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Under California's State Records Management Act (Government Code section 12270-12279, et seq.), each agency must establish and maintain a records retention schedule that details the public records the agency will keep, how the records will be managed, and how the agency will legally dispose of non-permanent records.
Athena provides access to many state agency records retention schedules. State Archives staff review each schedule to determine whether any of the records state agencies are proposing to discard have potential archival value and should be transferred to the State Archives.
Once agency records requested by the State Archives have been transferred, archivists conduct a detailed appraisal to determine whether the records do, indeed, have archival value and should be retained by the State Archives.
NOTICE:
As of 2024, the California State Archives is no longer uploading PDF files of completed retention schedules into Athena. Approval numbers, schedule numbers, and agency/unit information will continue to be updated and searchable. If you would like the PDF file of a specific retention schedule that is not available in Athena, please contact CalRIM@sos.ca.gov with the seven-digit approval number.
