First Session, 46th

General Assembly

57 Elizabeth II,

BILL 64

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ROOMS ACT

Received

and Read the First Time ...................................................................

Second

Reading ..............................................................................................

Committee ......................................................................................................

Third

Reading .................................................................................................

Royal

Assent ...................................................................................................

HONOURABLE CLYDE

JACKMAN

Minister of

Tourism, Culture and Recreation

Ordered to be printed by

the Honourable House of Assembly

EXPLANATORY NOTES

This Bill would amend the Rooms Act .

Clause 1 of the Bill would make a

general amendment to the Act to replace the words "public record"

with the words "government record" wherever they appear and the words

"public records' with the words "government records" wherever

they appear.

Clause 2 of the Bill would amend the

Act to add the

definitions of "abandoned record", "cabinet

record", "chief information officer", "government

record" and "transitory record" for consistency with the Management of Information Act . It would

also repeal the definition of "public records" which has been

replaced.

Clause 3 of the Bill would amend of

the Act to add a provision allowing the director to designate a site other than

the archives as an official repository if necessary.

Clause 4 of the Bill would amend the

Act to give the director the authority to receive and dispose of abandoned records.

This clause would also amend the Act as

a consequence of the amendments contained in clause 6.

Clauses 5 of the Bill would amend the

Act to prohibit destruction of archival records.

Clause 6 of the Bill would amend the

Act to repeal the provisions relating to the government records committee. It is proposed that the committee would be

reconstituted under the Management of

Information Act .

Clause 7 of the Bill would amend the

Act to remove a regulation-making power consequent on the other amendments

proposed in clause 6.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE ROOMS ACT

Analysis

General Amdt.

S.20 Amdt.

Definitions

S.21 Amdt.

Archives continued

S.22 Amdt.

Archives director

S.25.1 Added

Destruction prohibited

Ss.26 to 28 Rep.

26. Public records

committee

27. Removal and

destruction of records

28. Dispute

S.37 Amdt.

Regulations

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and

House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

SNL2005 cR-15.1

1. The Rooms

Act is amended by striking the words "public record" wherever

they occur and substituting the words "government record" and by

striking out the words "public records" wherever they occur and

substituting the words "government records".

(1) Paragraph 20(

a) of the Act is repealed

and the following substituted:

(a) "abandoned record" means a

government record to which ownership cannot be established and which has been

determined to be an abandoned record by the chief information officer;

(a.1) "cabinet record" means a record that

(

i) is a memorandum, the purpose of which is to

present proposals or recommendations to Cabinet,

(ii) is a discussion paper, policy analysis,

proposal, advice or briefing material, including all factual and background

material prepared for Cabinet,

(iii) is an agenda, minute or other record of

Cabinet recording deliberations or decisions of Cabinet,

(iv) is used for or reflects communications or

discussions among ministers on matters relating to the making of government

decisions or the formulation of government policy,

(

v) is created for or by a minister for the

purpose of briefing that minister on a matter for Cabinet,

(vi) is created during the process of developing or

preparing a submission for Cabinet,

(vii) is draft legislation or a draft regulation, or

(viii) contains information about the contents of a

record within a class of information referred to in subparagraphs (

i) to (vii);

(a.2) "chief information officer" means

the Chief Information Officer of the Office of the Chief Information Officer;

(2) Section 20 of the Act is amended by adding

immediately after paragraph (

b) the following:

(b.1) "government record" means a record

created by or received by a public body in the conduct of its affairs and

includes a cabinet record, transitory record and an abandoned record;

(3) Paragraph 20(

d) of the Act is repealed.

(4) Section 20 of the Act is amended by deleting the

period at the end of the paragraph (

e) and substituting a semicolon and the

word "and".

(5) Section 20 of the Act is amended to add

immediately after paragraph (

e) the following:

(f) "transitory record" means a

government record of temporary usefulness in any format or medium having no

ongoing value beyond an immediate and minor transaction or the preparation of a

subsequent record.

Section 21 of the Act is amended by adding

immediately after subsection (4) the following:

(4.1) In those circumstances when an archival record

is such that it is not practical or feasible to store it in the archives, the

director may designate another site as the official repository for that record.

4. (1) Paragraph 22(2)(

c) of the Act is

repealed.

(2) Subsection 22(2) of the Act is amended by

adding immediately after paragraph (

g) the following:

(g.1) receive abandoned records determined by the chief

information officer to be abandoned records, and dispose of the records in

accordance with the Management of

Information Act ;

(3) Paragraph 22(2)(

h) of the Act is amended by

adding immediately after the word "committee" the words

"established under

section 5.1 of the Management

of Information Act" .

5. The Act is amended by adding immediately after

section 25 the following:

Destruction prohibited

25.1 A

person shall not, except with the written consent of the director and the

approval of the chief executive officer, the board of directors and the

minister, remove, dispose of or destroy archival records.

6. Sections 26 to 28 of the Act are repealed.

7. Paragraph 37(

f) of the Act is repealed.

Earl G. Tucker, Queen's Printer