General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2009 House Bill 104 ...
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
HOUSE BILL 104
RATIFIED BILL
AN ACT TO CLARIFY LEGISLATIVE CONFIDENTIALITY.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Article 17 of Chapter 120, as amended by S.L. 2009-129, reads as
rewritten:
"Article 17.
"Confidentiality of Legislative Communications.
"§ 120-129. Definitions.
As used in this Article:
(1)
"Document" means all records, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs,
films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data-processing
records, artifacts, or other documentary material regardless of physical form
or characteristics.
(1a) "Legislative
commission"
means
any commission or committee which the
Legislative Services Commission is directed or authorized to staff by law or
resolution and which it does, in fact, staff.
(2)
"Legislative employee" means employees and officers of the General
Assembly, consultants and counsel to members and committees of either
house of the General Assembly or of legislative commissions who are paid
by State funds, students at an accredited law school while in an externship
program at the General Assembly approved by the Legislative Services
Commission, and employees of the School of Government at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; but does not mean legislators and members
of the Council of State.
(3)
"Legislator" means a member-elect, member-designate, or member of the
North Carolina Senate or House of Representatives.
"§ 120-130. Drafting and information requests to legislative employees.employees;
constituent inquiries.
(a)
A drafting request made to a legislative employee from a legislator is confidential.
Neither the identity of the legislator making the request nor, except to the extent necessary to
answer the request, the existence of the request may be revealed to any person who is not a
legislative employee without the consent of the legislator.
(b)
An information request made to a legislative employee from a legislator is
confidential. Neither the identity of the legislator making the request nor, except to the extent
necessary to answer the request, the existence of the request may be revealed to any person
who is not a legislative employee without the consent of the legislator. Notwithstanding the
preceding sentences of this subsection, the periodic publication by the Fiscal Research Division
of the Legislative Services Office of a list of information requests is not prohibited, if the
identity of the legislator making the request is not revealed.
(c) Any
Documents submitted to a legislator by another person or any supporting
documents submitted or caused to be submitted to a legislative employee by a legislator in
connection with a drafting or information request are confidential. Except to the extent
necessary to answer the request, neither the document nor copies of it, nor the identity of the
person, firm, or association producing it, may be provided to any person who is not a legislative
employee without the consent of the legislator.
(d) Drafting
requests, or information requests or requests, and supporting documents
submitted under subsection (c) of this section are not "public records" as defined by G.S. 132-1.
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A document that is a public record shall continue to be treated as a public record,
notwithstanding its inclusion as a supporting document to a drafting or information request.
"§ 120-131. Documents produced by legislative employees.
(a)
Documents prepared by legislative employees upon the request of legislators are
confidential. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the existence of the document
may not be revealed nor may a copy of the document be provided to any person who is not a
legislative employee without the consent of the legislator.
(b)
A document prepared by a legislative employee upon the request of a legislator
becomes available to the public when the document is a:
(1)
Bill or resolution and it has been introduced;
(2)
Proposed amendment or committee substitute for a bill or resolution and it
has been offered at a committee meeting or on the floor of a house;
(3)
Proposed conference committee report and it has been offered at a joint
meeting of the conference committees; or
(4)
Bill, resolution, memorandum, written analysis, letter, or other document
resulting from a drafting or information request and it has been distributed at
a legislative commission or standing committee or subcommittee meeting
not held in executive session, closed session, or on the floor of a house.
(b1)
A document prepared by a legislative employee upon the request of any legislator,
that pursuant to this Article does not become available to the public, is not a "public record," as
defined by G.S. 132-1.
(c)
This section does not prohibit the dissemination of information or language
contained in any document which has been prepared by a legislative employee in response to a
substantially similar request from another legislator, provided that the identity of the requesting
legislator and the fact that he the legislator had made such a request not be divulged.
"§ 120-131.1. Requests from legislative employees for assistance in the preparation of
fiscal notes and evaluation reports.assistance.
(a)
A request, including any accompanying supporting documents, made to an agency
employee by a legislative employee of the Fiscal Research Division for assistance in the
preparation of a fiscal note is confidential. An agency employee who receives such a request or
who learns of such a request made to another agency employee of his or her agency shall reveal
the existence of the request only to other agency employees of the agency to the extent that it is
necessary to respond to the request, and to the agency employee's supervisor and to the Office
of State Budget and Management. All documents prepared by the agency employee in response
to the request of the Fiscal Research Division are also confidential and shall be kept
confidential in the same manner as the original request, except that documents submitted to the
Fiscal Research Division in response to the request cease to be confidential under this section
when the Fiscal Research Division releases a fiscal note based on the documents.
