Attorney General's Opinion 1982-83 #722

VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. "OFFICIAL RECORDS" DO NOT INCLUDE TAPE RECORDINGS MADE AS RACK-UP FOR SHORTHAND NOTES TAKEN TO PREPARE MINUTES OF MEETING.

September 10, 1982

The Honorable Robert E. Kowalsky, Jr.
Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Chesapeake

82-83 722

This is in reply to your letter of August 27, 1982, inquiring whether any provision of Virginia law prohibits the erasure of tape recordings of school board meetings after the minutes of the meeting have been prepared. You have advised that shorthand notes are taken during the meeting and later transcribed as minutes of the meeting and that the tape recording is used for reference in case there is a question in the transcription of the shorthand notes. The tape is then reused at the next meeting.

The Virginia Freedom of Information Act and the Virginia Public Records Act (the "Acts") provide for disclosure and retention of public records. In this case, however, it appears from the practices you describe that the tape recording is not intended to be the record of the school board meeting, but rather it is intended to serve as an aid in preparing the minutes which are required by the Freedom of Information Act.

It is, therefore, my opinion that the minutes of the meeting would be the records that are governed by each of the Acts and that the tape recordings are simply aids in producing such records.1 I am unaware of any other provision of law which would prohibit the erasure of the tapes under the circumstances you describe. Accordingly, I conclude that Virginia law does not prohibit the erasure of tape recordings of a school board meeting which are made for reference purposes in preparing the minutes of the meeting.

_____________________________

Footnotes:

1 If, however, the tape recordings were intended to be the records of the meeting, they would fall within the purview of the Acts.