2001-2002 Bill 74: State Government, Furnishing Information on Affairs Or Activities Of

1 BIL: 74 2 TYP: General Bill GB 3 INB: Senate 4 IND: 20010110 5 PSP: Leventis 6 SPO: Leventis, Ford, Elliott, Reese 7 DDN: l:\s-res\ppl\005info.whb.doc 8 RBY: House 9 COM: Judiciary Committee 25 HJ 10 LAD: 20010426 11 SUB: State Government, furnishing information on affairs or activities of to 12 Governor, General Assembly; Agencies, State 13 14 15 16 HST: 17 18 Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved 19 ______20 House 20010501 Introduced, read first time, 25 HJ 21 referred to Committee 22 ------20010430 Scrivener's error corrected 23 Senate 20010427 Read third time, sent to House 24 Senate 20010426 Read second time, unanimous 25 consent for third reading 26 on Friday, 20010427 27 Senate 20010426 Committee amendment adopted 28 Senate 20010425 Committee report: Favorable with 11 SJ 29 amendment 30 Senate 20010110 Introduced, read first time, 11 SJ 31 referred to Committee 32 33 34 35 Versions of This Bill 36 37 38 Revised on 20010425 39 Revised on 20010426 40 Revised on 20010430 41 42 43 TXT: 1 Indicates Matter Stricken 2 Indicates New Matter 3 4 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ADOPTED 5 April 26, 2001 6 7 S. 74 8 9 Introduced by Senators Leventis, Ford, Elliott and Reese 10 11 S. Printed 4/26/01--S. [SEC 4/30/01 1:47 PM] 12 Read the first time January 10, 2001. 13 14 15

1 [74-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 1-3-10 OF THE CODE OF LAWS OF 12 SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO IMMEDIATELY 13 FURNISHING INFORMATION ON THE AFFAIRS OR 14 ACTIVITIES OF STATE GOVERNMENT TO THE 15 GOVERNOR, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT INFORMATION 16 ALSO MUST BE IMMEDIATELY FURNISHED TO 17 MEMBERS AND COMMITTEES OF THE GENERAL 18 ASSEMBLY; TO DEFINE RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL; AND TO 19 PROVIDE THAT A RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL MUST BE 20 SUSPENDED FOR WILFULLY FAILING TO IMMEDIATELY 21 FURNISH INFORMATION. 22 Amend Title To Conform 23 24 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 25 Carolina: 26 27 SECTION 1. Section l-3-10 of the 1976 Code is amended to read: 28 29 “Section 1-3-10. (A) For purposes of this section: 30 (1) ‘Immediately’ means a period not to exceed ten days 31 unless otherwise agreed to by the requestor; 32 (2) ‘Requestor’ means the Governor, the President Pro 33 Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of 34 Representatives, the chairman of any standing committee of the 35 Senate or House of Representatives, or the minority leader of the 36 Senate or House of Representatives; 37 (3) ‘Responsible official’ means the chief administrative 38 officer or agency or department head of an entity, by whatever 39 designation known. A responsible official shall be the person 40 required to comply with any written request made pursuant to the 41 provisions of this section.

1 [74] 1 1 (B) The Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 2 responsible official of each departments department, bureaus 3 bureau, divisions division, officers office, boards board, 4 commissions commission, institutions institution, or any and other 5 agencies agency or undertakings undertaking of the State, upon 6 receipt of a written request from the Governor, the President Pro 7 Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of 8 Representatives, the chairman of any standing committee of the 9 Senate or House of Representatives, or the minority leader of the 10 Senate or House of Representatives, shall must immediately 11 furnish to the Governor requestor, in such form as he may require 12 delineated in the written request, any information desired by him 13 in relation to their regarding any of the respective affairs or 14 activities of the entities governed by this section, except as 15 provided in subsection (C). If the format requested does not exist, 16 the responsible official, after notifying the requestor, must 17 immediately suggest an alternative format or furnish the requestor 18 any existing informational format which serves the requestor’s 19 purposes. Any person who obtains information pursuant to this 20 section is subject to the rules and laws governing the 21 confidentiality of the information. Information furnished pursuant 22 to this section continues to be subject to the same rules and laws 23 governing the confidentiality of the information which governed 24 the information prior to the information being furnished to the 25 requestor. 26 (C) The following information is exempt from disclosure under 27 this section: 28 (1) Correspondence or work products of legal counsel and 29 any other material that would violate an attorney - client 30 relationship. 31 (2) Trade secrets, which are defined as unpatented, secret, 32 commercially valuable plans, appliances, formulas, or processes, 33 which are used for the making, preparing, compounding, treating, 34 or processing of articles or materials which are trade commodities 35 obtained from a person and which are generally recognized as 36 confidential; work products, in whole or in part collected or 37 produced for sale or resale, and paid subscriber information. Trade 38 secrets also include, for those public bodies who market services 39 or products in competition with others, feasibility, planning, and 40 marketing studies, and evaluations and other materials which 41 contain references to potential customers, competitive information, 42 or evaluation.