(a1) A request, and any accompanying supporting documents, made to an agency
employee by a legislative employee of the Program Evaluation Division for assistance in the
preparation of an evaluation report is confidential. The request and any accompanying
supporting documents are not "public records" as defined by G.S. 132-1. An agency employee
who receives a request under this subsection or who learns of such a request made to another
agency employee of his or her agency may reveal the existence of the request to other agency
employees to the extent that it is necessary to respond to the request and to the agency
employee's supervisor. All documents prepared by the agency employee in response to the
request of a legislative employee of the Program Evaluation Division are confidential, shall be
kept confidential in the same manner as the original request, and are not "public records" as
defined in G.S. 132-1.
(a2) A request, and any supporting documents, made to an agency employee by a
legislative employee pursuant to G.S. 120-130 or G.S. 120-131 is confidential. An agency
employee who receives such a request or who learns of such a request made to another agency
employee shall reveal the existence of the request only to other agency employees of the
agency to the extent that it is necessary to respond to the request and to the agency employee's
supervisor. All documents prepared by the agency employee in response to the request of a
legislative employee under this subsection are also confidential and shall be kept confidential in
the same manner as the original request. The request, any supporting documents to the request,
and any documents prepared by the agency employee in response to a request under this
subsection are not "public records" as defined by G.S. 132-1.
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(a3)
Requests and documents confidential under this section shall bear an indication on
the face of the request or document that the request or document is confidential and not a public
record pursuant to this section.
(b)
As used in this section, "agency employee" means an employee or officer of every
agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions, including every public office, public
officer or official (State or local, elected or appointed), institution, board, commission, bureau,
council, department, authority, or other unit of government of the State or of any county, unit,
special district, or other political subdivision of government.
(c)
Violation of this section may be grounds for disciplinary action.shall be subject to
penalties as set forth in G.S. 120-134.
"§ 120-132. Testimony by legislative employees.
(a)
Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, No no present or
former legislative employees employee may be required to disclose any information that the
individual, while employed or retained by the State, may have acquired:
(1)
In a standing, select, or conference committee or subcommittee of either
house of the General Assembly or a legislative commission;
(2)
On the floor of either house of the General Assembly, or in any office of a
legislator; legislator, or at any other location of the State legislative buildings
and grounds as defined in G.S. 120-32.1(d);
(3)
As a result of communications that are confidential under G.S. 120-130 and
G.S. 120-131.
(b)
A present or former legislative employee may disclose information acquired under
subsection (a) of this section that would be reflected in the official public record or was
otherwise publicly disseminated.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding sentence, Subject to G.S. 120-9,
G.S. 120-133, and the common law of legislative immunity, the presiding judge of a court of
competent jurisdiction may compel that disclosure, disclosure of information acquired under
subsection (a) of this section if in his the judge's opinion, the same disclosure is necessary to a
proper administration of justice.
"§ 120-133. Redistricting communications.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all drafting and information requests to
legislative employees and documents prepared by legislative employees for legislators
concerning redistricting the North Carolina General Assembly or the Congressional Districts
are no longer confidential and become public records upon the act establishing the relevant
district plan becoming law. Present and former legislative employees may be required to
disclose information otherwise protected by G.S. 120-132 concerning redistricting the North
Carolina General Assembly or the Congressional Districts upon the act establishing the relevant
district plan becoming law.
"§ 120-134. Penalty.
Violation of any provision of this Article shall be grounds for disciplinary action in the case
of current legislative employees, for referral to the academic institution for appropriate
discipline in the case of law student externs, and for removal from office in the case of public
officers. Violation of any provisions of this Article by a current legislative employee who is a
law student extern shall be referred to the academic institution for appropriate discipline, and
the Legislative Services Commission may terminate the externship. Any other person who
willfully violates any provision of this Article shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. No
other criminal penalty shall attach for any violation of this Article.
"§ 120-135. Sharing confidential information amongst legislative employees.
A legislative employee hired by, supervised by, or assigned to a member shall be treated as
the member for purposes of legislative confidentiality."
SECTION 2. If House Bill 1134 of the 2009 General Assembly becomes law,
G.S. 114-51(d) as enacted by House Bill 1134 of the 2009 General Assembly reads as
rewritten:
"(d)
This section shall not apply to the Judicial Department.Department or the General
Assembly. A member of the General Assembly may request the assistance of the Open
Government Unit to assist with mediating a public records request."
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SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes law, except that the
amendments to G.S. 120-134 in Section 1 of this act become effective December 1, 2009, and
apply to offenses committed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 11th day of August,
2009.
_____________________________________
Walter
H.
Dalton
President of the Senate
_____________________________________
Joe Hackney
Speaker of the House of Representatives
_____________________________________
Beverly E. Perdue
Governor
Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2009
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