence Excluded, Exceptions
Evidence of a statement which is made other than by a witness while testifying at the hearing offered to prove the truth of the matter stated is hearsay evidence and inadmissible except:
(m) Business entries and the like. Writing offered as memoranda or records of acts, conditions or events to prove the facts stated therein, if the judge finds that (1) they were made in the regular course of a business at or about the time of the act, condition or event recorded and (2) the sources of information from which made and the method and circumstances of their preparation were such as to indicate their trustworthiness.
(n) Absence of entry in business records. Evidence of the absence of a memorandum or record from the memoranda or records of a business of an asserted act, event or condition, to prove the nonoccurrence of the act or event, or the nonexistence of the condition, if the judge finds that it was the regular course of that business to make such memoranda of all such acts, events or conditions at the time thereof or within a reasonable time thereafter and to preserve them.
(o) Content of official record. Subject to K.S.A. 60-461, (1) if meeting the requirements of authentication under K.S.A. 60465, to prove the content of the record, a writing purporting to be a copy of an official record or of an entry therein, (2) to prove the absence of a record in a specified office, a writing made by the official custodian of the official records of the office, reciting diligent search and failure to find such record.
(q) Records of documents affecting an interest in property. Subject to K.S.A. 60-461, the official record of a document purporting to establish or affect an interest in property, to prove the content of the original recorded document and its execution and delivery by each person by whom it purports to have been executed, if the judge finds that (1) the record is in fact a record of an office of a state or nation or of any governmental subdivision thereof and (2) an applicable statute authorized such a document to be recorded in that office.
(t) Judgment determining public interest in land. To prove any fact which was essential to the judgment, evidence of a final judgment determining the interest or lack of interest of the public or of a state or nation or governmental division thereof in land, it offered by a party in an action in which any such fact or such interest or lack of interest is a material matter.
(aa) Recitals in documents affecting property. Evidence of a statement relevant to a material matter, contained in a deed of conveyance or a will or other document purporting to affect an interest in property, offered as tending to prove the truth of the matter stated, if the judge finds that ( 1 ) the matter stated would be relevant upon an issue as to an interest in the property and (2) the dealings with the property since the statement was made have not been inconsistent with the truth of the statement.
(bb) Commercial lists and the like. Evidence of statements of makers of interest to persons engaged in an occupation contained in a list, register, periodical or other published compilation, to prove the truth of any relevant maker so stated. if the judge finds that the compilation is published for use by persons engaged in that occupation and is generally used and relied upon by them.
(cc) Learned treatises, A published treatise, periodical or pamphlet on a subject of history, science or art, to prove the truth of a matter stated therein, if the judge takes judicial notice. or a witness expert in the subject testifies, that the treatise, periodical or pamphlet is a reliable authority in the subject.
§ 60-461. Discretion of Judge Under Exception to Exclude Evidence
Any writing admissible under exceptions (o), (p), and (q) of K.S.A. 60-460 shall be received only if the party offering such writing has delivered a copy of it or so much thereof as may relate to the controversy, to each adverse party a reasonable time before trial unless the judge finds that such adverse party has not been unfairly surprised by the failure to deliver such copy.
§ 60-464. Authentication Required; Ancient Documents
Authentication of a writing is required before it may be received in evidence. 'Authentication may be by evidence sufficient to sustain a finding of its authenticity or by any other means provided by law. If the judge finds that a writing (I) is at least thirty years old at the time it is offered, and (2) is in such condition as to create no suspicion concerning its authenticity, and (3) at the time of its discovery was in a place in which such a document, if authentic. would be likely to be found, it is sufficiently authenticated.
§ 60-465. Authentication of Copies of Records
A writing purporting to be a copy of an official record or of any entry therein, meets the requirements of authentication if(I) the judge finds that the writing purports to be published by authority of the nation, state or subdivision thereof, in which the record is kept; or (2) evidence has been introduced sufficient to warrant a finding that the writing is a correct copy of the record or entry: or (3) the office in which the record is kept is within this state and the writing is attested as a correct copy of the record or entry by a person purporting to be an officer, or a deputy. of an officer, having the legal custody of the record; or (4) if the office is not within the state, the writing is arrested as required in clause (3) of this section and is accompanied by a certificate that such officer has the custody of the record. If the office in which the record is kept is within the United States or within a territory or insular possession subject to the dominion of the United States, the certificate may be made by a judge of a court of record of the district or political subdivision in which the record is kept, authenticated by the seat of the court. or may be made by any public officer having a seal of office and having official duties in the district or political subdivision in which the record is kept, authenticated by the seal of the office. If the office in which the record is kept is in a foreign state or country, the certificate may be made by a secretary of an embassy or legation, consul general, consul, vice-consul, or consular agency or by any officer in the foreign service of the United States stationed in the foreign state or country in which the record is kept, and authenticated by the seal of that office.
