Former Gov. Mike Easley ordered the state to keep all e-mails.
In one of his last acts in office, Easley signed an executive order that requires state agencies to keep copies of e-mails for at least 10 years and prohibits state employees from deleting messages about state business for at least 24 hours.
It also advises executive branch employees that e-mails are subject to the public records law.
Charlotte Observer columnist Jack Betts noted that Gov. Beverly Perdue had planned to issue her own order, but Easley beat her to the punch.
On his blog, he notes that the order is double the number of years recommended by a panel after news reports that workers in his administration had deleted some e-mails, though he wonders whether it might allow workers to delete e-mails they decided were not about state business.
"Another question: Why did Easley wait until the end of his administration to issue this order?" Betts writes. "Why not last summer, when it might have done his image some good? Or was he simply waiting until the last minute so his administration would not have to comply with it?"
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