GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-157
HOUSE BILL 477

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE BOARD OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT EXAMINERS TO ADMINISTER COMPUTER-BASED EXAMINATIONS AND TO KEEP CERTAIN RECORDS CONFIDENTIAL. 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 93-12(4) reads as rewritten:
"(4)	To hold written, oral, and computer-based examinations of applicants for certificates of qualification at least once a year, or more often, as may be deemed necessary by the Board."
Section 2.  Chapter 93 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 93-12.2.  Board records are confidential.
Records, papers, and other documents containing information collected or compiled by the Board, its members, or employees, as a result of a complaint, investigation, inquiry, or interview in connection with an application for examination, certification, or  registration, or in connection with a certificate holder's professional ethics and conduct, shall not be considered public records within the meaning of Chapter 132 of the General Statutes.  Any notice or statement of charges against a certificate holder or applicant, or any notice to a certificate holder or applicant of a hearing to be held by the Board is a public record, even though it may contain information collected and compiled as a result of a complaint, investigation, inquiry, or interview conducted by the Board.  If any record, paper, or other document containing information collected and compiled by the Board is admitted into evidence in a hearing held by the Board, it shall then be a public record within the meaning of Chapter 132 of the General Statutes."
Section 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 29th day of May, 1997.
s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

s/	Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 11:36 a.m. this 6th day of June, 1997