Gov. Code, § 53160 · Article 9. Preservation of Videotapes and Recordings
Gov. Code, § 53160
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) The head of a special district, after one year, may destroy recordings of routine video monitoring, and after 100 days may destroy recordings of telephone and radio communications maintained by the special district. This destruction shall be approved by the legislative body and the written consent of the agency attorney shall be obtained. In the event that the recordings are evidence in any claim filed or any pending litigation, they shall be preserved until pending litigation is resolved.
(b) For purposes of this article, “recordings of telephone and radio communications” means the routine daily recording of telephone communications to and from a special district, and all radio communications relating to the operations of the special district.
(c) For purposes of this article, “routine video monitoring” means video recording by a video or electronic imaging system designed to record the regular and ongoing operations of the special district, including mobile in-car video systems, jail observation and monitoring systems, and building security recording systems.
(d) For purposes of this article, “special district” shall have the same meaning as “public agency,” as that term is defined in Section 53050.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 88, Sec. 54. (AB 176) Effective January 1, 2010.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=53160.
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- sha256 ea4f3fee2cbb202ea6a15f42ac54162ca995c540f72e45d128e81334fe775ccb
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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