§ 60-465a. Reproductions of Original Court Records Deemed Same as Original Record; Certified Copy as Evidence
The photographs, micrographs or photographic film or prints or reproductions of the original records as authorized in K.S.A. 20-159 shall be deemed to be an original record for all purposes, and may be used as evidence in all courts or administrative agencies. A copy thereof, certified in writing by the person designated by the administrative judge of the judicial district as having custody of such reproduction, may be used as evidence in all courts or administrative agencies.
§ 60-466. Certificate of Lack of Record
A writing admissible under exception (o) (2) of K.S.A. 60-460 is authenticated in the same manner as is provided in clause (3) or (4) of K.S.A. 60-465.
§ 60-467. Documentary Originals as the Best Evidence
(a) As tending to prove the content of a writing, no evidence other than the writing itself is admissible, except as otherwise provided in these rules, unless the judge finds (1) that the writing is lost or has been destroyed without fraudulent intent on the pan of the proponent, or (2) that the writing is outside the reach of the court's process and not procurable by the proponent, or (3) that the opponent, at a time when the writing was under his or her control has been notified, expressly or by implication from the pleadings, that it would be needed at the hearing, and on request at the hearing has failed to produce it, or (4) that the writing is not closely related to the controlling issues and it would be in expedient to require its production, or (5) that the writing is an official record. or is a writing affecting property authorized to be recorded and actually recorded in the public records as described in K.S.A. 60-460, exception (s), or (6) that calculations or summaries of contents are called for as a result of an examination by a qualified witness of multiple or voluminous writings, which cannot be conveniently examined in court, but the adverse party shall have had a reasonable opportunity to examine such records before trial, and such writings are present in court for use in cross-examination, or the adverse party has waived their production, or the judge finds that their production is unnecessary.
(b) If the judge makes one of the findings specified in subsection (a) of this section, secondary evidence of the content of the writing is admissible. Evidence offered by the opponent tending to prove (1) 'that the asserted writing never existed. or (2) that a writing produced at the trial is the asserted writing; or (3) that the secondary evidence does not correctly reflect the content of the asserted writings, is irrelevant and inadmissible upon the question of admissibility of the secondary evidence but is relevant and admissible upon the issues of the existence and content of the asserted writing to be determined by the trier of fact.
§ 60468. Proof of Attested Writings
When the execution of an arrested writing is in issue, whether or not attestation is a statutory requisite of its effective execution, no attester is a necessary witness even though all attesters are available unless the statute requiring attestation specifically provides otherwise.
§ 60470. Title
The roles contained in this article 4 may be known and cited as the roles of evidence.
· Uniform Photographic Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence Act
Kan. Slat. Ann. § 60-469 is Kansas' version of the Uniform Photographic Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence Act. It states that the content of any admissible writing, if kept in the regular course of business, may be proved by "microfilm... or other photographic copy or reproduction."
§ 60469. Photographic Copies to Prove Content of Business and Public Records
The content of any admissible writing made in the regular course of "a business" as defined by K.S.A. 60-459 or in the regular course of duty. of any "public official" as defined by said section, may be proved by a photostatic, microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic or other photographic copy or reproduction or by an enlargement thereof, when duly authenticated, if it was in the regular course of such business or official activity, to make and preserve such copies or reproductions as a part of the records of such business or office. The introduction of such copy, reproduction or enlargement does not preclude admission of the original writing if it is still in existence.
Special Statutes
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 17-6514 states that "[a]ny records maintained by a corporation in the regular course of its business may be kept on, or be in the form of... microphotographs or any other information storage device, if the reports so kept can be converted into clearly legible written form within a reasonable time." Such records shall be converted upon the request of any person entitled to inspect them. A "clearly legible written form produced from" an information storage device shall all be admissible as an original written record.
