(1) A state or local government agency requesting disclosure of a program participant's actual address pursuant to this section shall make such a request in writing on agency letterhead and shall provide the executive director or his or her designee with the following information:
The name of the program participant for whom the agency seeks disclosure of theactual address;
A statement, with explanation, setting forth the reason or reasons that the agencyneeds the program participant's actual address and a statement that the agency cannot meet its statutory or administrative obligations without disclosure of the participant's actual address;
A particular statement of facts showing that other methods to locate the programparticipant or the participant's actual address have been tried and have failed or that the methods reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed;
A statement that the agency has adopted a procedure setting forth the steps the agency will take to protect the confidentiality of the program participant's actual address; and
Any other information as the executive director or his or her designee may reasonably request in order to identify the program participant in the records of the executive director or his or her designee.
(2) (a) The executive director or his or her designee shall provide the program participant with notice of a request for disclosure received pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, and, to the extent possible, the participant shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard regarding the request.
Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c) of this subsection (2), the executivedirector or his or her designee shall provide the program participant with written notification whenever a request for a disclosure has been granted or denied pursuant to this section.
No notice or opportunity to be heard shall be given to the program participant whenthe request for disclosure is made by a state or local law enforcement agency conducting a criminal investigation involving alleged criminal conduct by the participant or when providing notice to the participant would jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation or the safety of law enforcement personnel.
The executive director or his or her designee shall promptly conduct a review of allrequests received pursuant to this section. In conducting a review, the executive director or his or her designee shall consider all information received pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) of this section and any other appropriate information that the executive director or his or her designee may require.
The executive director or his or her designee shall grant a state or local governmentagency's request for disclosure and disclose a program participant's actual address pursuant to this section if:
The agency has a bona fide statutory or administrative need for the actual address.
The actual address will only be used for the purpose stated in the request.
Other methods to locate the program participant or the participant's actual addresshave been tried and have failed or such methods reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed.
The agency has adopted a procedure for protecting the confidentiality of the actualaddress of the program participant.
(5) Upon granting a request for disclosure pursuant to this section, the executive director or his or her designee shall provide the state or local government agency with the disclosure that contains:
The program participant's actual address;
A statement setting forth the permitted use of the actual address and the names orclasses of persons permitted to have access to and use of the actual address;
A statement that the agency is required to limit access to and use of the actual address to the permitted use and persons set forth in the disclosure; and
The date on which the permitted use expires, if expiration is appropriate, after whichthe agency may no longer maintain, use, or have access to the actual address.
(6) A state or local government agency whose request is granted by the executive director or his or her designee pursuant to this section shall:
Limit the use of the program participant's actual address to the purposes set forth inthe disclosure;
Limit the access to the program participant's actual address to the persons or classesof persons set forth in the disclosure;
Cease to use and dispose of the program participant's actual address upon the expiration of the permitted use, if applicable; and
Except as otherwise set forth in the disclosure, maintain the confidentiality of a program participant's actual address.
Upon denial of a state or local government agency's request for disclosure, the executive director or his or her designee shall provide prompt written notification to the agency stating that the agency's request has been denied and setting forth the specific reasons for the denial.
A state or local government agency may file written exceptions with the executivedirector or his or her designee no more than fifteen days after written notification is provided pursuant to subsection (7) of this section. The exceptions shall restate the information contained in the request for disclosure, state the grounds upon which the agency asserts that the request for disclosure should be granted and specifically respond to the executive director's or his or her designee's specific reasons for denial.
Unless the state or local government agency filing exceptions agrees otherwise, theexecutive director or his or her designee shall make a final determination regarding the exceptions within thirty days after the filing of exceptions pursuant to subsection (8) of this section. Prior to making a final determination regarding the exceptions, the executive director or his or her designee may request additional information from the agency or the program participant and conduct a hearing. If the final determination of the executive director or his or her designee is that the denial of the agency's request for disclosure was properly denied, the executive director or his or her designee shall provide the agency with written notification of this final determination stating that the agency's request has again been denied and setting forth the specific reasons for the denial. If the final determination of the executive director or his or her designee is that the denial of the agency's request for disclosure has been improperly denied, the executive director or his or her designee shall grant the agency's request for disclosure in accordance with this section. The final determination of the executive director or his or her designee shall constitute final agency action.
The record before any judicial review of a final agency action pursuant to subsection (9) of this section shall consist of the state or local government agency's request for disclosure, the executive director's or his or her designee's written response, the agency's exceptions, the hearing transcript, if any, and the executive director's or his or her designee's final determination.
During any period of review, evaluation, or appeal, the agency shall, to the extentpossible, accept and use the program participant's substitute address.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the executive director or his orher designee shall establish an expedited process for disclosure to be used by a criminal justice official or agency for situations where disclosure is required pursuant to a criminal justice trial, hearing, proceeding, or investigation involving a program participant. An official or agency receiving information pursuant to this subsection (12) shall certify to the executive director or his or her designee that the official or agency has a system in place to protect the confidentiality of a participant's actual address from the public and from personnel who are not involved in the trial, hearing, proceeding, or investigation.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the executive director or his orher designee from granting a request for disclosure to a state or local government agency pursuant to this section upon receipt of a program participant's written consent to do so.
Source: L. 2011: Entire part added with relocations, (HB 11-1080), ch. 256, p. 1117, § 2, effective June 2.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 24-21-210 as it existed prior to 2011.