A. Evidence and documents obtained by or created by, and the report of investigation prepared by, the Department of State Police, the Virginia Retirement System, or the Department of Human Resource Management in carrying out the provisions of this chapter shall (i) be deemed confidential, (ii) be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act2.2-3700 et seq.), and (iii) not be released in whole or in part by any person to any person except as provided in this chapter. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, VRS may release to necessary parties such information, documents, and reports for purposes of administering appeals under this chapter.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 9.1-408

  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
  • VRS: means the Virginia Retirement System. See Virginia Code 9.1-400

B. Notwithstanding subsection A, the Department of State Police and the Department of Accounts shall, upon request, share with the Virginia Retirement System and the Department of Human Resource Management any information, evidence, documents, and reports of investigation related to existing and past claims for benefits provided under this Chapter. Such information, evidence, documents, and reports of investigation shall be exempt from disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.).

2010, c. 568; 2017, c. 439.