§ 17-6514. Form of Records
Any records maintained by a corporation in the regular course of its business, including its stock ledger, books of account and minute books, may be kept on, or be in the form of, punch cards, magnetic tape, photographs, microphotographs or any other information storage device, if the reports so kept can be converted into clearly legible written form within a reasonable time. Any corporation shall so convert any records so kept upon the request of any person entitled to inspect the same. Where records are kept in such manner, a clearly legible written form produced from the cards, tapes, photographs, microphotographs or other information storage device shall be admissible in evidence and shall be accepted for all other purposes, to the same extent as an original written record of the same information would have been, when said written form accurately portrays the record.
Public Records
Kan. Slat. Ann. § 45-412 establishes procedures for the state's use of optical storage. Subsection (a) requires the state archivist to prepare recommendations, based on the current standards of the federal government and the American National Standards Institute, for the quality of film or optical disk storage. Subsection (b) authorizes the destruction of the original records if the proper procedures have been implemented for the storage and preservation of the records, unless a judgment has been made by the State Records Board that the records have enduring value in their original form.
§ 45-412. Microphotographic or Optical Disc Copies of Records; Original Record Destruction, When
(a) The state archivist shall prepare recommendations, to be approved by the State Records Board, based on the current standards of the federal government and the American National Standards Institute, for the quality of film or optical disc. proper arrangement of materials, suitable filming or other image reproduction techniques and equipment, quality of photographic or optical disc images, film processing results, and film or optical disc storage conditions which should be achieved or utilized by state and local agencies in making microphotographic or optical disc copies of government records with enduring value pursuant to K.S.A. 12-122, 19-250 or 75-3506? and amendments thereto. Whenever microphotographic or optical disc copies of records with enduring value fail to meet the standards recommended by the state archivist and approved by the State Records Board, the state archivist shall urge state and local agencies to retain the original records.
(b) Whenever photographs, microphotographs or other reproductions on film or optical disc have been prepared pursuant to K.S.A. 75-3506, and amendments thereto, and have been placed in conveniently accessible files and provisions made for preserving, examining and using the same, and when a negative copy of the film or a master copy of the optical disc has been deposited in a secure place where it will not be subject to use except in making additional positive copies, any state agency, with the approval of the State Records Board .or as authorized by the retention and disposition schedules, may cause the original records from which the photographs, microphotographs or other reproductions on film or optical disc have been made, or any part thereof, to be destroyed. Such records shall not be destroyed and shall be retained by the agency or transferred to the state archives or temporarily to another suitable place designated by the board, if the board judges such materials to have enduring value in their original form.
Statement of Clarification
It is the policy of the Kansas State Archives that all public records with an established retention period of ten years or older may be stored on optical disk, but the hard copy must .be retained for the duration of the retention period. If the retention period is less than ten years, then the records may be stored on optical disk and hard copy destroyed after receiving disposal authorization from the State Records Board. It is not the intention to discourage agencies from utilizing optical disk technology which can be very beneficial for the storage and quick retrieval of large quantities of records.
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 75-3506 permits any public officer of the state to photograph, microphotograph, or reproduce on film or optical disk any or all records kept by that officer, provided that such film or optical disk complies with standards recommended by the state archivist, and the reproducing device accurately reproduces the original in all details.
§ 75-3506. Reproductions of Records on Film or Disc
Any public officer of the state may cause any or all records, papers or documents kept by the public officer to be photographed, microphotographed, reproduced on film or optical disc. Such photographic film or optical disc shall comply with standards recommended by the state archivist and approved by the State Records Board pursuant to K.S.A. 45-412, and amendments thereto, and the device used to reproduce such records on such film or optical disc shall be one which accurately reproduces the original thereof all details.
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 75-3507 states that a reprinted image "from an optical disc shall be deemed to be an original record for all purposes, including introduction in evidence in all courts or administrative agencies." The section adds that an exemplification or certified copy of such reproduction shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be that of the original.
§ 75-3507. Reproductions of Records on Film or Disc; Evidence in Courts or Administrative Agencies
Such photographs, microphotographs, photographic film or reprinted images from an optical disc shall be deemed to be an original record for all purposes, including introduction in evidence in all courts or administrative agencies. A transcript, exemplification or certified copy thereof shall, for all purposes recited herein, be deemed to be a transcript. exemplification, or certified copy of the original.
7-52.2R
State Archivist and Records Manager:
Patricia Michaelis,
State Archivist
6425 SW 6th Avenue
Topeka KS 66615-1099
913-272-8681 ext. 270 fax: 913-272-8682
Cynthia Shively,
State Records Mgr.
913-272-8681 Ext. 288
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