SB 1236 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

State Records Management Act.

Summary
Existing law, the State Records Management Act, generally requires the head of a state agency to establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical and efficient management of the records and information collection practices of the agency. The act requires the Secretary of State to determine, among other things, whether a record held by a state agency has archival value, as defined, and requires a record deemed to have archival value to be transferred to the State Archives. The act requires the Secretary of State to enforce all statutory requirements regarding the confidentiality of records transferred to the State Archives and to make the records available to authorized individuals or the public, as determined by applicable law. This bill would revise and recast the duties of the head of a state agency and the Secretary of State to determine and transfer a record deemed to have archival value.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Jul 2026
Senate Passage
Apr 2026
Assembly Passage
Jul 2026
Signed into Law
Jul 2026
Introduced Feb 19, 2026 Signed Jul 16, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

02/19/26 - Introduced 07/07/26 - Enrolled · 3 edits · Jul 7, 2026
MINOR
SB 1236 recasts Section 12274 of the Government Code to better organize state agency records management duties. The main substantive change separates the archival transfer requirement and restricted-disclosure notification from the 50-year retention provision into their own subdivision (d), removing a redundant general statement that archival records 'shall be transferred' and replacing it with a clearer timing rule: transfer occurs once the record reaches the end of its administrative, legal, fiscal, or evidential value to the agency.
REQUIREMENT

The archival transfer requirement was moved from subdivision (c) into a new standalone subdivision (d)(1), which specifies that records must be transferred to the State Archives once they reach the end of their administrative, legal, fiscal, or evidential value to the agency. The prior version contained both a general statement in (c) that archival records 'shall be transferred' and a more specific timing rule in (d)(1); the enrolled version removes the redundant general statement.

The notification requirement for records containing restricted or non-public disclosure information was moved from subdivision (c) to subdivision (d)(2), making it explicitly part of the archival transfer process rather than a standalone obligation tied to the 50-year retention provision.

TECHNICAL

The introductory language 'as introduced' was removed from the legislative counsel's digest, and the vote/appropriation/fiscal committee line was removed, consistent with the bill moving from introduction to enrollment.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 16, 2026 · Assembly Jul 2, 2026

How they voted

380
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 40
Apr 16, 2026
D Democratic30
29 Yea 1
96% Yea
R Republican10
9 Yea 1
90% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
19
Key actions
8
Committee
7
Jul 16, 2026
Signed into law
Approved by the Governor.
legislature
Jul 2, 2026
Upper · Passed
In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
upper
Jul 2, 2026
Lower · Passed
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 70. Noes 0. Page 5985.) Ordered to the Senate.
lower
Jun 24, 2026
Lower · Passed
From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 24).
lower
Jun 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
lower
May 11, 2026
Committee
Referred to Com. on G.O.
lower
Apr 16, 2026
Upper · Passed
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 3921.) Ordered to the Assembly.
upper
Apr 13, 2026
Upper · Passed
From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar.
upper
Mar 24, 2026
Upper · Passed
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0. Page 3658.) (March 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
upper
Mar 4, 2026
Committee
Referred to Com. on G.O.
upper
Feb 19, 2026
Introduced
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.