Washington State Laws on Optical Imaging
State Archivist and Records Manager:
Dr. George W. Scott, State Archivist
Div. of Archives & Records Mgmt.
1120 Washington St., SW Olympia, WA 98504-0238
360-753-5485 fax: 360-664-8814
David Owens, Deputy State
Archivist
360-753-5485
David Hastings, Chief of Archives
360-586-1492
Rules of Evidence:
RCW 5.46.010 Copies of business and public records as
evidence. If any business, institution, member of a profession or
calling or any department or agency of government, in the regular
course of business or activity has kept or recorded any memorandum,
writing, entry, print, representation or combination thereof, of
any act, transaction, occurrence or event, and in the regular
course of business has caused any or all of the same to be
recorded, copied or reproduced by any photographic, photostatic,
microfilm, microcard, miniature photographic, optical imaging, or
other process which accurately reproduces or forms a durable mediumfor so reproducing the original, the original may be destroyed in
the regular course of business unless the same is an asset or is
representative of title to an asset held in a custodial or
fiduciary capacity or unless its preservation is required by law.
Such reproduction, when satisfactorily identified, is as admissible
in evidence as the original itself in any judicial or
administrative proceeding whether the original is in existence or
not and an enlargement or facsimile of such reproduction is
likewise admissible in evidence if the original reproduction is in
existence and available for inspection under direction of court.
The introduction of a reproduced record, enlargement or facsimile,
does not preclude admission of the original. [1994 c 19 § 1; 1959
c 125 § 1; 1953 c 273 § 1. Formerly RCW 5.44.125.]
NOTES:
Photostatic or photographic copies of public or business records
admissible in evidence: RCW 40.20.030.
RCW 9.26A.100 Definitions. Unless the context clearly
requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter.
(1) "Access device" shall have the same meaning as that
contained in RCW 9A.56.010.
(2) "Computer" means an electronic, magnetic, optical,
electrochemical, or other high speed data processing device
performing logical, arithmetic, or storage functions, and includes
any data storage facility or communications facility directly
related to or operating in conjunction with such device, but does
not mean an automated typewriter or typesetter, portable hand held
calculator, or other similar device.
RCW 18.28.110 Licensees--Functions required to be performed.
Every licensee shall perform the following functions:
(1) Make a permanent record of all payments by debtors, or on
the debtors' behalf, and of all disbursements to creditors of such
debtors, and shall keep and maintain in this state all such
records, and all payments not distributed to creditors. No person
shall intentionally make any false entry in any such record, or
intentionally mutilate, destroy or otherwise dispose of any such
record. Such records shall at all times be open for inspection by
the director or his authorized agent, and shall be preserved as
original records or by microfilm or other methods of duplicationacceptable to the director, for at least six years after making the
final entry therein.
RCW 36.18.005 Definitions. The definitions set forth in this
section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly
requires otherwise.
(1) "Recording officer" means the county auditor, or in
charter counties the county official charged with the
responsibility for recording instruments in the county records.
(2) "File," "filed," or "filing" means the act of delivering
an instrument to the auditor or recording officer for recording
into the official public records.
(3) "Record," "recorded," or "recording" means the process,
such as electronic, mechanical, optical, magnetic, or microfilm
storage used by the auditor or recording officer after filing to
incorporate the instrument into the public records. [1991 c 26 § 1.]
RCW 40.14.020 Division of archives and records management--
State archivist--Powers and duties--Duties of public officials.
All public records shall be and remain the property of the state of
Washington. They shall be delivered by outgoing officials and
employees to their successors and shall be preserved, stored,
transferred, destroyed or disposed of, and otherwise managed, only
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. In order to
insure the proper management and safeguarding of public records,
the division of archives and records management is established in
the office of the secretary of state. The state archivist, who
shall administer the division and have reasonable access to all
public records, wherever kept, for purposes of information,
surveying, or cataloguing, shall undertake the following functions,
duties, and responsibilities:
(1) To manage the archives of the state of Washington;
(2) To centralize the archives of the state of Washington, to
make them available for reference and scholarship, and to insure
their proper preservation;
(3) To inspect, inventory, catalog, and arrange retention and
transfer schedules on all record files of all state departments and
other agencies of state government;
(4) To insure the maintenance and security of all state public
records and to establish safeguards against unauthorized removal or
destruction;
(5) To establish and operate such state record centers as may
from time to time be authorized by appropriation, for the purpose
of preserving, servicing, screening and protecting all state public
records which must be preserved temporarily or permanently, but
which need not be retained in office space and equipment;
(6) To adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW:
(a) Setting standards for the durability and permanence of
public records maintained by state and local agencies;
(b) Governing procedures for the creation, maintenance,
transmission, cataloging, indexing, storage, or reproduction of
photographic, optical, electronic, or other images of public
documents or records in a manner consistent with current standards,
policies, and procedures of the department of information services
for the acquisition of information technology;
(c) Governing the accuracy and durability of, and facilitating
access to, photographic, optical, electronic, or other images used
as public records; or
(d) To carry out any other provision of this chapter;
(7) To gather and disseminate to interested agencies
information on all phases of records management and current
practices, methods, procedures, techniques, and devices for
efficient and economical management and preservation of records;
(8) To operate a central microfilming bureau which will
microfilm, at cost, records approved for filming by the head of the
office of origin and the archivist; to approve microfilming
projects undertaken by state departments and all other agencies of
state government; and to maintain proper standards for this work;
(9) To maintain necessary facilities for the review of records
approved for destruction and for their economical disposition by
sale or burning; directly to supervise such destruction of public
records as shall be authorized by the terms of this chapter; [and]
(10) To assist and train state and local agencies in the
proper methods of creating, maintaining, cataloging, indexing,
transmitting, storing, and reproducing photographic, optical,
electronic, or other images used as public records. [1995 c 326 §
1. Prior: 1991 c 237 § 4; 1991 c 184 § 1; 1986 c 275 § 1; 1983 c
84 § 1; 1981 c 115 § 1; 1957 c 246 § 2.]
