44-1374

44-1374. Confidentiality of petroleum industry
information; disclosure; supply emergency; definitions

A. A governmental entity shall classify as confidential and not publicly disclose
any documents or other information that is received from any petroleum industry related
private or public source if the person or entity that provides the information agrees to
provide the information only on the express condition that the information remain
confidential.

B. If a governmental entity receives a request to publicly disclose information
that is confidential information or for any other reason proposes to publicly disclose
confidential information, the governmental entity shall provide to the person or entity
that submitted the confidential information notice in writing of the request or proposal
to disclose. The notice shall identify the confidential information that would be
disclosed and indicate the form in which the confidential information would be provided.
On receipt of the notice, the person or entity that submitted the confidential
information has fifteen working days in which to respond to the notice and to either
withdraw the request for confidentiality or justify to the governmental entity the claim
of confidentiality on each specific item of confidential information covered by the
notice.

C. The governmental entity shall consider the response in determining whether to
publicly disclose any confidential information for which a justification has been
submitted. Unless the governmental entity determines that there is no trade secret or
other legitimate justification for the confidentiality being claimed by the respondent,
the governmental entity shall not disclose any confidential information for which a
justification has been timely submitted. If the governmental entity determines that there
is no trade secret or other legitimate justification for all or a portion of the
confidentiality claim, the governmental entity shall issue a written decision that sets
forth the reasons for making that determination. The governmental entity shall deliver a
copy of the decision to the person or entity submitting the confidential information and
the person requesting public disclosure of the confidential information.

D. Notwithstanding a determination that there is no legitimate justification for a
claim of confidentiality, and to allow the person or entity that submitted the
confidential information to seek direct judicial intervention to prevent its release, the
governmental entity shall not publicly disclose confidential information submitted to the
governmental entity pursuant to this section for at least fifteen working days after the
date on which the governmental entity has issued and disclosed the written determination
pursuant to this section.

E. If any legal or administrative action is filed with any court or other agency
seeking to force disclosure of any confidential information, the governmental entity,
within five working days of being served with the action, shall notify in writing the
person or entity that submitted the confidential information of the action to allow the
person or entity that submitted the confidential information to intervene in the action.

F. Confidential information shall not be classified or maintained as confidential
if the governmental entity determines that the confidential information has already been
made public by the submitting person or entity and advises, in writing, the person or
entity that submitted the confidential information of this determination.
Notwithstanding a determination that the confidential information has already been made
public by the submitting person or entity, the governmental entity shall not publicly
disclose the confidential information for at least five working days after the
governmental entity has advised the submitting person or entity to allow the person or
entity that submitted the confidential information to seek direct judicial intervention
to prevent its release.

G. This section protects petroleum industry related confidential information
submitted to a governmental entity but does not impose any requirement that information
of any type from any source be submitted to any governmental entity.

H. If there is a statewide or regional shortage or threatened shortage of a product
or service that is essential to the health, safety and welfare of the people of this
state due to an abnormal market disruption resulting from any natural disaster, weather
condition, act of nature, strike, civil disorder, war, national or local emergency or
other extraordinary adverse circumstance, the governor may proclaim that a supply
emergency exists. If a supply emergency is declared pursuant to this subsection and a
majority of the persons or entities that are the subject of the supply emergency has
provided information to the governmental entity, the governmental entity may only
disclose the unattributable aggregated total of all sources of confidential information.

I. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Confidential information" means all of the following:

(a) The information is not and has not been reasonably obtainable by legitimate
means by other persons without the consent of the person providing the information, other
than by governmental entities and other than in discovery based on a showing of a special
need in a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding.

(b) A statute does not specifically require disclosure of the information to the
public.

(c) The person has satisfactorily shown that disclosing the information is likely
to cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person providing the
information.

2. "Governmental entity" means an agency, board, department or commission of this
state, the state legislature and all agencies or committees of the state legislature but
does not include the courts of this state.

3. "Publicly disclose" means to reveal the contents of information that has been
classified as confidential to any third person or entity that is not bound by this
section.