The auditor shall accept for recording those records of survey and records of corner information that are in compliance with the recorder's checklist as jointly developed by a committee consisting of the survey advisory board and two representatives from the Washington state association of county auditors. This checklist shall be adopted in rules by the department of natural resources.

     (1) The auditor shall keep proper indexes of such record of survey by the name of owner and by quarter-quarter section, township, and range, with reference to other legal subdivisions.

     (2) The auditor shall keep proper indexes of the record of corner information by section, township, and range.

     (3) After entering the recording data on the record of survey and all prints received from the surveyor, the auditor shall send one of the surveyor's prints to the department of natural resources in Olympia, Washington, for incorporation into the statewide survey records repository. However, the county and the department of natural resources may mutually agree to process the original or an electronic version of the original in lieu of the surveyor's print.

     (4) After entering the recording data on the record of corner information the auditor shall send a legible copy, suitable for scanning, to the department of natural resources in Olympia, Washington. However, the county and the department of natural resources may mutually agree to process the original or an electronic version of the original in lieu of the copy.

     (5) The auditor shall permanently keep the original document filed using storage and handling processes that do not cause excessive deterioration of the document. A county may be excepted from the requirement to permanently store the original document if it has a document scanning, filming, or other process that creates a permanent, archival record that meets or surpasses the standards as adopted in rule by the division of archives and records management in chapter 434-663 or 434-677 WAC. The auditor must be able to provide full-size copies upon request. The auditor shall maintain a copy or image of the original for public reference.

     (6) If the county has the capability to accept a digital signature issued by a licensed certification authority under chapter 19.34 RCW or a certification authority under the rules adopted by the Washington state board of registration for professional engineers and land surveyors, and can import electronic files into an imaging system, the auditor may accept for recording electronic versions of the documents required by this chapter. The electronic version shall be a standard raster file format acceptable to the county.

     (7) This section does not supersede other existing recording statutes.

[1999 c 39 § 2; 1973 c 50 § 11.]