(a) All original books, records, and documents pertaining to the franchise holder’s operations shall be:

1. (1) Prepared and maintained in a complete, accurate, and legible form;
2. (2) Retained on site or at another secure location approved for the time period specified in subsection (c) of this section;
3. (3) Held immediately available for inspection by agents of the Arkansas Racing Commission during all hours of operation;
4. (4) Organized and indexed in such a manner so as to provide immediate accessibility to agents of the commission; and

5. (5) Destroyed only after:

   1. (A) Expiration of the minimum retention period specified in subsection (c) of this section, except that the commission may, upon the written petition of any franchise holder and for good cause shown, permit such destruction at an earlier date;
   2. (B) Written notice has been received by the commission; and
   3. (C) In conformance with Arkansas Code § 19-4-1108, the records, as outlined within subsection (b) of this section, of the franchises must be kept a minimum of three (3) years after the review and filing of audits by the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee of the records of the Racing Division and the gaming section, however, they may not be destroyed without concurrence from the commission’s gaming section.

(b)

1. (1) For the purposes of this section, "books, records, and documents" shall be defined as any book, record, or document pertaining to, prepared in, or generated by the operation of the franchise holder including, but not limited to, all:

   1. (A) Forms;
   2. (B) Reports;
   3. (C) Accounting records;
   4. (D) Ledgers;
   5. (E) Subsidiary records;
   6. (F) Computer generated data;
   7. (G) Internal audit records;
   8. (H) Correspondence; and
   9. (I) Personnel records.

2. (2) This definition shall apply without regard to the medium through which the record is generated or maintained, for example:

   1. (A) Paper;
   2. (B) Magnetic media; or
   3. (C) Encoded disk.

(c)

1. (1) All original books, records, and documents shall be retained by a franchise holder in accordance with the following schedules.
2. (2) For purposes of this subsection, "original books, records, or documents" shall not include copies of originals, except for copies which contain original comments or notations or parts of multipart forms.

3. (3) The following original books, records, and documents shall be retained indefinitely unless destruction is requested by the franchise holder and approved by the commission:

   1. (A) Corporate records required by 23 CAR § 355-902;
   2. (B) Records of corporate investigations and due diligence procedures;
   3. (C) Current employee personnel files; and
   4. (D) A record of any original book, record, or document destroyed identifying the particular book, record, or document, the period of retention, and the date of destruction.
4. (4) All other original books, records, and documents shall be retained by a franchise holder for a minimum of five (5) years unless destruction is requested by the franchise holder and approved by the commission.