§ 1554. Confidentiality

(a) The Panel’s meetings are confidential and shall be exempt from the Open Meeting Law, 1 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 5, subchapter 2. The records produced or acquired by the Panel are exempt from public inspection and copying under the Public Records Act and shall be kept confidential. The records of the Panel are not subject to discovery, subpoena, or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal proceeding; provided, however, that nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit or restrict the right to discover or use in any civil or criminal proceeding anything that is available from another source and entirely independent of the Panel’s proceedings.

(b) Members of the Panel shall not be questioned in any civil or criminal proceeding regarding the information presented in or opinions formed as a result of a meeting of the Panel; provided, however, that nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent a member of the Panel from testifying to information obtained independently of the Panel or that is public information. (Added 2011, No. 35, § 2, eff. May 18, 2011; amended 2019, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)