2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 44 — Public records and recorders
RS 44:4 — Applicability

§4. Applicability

This Chapter shall not apply:

(1) To any tax return or the information contained in any tax return. However, the name and address of any person who obtains an occupational license, the information on the face of the license, and information as to whether an occupational license has been issued to a particular person shall be public records.

(2) To the name of any person or any other information from the records, papers or files of the state or its political subdivisions or agencies, concerning persons applying for or receiving old age assistance, aid to the blind, or aid to dependent children.

(3) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs or copies thereof, in the custody or control of any officer, employee, agent or agency of the state whose duties and functions are to investigate, examine, manage in whole or in part, or liquidate the business of any private person, firm or corporation in this state, when the records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs or copies thereof, pertain to the business of the private person, firm or corporation, and are in their nature confidential.

(4)(a) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs, reports of examination, work papers of examiners, including loan write-ups, line sheets, handwritten notes, loan classification documentation, and any other documentation relating to the financial statements of a financial institution's borrowers, or other entity supervised by the office of financial institutions, except as otherwise provided in R.S. 6:103, R.S. 9:3518.1, R.S. 37:1806, R.S. 51:1934, or R.S. 51:2389. This exception shall apply to any financial institution governed by Title 6, supervised entities licensed under Title 9 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, and those entities licensed and supervised by the office of financial institutions pursuant to Title 37 or 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, including those which are exercising the privileges granted by their charters or licenses, as well as those which have been determined to be insolvent or operating in an unsafe and unsound condition and have lost their deposit insurance coverage, or, for other legal reasons have been closed and placed in conservatorship or receivership by the commissioner of financial institutions, or whose licenses issued under the provisions of Title 9, 37, or 51 have been terminated for any lawful reason.

(b) To copies of items exempted under Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph in the custody or control of the office of financial institutions or any agent or employee of that agency, except as otherwise provided in R.S. 6:103, R.S. 9:3518.1, R.S. 37:1806, R.S. 51:1934, or R.S. 51:2389.

(c) To investigative records of the office of financial institutions which pertain to the application of any person for a charter or license for a new financial institution, and the confidential portion of any application by an entity chartered, licensed, and/or supervised by the office of financial institutions pursuant to Title 6, 9, 37, or 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, except as otherwise provided in R.S. 6:103, R.S. 9:3518.1, R.S. 37:1806, R.S. 51:1934, or R.S. 51:2389.

(d) To records of the office of financial institutions which pertain to the application for a merger approval or an additional branch office for any existing financial institution governed by Titles 6 and 9 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, except as otherwise provided in R.S. 6:103.

(5)(a) To any daily reports or endorsements filed by insurance companies doing business in this state with the commissioner of insurance in accordance with the laws of this state.

(b) All risk-based capital reports filed with the Department of Insurance pursuant to R.S. 22:611 through 620.

(6) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof in the custody or control of the legislative auditor, or to the actual working papers of the internal auditor of a municipality until the audit is complete, unless otherwise provided.

(7) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs or copies or memoranda thereof, and any report or reports concerning the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license to practice medicine or midwifery, in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners.

(8) To any records, data, writings, accounts, reports, letters, exhibits, pictures, photographs, drawings, charts, maps or copies or memoranda thereof, whether written or oral, filed by or received from any person by the commissioner of conservation, or any official or employee in the Department of Conservation, or which in any manner is in the custody or control of the commissioner of conservation, or any official or employee in the Department of Conservation, which pertain to or in any way involve estimated or proven recoverable reserves of oil, gas or other minerals in place, and the same has been declared, presented or received as confidential at the request of the lawful owner thereof; provided, however, statistical reports which do not reveal the identity of any owner or operator, either directly or by inference, may be released to the public by the commissioner of conservation.

(9) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs or copies or memoranda thereof, and any report or reports concerning the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license to practice as a registered nurse in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Nursing; however, any action taken by the board, and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license to practice as a registered nurse shall be a public record.

