To amend Article 2 of Chapter 6 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to clerks of the superior courts, so as to change the provisions relating to the duties of clerks of the superior courts; to provide for electronic collection and transmission of certain data and the use of and access to such data; to provide for the transmission of certain data to the Superior Court Clerks´ Cooperative Authority and the retransmission of such data to the Georgia Crime Information Center, the Georgia Courts Automation Commission, and the Administrative Office of the Courts; to authorize the maintenance of records in digital format; to define certain terms; to provide that a clerk of a superior court electing to store records in digital format shall maintain back-up records or shall send copies of such digitally formatted records to the Georgia Department of Archives and History; to provide procedures for such transmittal; to provide for microfilming of certain records; to provide for furnishing of microfilm records and the costs and purchase thereof; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Article 2 of Chapter 6 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to clerks of the superior courts, is amended in Code Section 15-6-61, relating to duties of clerks generally, by designating the language of paragraph (17) of subsection (a) as subparagraph (A) and adding a new subparagraph (B) to read as follows:
"(B) To electronically collect and transmit to the Georgia Superior Court Clerks´ Cooperative Authority all data elements required in subsection (g) of Code Section 35-3-36 in a form and format required by the Superior Court Clerks´ Cooperative Authority and the Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia. The electronic collection and transmission of data shall begin no later than January 1, 2002. The data transmitted to the authority pursuant to this Code section shall be transmitted to the Georgia Crime Information Center in satisfaction of the clerk´s duties under subsection (g) of Code Section 35-3-36 and to the Georgia Courts Automation Commission who shall provide the data to the Administrative Office of the Courts for use of the state judicial branch. Public access to said data shall remain the responsibility of the Georgia Crime Information Center. No release of collected data shall be made by or through the authority;"

Said article is further amended by striking in its entirety subsection (a) of Code Section 15-6-62, relating to additional duties of clerks of the superior courts, and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
"(a) The clerk of the superior court is required to record all the proceedings relating to any civil action or criminal case within six months after the final determination of the case. Such recording may be in well-bound books, on microfilm, or in digital format. If a clerk elects to record proceedings on microfilm or in digital format, he or she shall make available to the public a machine for reading and reproducing such microfilmed or digitally formatted records. If a clerk elects to record proceedings in digital format, the provisions of Code Section 15-6-62.1 shall apply."

Said article is further amended by inserting immediately following Code Section 15-6-62 a new Code section to read as follows:
"15-6-62.1.
(a) As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) 'Back-up record' means a paper or microfilm copy of any record of the proceedings relating to any civil action or criminal case which a clerk of superior court is required to make pursuant to Code Section 15-6-62.
(2) 'Council' means the Council of Superior Court Clerks created by Code Section 15-6-50.2.
(3) 'Department' means the Georgia Department of Archives and History.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section, a clerk of a superior court electing to record proceedings in digital format as provided in subsection (a) of Code Section 15-6-62 shall maintain back-up records and must do so in at least one of two ways: either by the clerk permanently retaining the back-up records himself or herself or by submitting the digitally formatted records to and having them permanently archived by the department as set forth in subsection (c) of this Code section.
(c) If a clerk of a superior court elects to submit the digitally formatted records to and have them permanently archived by the department pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section, the clerk shall submit such records at least once every six months and in a format acceptable to the department and the council. Upon receipt, the department shall convert the digitally formatted records to microfilm and shall permanently maintain them in that format. If requested by the clerk of a superior court, the department shall make a copy of these microfilm records available for purchase by the clerk at a fee not to exceed the cost of producing the copies.
(d) If at any time the department certifies to the council that the department is not capable of creating the microfilm records from the digitally formatted records and permanently maintaining them as set forth in this Code section, then a clerk of superior court shall permanently maintain the back-up records himself or herself and shall continue to do so until the department certifies that it is capable of creating and permanently maintaining them."

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.