Montana fails to retain decades of emails despite open-government law
Not a single email is stored in the state archives, even though Montana leaders have used them to conduct state business for decades and state law requires emails of importance to be preserved.
The mass and routine deletion of emails gained attention in campaigns nationwide this fall. In Montana, Republicans centered attacks on the realization that no emails existed from Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock’s term as attorney general. But the problem is more widespread.
“It’s all over the place,” Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, said of the way the state currently manages records. “State law is being violated.”
The state archives are supposed to be the final destination for the most important records about state government and how leaders made their decisions. The fact no emails have made it that far — despite being the modern equivalent of letters and memos that stock archival shelves — is a sign something is wrong. Experts describe a two-pronged problem: Agencies are deleting emails too soon and the archives do not have the storage or equipment to accept them.
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/montana-fails-to-retain-decades-of-emails-despite-open-government/article_6ea71574-fd7e-5f8d-98ee-5d33836e280d.html