RCW 62A.4-110 Electronic presentment. (a) "Agreement for
electronic presentment" means an agreement, clearing-house rule, or
Federal Reserve regulation or operating circular, providing that
presentment of an item may be made by transmission of an image of
an item or information describing the item ("presentment notice")
rather than delivery of the item itself. The agreement may provide
for procedures governing retention, presentment, payment, dishonor,
and other matters concerning items subject to the agreement.
(b) Presentment of an item pursuant to an agreement for
presentment is made when the presentment notice is received.
(c) If presentment is made by presentment notice, a reference
to "item" or "check" in this Article means the presentment notice
unless the context otherwise indicates. [1993 c 229 § 86.]
RCW 65.04.015 Definitions. The definitions set forth [in]
this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context
clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Recording officer" means the county auditor, or in
charter counties the county official charged with the
responsibility for recording instruments in the county records.
(2) "File," "filed," or "filing" means the act of delivering
an instrument to the auditor or recording officer for recording
into the official public records.
(3) "Record," "recorded," or "recording" means the process,
such as electronic, mechanical, optical, magnetic, or microfilm
storage used by the auditor or recording officer after filing to
incorporate the instrument into the public records.
(4) "Record location number" means a unique number that
identifies the storage location (book or volume and page, reel and
frame, instrument number, auditor or recording officer file number,
receiving number, electronic retrieval code, or other specific
place) of each instrument in the public records accessible in the
same recording office where the instrument containing the reference
to the location is found. [1991 c 26 § 3.]
RCW 36.18.005 Definitions. The definitions set forth in this
section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly
requires otherwise.(1) "Recording officer" means the county auditor, or in
charter counties the county official charged with theresponsibility for recording instruments in the county records.(2) "File," "filed," or "filing" means the act of delivering an instrument to the auditor or recording officer for recording
into the official public records.
(3) "Record," "recorded," or "recording" means the process,
such as electronic, mechanical, optical, magnetic, or microfilm
storage used by the auditor or recording officer after filing to
incorporate the instrument into the public records. [1991 c 26 1.]
RCW 40.14.010 Definition and classification of public
records. As used in this chapter, the term "public records" shall
include any paper, correspondence, completed form, bound record
book, photograph, film, sound recording, map drawing, machine-
readable material, compact disc meeting current industry ISO
specifications, or other document, regardless of physical form or
characteristics, and including such copies thereof, that have been
made by or received by any agency of the state of Washington in
connection with the transaction of public business, and legislative
records as described in RCW 40.14.100.
For the purposes of this chapter, public records shall be
classified as follows:
(1) Official public records shall include all original
vouchers, receipts, and other documents necessary to isolate and
prove the validity of every transaction relating to the receipt,
use, and disposition of all public property and public income from
all sources whatsoever; all agreements and contracts to which the
state of Washington or any agency thereof may be a party; all
fidelity, surety, and performance bonds; all claims filed against
the state of Washington or any agency thereof; all records or
documents required by law to be filed with or kept by any agency of
the state of Washington; all legislative records as defined in RCW
40.14.100; and all other documents or records determined by the
records committee, created in RCW 40.14.050, to be official public
records.
(2) Office files and memoranda include such records as
correspondence, exhibits, drawings, maps, completed forms, or
documents not above defined and classified as official public
records; duplicate copies of official public records filed with any
agency of the state of Washington; documents and reports made for
the internal administration of the office to which they pertain but
not required by law to be filed or kept with such agency; and other
documents or records as determined by the records committee to be
office files and memoranda. [1996 c 71 ~ 1; 1982 c 36 ~ 3; 1981 c
32 § 4; 1971 ex.s. c 102 ~ 1; 1957 c 246 § 1.]
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