§ 120‑131.  Documents produced by legislative employees.
(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;
(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 G.S. 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.)