2010 California Code
Elections Code
Chapter 5. Recall Petitions

17400.  (a) The elections official or, in the case of the recall of
a state officer, the Secretary of State, shall preserve in his or her
office all recall petitions filed for eight months after the results
of the election for which the petition qualified or, if no election
is held, eight months after the elections official's final
examination of the petition.
   (b) Thereafter, the petition shall be destroyed as soon as
practicable, unless it is in evidence in some action or proceeding
then pending or unless the elections official has received a written
request from the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Fair
Political Practices Commission, a district attorney, a grand jury, or
the governing body of a county, city and county, city, or district,
including a school district, that the petition be preserved for use
in a pending or ongoing investigation into election irregularities,
or in a pending or ongoing investigation into a violation of the
Political Reform Act of 1974 (Title 9 (commencing with Section 81000)
of the Government Code).
   (c) Public access to any such petition shall be restricted in
accordance with Section 6253.5 of the Government Code.