§511 Retention of Certain Records

Summary

The Commandant must keep certain Coast Guard records and report on reporting costs. Starting 1 year after this law passed, every message posted on the Coast Guard’s public message board must be treated as an official Coast Guard record and kept for as long as the National Archives and Records Administration allows. Those messages should be put on a public website when possible and must follow the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and other laws. Starting 30 days after the law passed, every Commandant Instruction Manual and Coast Guard Academy Superintendent Instruction Manual in effect must be kept as a temporary record for at least 15 years or for the retention time approved by the National Archives and Records Administration. Within 1 year after the law passed, and every year after, the Commandant must send the appropriate congressional committees a report that lists all recurring reports the Coast Guard must give to Congress, estimates the yearly cost and staff hours to do them, and gives recommendations to end, combine, or automate some reports to save effort. Appropriate congressional committees: CST and T&I. Coast Guard message board: the official platform for time-sensitive or service-wide administrative info, including ALCOAST, ALCGPSC, ALCGENL, and similar message types.