§ 120-131. Documents produced by legislative employees. - North Carolina Statutes

§120‑131.  Documents produced by legislative employees.

(a)        Documents preparedby legislative employees upon the request of legislators are confidential.Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the existence of thedocument may not be revealed nor may a copy of the document be provided to anyperson who is not a legislative employee without the consent of the legislator.

(b)        A document preparedby a legislative employee upon the request of a legislator becomes available tothe public when the document is a:

(1)        Bill or resolutionand it has been introduced;

(2)        Proposed amendmentor committee substitute for a bill or resolution and it has been offered at acommittee meeting or on the floor of a house;

(3)        Proposed conferencecommittee report and it has been offered at a joint meeting of the conferencecommittees; or

(4)        Bill, resolution,memorandum, written analysis, letter, or other document resulting from adrafting or information request and it has been distributed at a legislativecommission or standing committee or subcommittee meeting not held in executivesession, closed session, or on the floor of a house.

A document prepared by alegislative employee upon the request of any legislator, that pursuant to thisArticle does not become available to the public, is not a "publicrecord," as defined by G.S. 132‑1.

(c)        This section doesnot prohibit the dissemination of information or language contained in anydocument which has been prepared by a legislative employee in response to asubstantially similar request from another legislator, provided that theidentity of the requesting legislator and the fact that he had made such arequest not be divulged. (1983, c. 900, s. 1; 1983 (Reg. Sess., 1984), c. 1038,s. 4; 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 570, s. 9.)