Washington adopts Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act
The state of Washington has adopted an act which adds a new chapter to Title 1 RCW, which may be known and cited as the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (“the Act”).
The Act takes effect January 1, 2018.
The Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act provides requirements for preservation, security, authentication, and public access to “all legal material in an electronic record that is designated as official under section 4” of the Act.
Under section 4 of the Act:
“(1) If an official publisher publishes legal material only in an electronic record, the publisher shall:
- Designate the electronic record as official; and
- Comply with sections 5, 7, and 8 of this act.
(2) An official publisher that publishes legal material in an electronic record and also publishes the material in a record other than an electronic record may designate the electronic record as official if the publisher complies with sections 5, 7, and 8 of this act.”
Section 5 of the Act requires that “An official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is designated as official under section 4 of this act shall authenticate the record. To authenticate an electronic record, the publisher shall provide a method for a user to determine that the record received by the user from the publisher is unaltered from the official record published by the publisher.”
Section 7 of the Act requires that “an official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is or was designated as official under section 4 of this act shall provide for the preservation and security of the record in an electronic form or a form that is not electronic.”
Section 8 of the Act requires that “an official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is required to be preserved under section 7 of this act shall ensure that the material is reasonably available for use by the public on a permanent basis.”
Section 12 of the Act excludes courts and agencies of the judicial branch from the requirements of the Act.
For the full text of Senate Bill 5039.
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