§ 120-131.1. Requests from legislative employees for assistance in the preparation of fiscal notes and evaluation reports.
§ 120‑131.1. Requestsfrom legislative employees for assistance in the preparation of fiscal notesand evaluation reports.
(a) A request,including any accompanying documents, made to an agency employee by alegislative employee of the Fiscal Research Division for assistance in thepreparation of a fiscal note is confidential. An agency employee who receivessuch a request or who learns of such a request made to another agency employeeof his or her agency shall reveal the existence of the request only to otheragency employees of the agency to the extent that it is necessary to respond tothe request, and to the agency employee's supervisor and to the Office of StateBudget and Management. All documents prepared by the agency employee inresponse to the request of the Fiscal Research Division are also confidentialand shall be kept confidential in the same manner as the original request,except that documents submitted to the Fiscal Research Division in response tothe request cease to be confidential under this section when the FiscalResearch Division releases a fiscal note based on the documents.
(a1) A request, and anyaccompanying documents, made to an agency employee by a legislative employee ofthe Program Evaluation Division for assistance in the preparation of anevaluation report is confidential. The request and any accompanying documentsare not "public records" as defined by G.S. 132‑1. An agencyemployee who receives a request under this subsection or who learns of such arequest made to another agency employee of his or her agency may reveal theexistence of the request to other agency employees to the extent that it isnecessary 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 alegislative employee of the Program Evaluation Division are confidential, shallbe kept confidential in the same manner as the original request, and are not"public records" as defined in G.S. 132‑1.
(b) As used in thissection, "agency employee" means an employee or officer of everyagency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions, including every publicoffice, public officer or official (State or local, elected or appointed),institution, board, commission, bureau, council, department, authority, orother unit of government of the State or of any county, unit, special district,or other political subdivision of government.
(c) Violation of thissection may be grounds for disciplinary action. (1995, c. 324, s. 8.1(a); c.507, s. 8.2; 2000‑140, s. 93.1(a); 2001‑424, s. 12.2(b); 2008‑196,s. 1(b).)