Bill > SB5863

This bill mandates the creation of a preservation plan for historical documents and artifacts from Lakeland Village, a state-operated facility for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, to be developed by the division of archives and records management in collaboration with several state agencies and the University of Washington. This plan will identify at-risk items, assess their condition, outline preservation steps including storage, handling, restoration, cataloging, digitization, and transfer to archival microfilm, and include a timeline and budget, with a report due to the legislature by September 1, 2025, and will also address future public access. Importantly, records from Lakeland Village are to be retained through 2030, and the bill also amends existing law regarding public records by clarifying that confidential or exempt records transferred to state archives retain their status unless the archivist, with the originating agency's agreement, determines they should be made public, and after 75 years from creation, any restricted record transferred to archives will be open for inspection and copying, though this does not override existing confidentiality protections under various state and federal laws.