County Supervisor Proposes Transparent 5-Year Email Retention Policy

SAN DIEGO, CA — San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson will Tuesday propose establishing a five-year minimum retention requirement for county public records and communications, including emails and text messages.

This would extend the current practice -- emails that are not classified as official records or subject to a litigation hold are automatically deleted after two years -- in an attempt to strengthen government transparency, Anderson said. Text messages sent or received on county-issued devices also have no retention period and cannot be retrieved once deleted. Tuesday's proposal would change that.

"You cannot put a price on open, accessible, and transparent government," Anderson said. "When a resident asks what their government did, why a decision was made or how taxpayer dollars were spent, they deserve to know that the records still exist. Government should not lose important information simply because a clock ran out on an automatic deletion policy."

If the board approves the proposal, it would direct the county's Chief Administrative Officer to return to the board within 120 days with options for establishing a new retention standard, along with the estimated costs and potential funding sources.

Anderson's letter to the board notes that inconsistent retention practices can create "uncertainty for the public and media seeking information" and can affect the county's ability to respond transparently to California Public Records Act requests.

"Transparency only works if the information is there to be seen," Anderson said. "A public records request should not come down to whether an email or text happened to survive long enough for someone to ask for it. If county employees used taxpayer-funded resources to conduct the public's business, we should take reasonable steps to preserve that information."

Currently, communication retention schedules and management practices can vary by county department, which Anderson said can create confusion. The proposal Tuesday would set the five-year minimum across the board.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors will meet at the County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway, starting at 9 a.m.

— City News Service