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

(b) A document prepared by a legislative employee upon the request of a legislator becomes available to the public when the document is a:

(1) Bill or resolution and it has been introduced;

Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 120-131

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Committee substitute: Short for committee amendment in the nature of a substitute.
  • Conference committee: A temporary, ad hoc panel composed of conferees from both chamber of a legislature which is formed for the purpose of reconciling differences in legislation that has passed both chambers. Conference committees are usually convened to resolve bicameral differences on major and controversial legislation.
  • Document: means all records, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data-processing records, artifacts, or other documentary material regardless of physical form or characteristics. See North Carolina General Statutes 120-129
  • Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
  • Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
  • Legislative commission: means any commission or committee which the Legislative Services Commission is directed or authorized to staff by law or resolution and which it does, in fact, staff. See North Carolina General Statutes 120-129
  • Legislative employee: means employees and officers of the General Assembly, consultants and counsel to members and committees of either house of the General Assembly or of legislative commissions who are paid by State funds, students at an accredited law school while in an externship program at the General Assembly approved by the Legislative Services Commission, and employees of the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; but does not mean legislators and members of the Council of State. See North Carolina General Statutes 120-129
  • Legislator: means a member-elect, member-designate, or member of the North Carolina Senate or House of Representatives. See North Carolina General Statutes 120-129

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

(3) Proposed conference committee report and it has been offered at a joint meeting of the conference committees; or

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

A document prepared by a legislative employee upon the request of any legislator, that pursuant to this Article does not become available to the public, is not a “public record,” as defined by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-1

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

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