Request By:
Mr. Ralph D. Roaden
Executive Director
Financial Disclosure Review Commission
P.O. Box 431
Corbin, Kentucky 40701
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether the Financial Disclosure Review Commission is exempt from the provisions of the Open Meetings Law or the Open Records Law. In a telephone conversation, you stated that you would like an opinion which applies both to the Commission as created by the Governor's Executive Order No. 75-211 and by Senate Bill 124 which was enacted into law by the 1978 General Assembly.
It is our opinion that the meetings and records of the Financial Disclosure Review Commission are exempt from both the Open Meetings and Open Records Laws by both the Executive Order and Senate Bill 124. Executive Order 75-211 contains the following paragraph:
"Information filed with the Commission shall be held confidential by the Commission, and shall at all times remain in the possession of the Commission, the Governor, or their designated representatives."
Senate Bill 124 contains the following paragraph:
"Information filed with the Commission shall be held confidential by the Commission and shall at all times remain in the possession of the Commission or its designated representative except as provided in Section 4(3) of this act."
The exception referred to is that the Commission may bring any information it deems necessary to the attention of the Governor.
Since the Commission is dealing entirely with confidential information, it naturally follows that the meetings of the Commission must of necessity be closed to the public.