1 [74] 2 1 (3) Information of a personal or medical nature where the 2 public disclosure thereof would constitute unreasonable invasion 3 of personal privacy. Information of a personal nature includes, but 4 is not limited to, information as to gross receipts contained in 5 applications for business licenses and information relating to 6 public records which include the name, address, and telephone 7 number or other such information of an individual or individuals 8 who are handicapped or disabled when the information is 9 requested for person - to - person commercial solicitation of 10 handicapped persons solely by virtue of their handicap. This 11 provision must not be interpreted to restrict access to information 12 contained in public records. 13 (4) Records of law enforcement and public safety agencies 14 not otherwise available by law that were compiled in the process 15 of detecting and investigating crime if the disclosure of the 16 information would harm the agency by: 17 (a) disclosing the identity of informants not otherwise 18 known; 19 (b) the premature release of information to be used in a 20 prospective law enforcement action; 21 (c) disclosing investigatory techniques not otherwise 22 known outside the government; or 23 (d) endangering the life, health, or property of any person. 24 (5)(a) Data, records, or information of a proprietary nature, 25 produced or collected by or for faculty or staff of state institutions 26 of higher education in the conduct of or as a result of study or 27 research on commercial, scientific, technical, or scholarly issues, 28 whether sponsored by the institution alone or in conjunction with a 29 governmental body or private concern, where the data, records, or 30 information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted, 31 or patented. 32 (b) Any data, records, or information developed, 33 collected, or received by or on behalf of faculty, staff, employees, 34 or students of a state institution of higher education or any public 35 or private entity supporting or participating in the activities of a 36 state institution of higher education in the conduct of or as a result 37 of study or research on medical, scientific, technical, scholarly, or 38 artistic issues, whether sponsored by the institution alone or in 39 conjunction with a governmental body or private entity until the 40 information is published, patented, otherwise publicly 41 disseminated, or released to an agency whereupon the request must 42 be made to the agency. This item applies to, but is not limited to, 43 information provided by participants in research, research notes

1 [74] 3 1 and data, discoveries, research projects, proposals, methodologies, 2 protocols, and creative works. 3 (c) The exemptions in this item do not extend to the 4 institution’s financial or administrative records. 5 (6) Confidential proprietary information provided to a public 6 body for economic development or contract negotiations purposes. 7 (7) Matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute 8 or law. 9 (D) Information requested pursuant to this section must be used 10 only for the requestor’s use if the responsible official certifies that 11 release of the information may have an effect upon pending 12 business, personnel, or law enforcement actions. When 13 negotiations are completed or the reason for secrecy no longer 14 exists, the information requested is available for distribution. 15 (E) Within ten days of the receipt of the written request for 16 information, the responsible official may petition for an in camera 17 hearing before an administrative law judge to determine if the 18 information is exempt from disclosure. 19 (1) The administrative law judge must hold the hearing 20 within ten days of the receipt of the petition and issue a decision 21 on the matter no later than five days after the hearing. The 22 decision of the administrative law judge is not subject to review 23 under Chapter 23 of Title 1. 24 (2) If the administrative law judge determines that the 25 information is not exempt, the information must be provided to the 26 requestor, and the responsible official must deliver it to the 27 requestor within two days of the judge’s decision. 28 (3) If the administrative law judge determines that the 29 information is exempt, either the Senate or the House of 30 Representatives from which the request originated, if applicable, 31 may override the exemption by adopting a resolution to require the 32 disclosure of the information to the requestor. 33 (4) Upon the filing of a written notice by the requestor 34 setting forth the specific facts to the governing authority of an 35 entity that a responsible official has wilfully or knowingly failed or 36 refused to comply with the order of the administrative law judge to 37 release the information or refused to comply with a resolution 38 passed by a body of the General Assembly, the responsible official 39 must be suspended without pay by the governing authority of the 40 entity until such time as a hearing can be held subject to the 41 provisions of Chapter 23 of Title 1; but in no event shall the 42 suspension exceed ten days.

1 [74] 4 1 (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 2 responsible official shall be terminated from employment or 3 removed from office for a violation of this section, except as 4 provided for in Article XV of the South Carolina Constitution.” 5 6 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 7 Governor. 8 ----XX----

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