(10) To any records, data, writings, accounts, reports, letters, exhibits, pictures, photographs, drawings, charts, maps, or copies or memoranda thereof, whether written or oral, filed by or received from the Energy Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy by the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources or any official or employee in the Department of Natural Resources if nondisclosure to any other person or public body was a requirement for obtaining same and the information could not otherwise be obtained by law from that agency; and to any records or information filed with or received by the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources or any official or employee in the Department of Natural Resources from any person who is required by federal law to supply same to the state which information is not available to the public under federal law. Statistical reports which do not reveal, directly or by inference, the identity of the individual sources of the information compiled by the Department of Energy may be released to the public by the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.

(11) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, exhibits, data, pictures, drawings, charts, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, and any report or reports concerning the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a dentist or as a dental hygienist in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Dentistry; however, any final determination made by the board, and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a dentist or as a dental hygienist shall be a public record.

(12) To any report, records, writings, accounts, letters, exhibits, data, pictures, drawings, charts, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, concerning the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a veterinarian in the custody or control of the Louisiana Board of Veterinary Medicine; however, any final determination made by the board, and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a veterinarian shall be a public record.

(13) To any of the following for use in the operation of or in connection with any automated broker interface system or any automated manifest system conducted by any deep water or shallow draft port commission of the state and licensed to, leased to, commissioned by, deposited with, or otherwise acquired by such port commission for such purpose:

(a) Any computer system or program including any computer software or related menus, flow charts, source materials, prompts, dialogues, data bases, manuals, and any other computer operating or support materials.

(b) Any financial or trade secrets or other third party proprietary information of any person, firm, corporation, agency, or other entity, whether governmental or private.

(14) To any records of the Department of Health and Human Resources, office of preventive and public health services, which records contain any technical information pertaining to any formula, method, or process which is a trade secret which has been submitted by any manufacturer of a product or mechanical sewage treatment plant in order to obtain or retain approval of such product for sale or use in this state or in order to assist said office in carrying out and enforcing the sanitary laws and regulations of the state.

(15) To any pending claims or pending claim files in the custody or control of the office of risk management, division of administration, or similar records in the custody of any municipality or parish; to any information concerning pending legal claims in the files of any attorney representing the state or any municipality in connection with the office of risk management, division of administration, or any office with similar responsibilities of any municipality or parish; or to any pending claims relating to loss reserves maintained or established by the office of risk management, division of administration, or any office with similar responsibilities of any municipality or parish, for any claims or for losses incurred but not reported; however, this Chapter shall be applicable to reserves as reported in the financial statement of the office of risk management, division of administration, or any municipality or parish. Nothing in this Paragraph shall be construed or interpreted in a manner as to prevent or inhibit in any manner the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget and the litigation subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget from obtaining dollar amounts billed by and paid to contract attorneys and experts in defense of claims against the state that the chairman or vice chairman, or the subcommittee determines is necessary to perform functions and duties relative to the evaluation of performance or the determination of budget policy; however, no legislator or any committee of the legislature shall disclose any confidential information so obtained that would jeopardize or have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the state.

(16) To the following records of a board or institution of higher learning, in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities, the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and the Board of Supervisors of Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, or their successors, in conjunction with the Board of Regents, for programs and institutions under their supervision and management, unless access to the records is specifically required by state or federal statute or is ordered by a court under rules of discovery:

(a) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person, firm, or corporation, pertaining to research or to the commercialization of technology, including any such information designated as confidential by such person, firm, or corporation, but not including any such information relating to the identity of principals, officers, or individuals and entities directly or indirectly owning or controlling an entity other than a publicly held entity, or the identity of principals, officers, or individuals and entities directly owning or controlling five percent or more of a publicly held entity.

(b) Data, records, or information produced or collected by or for faculty or staff of state institutions of higher learning in the conduct of or as a result of, study or research on commercial, scientific or technical subjects of a patentable or licensable nature, whether sponsored by the institution alone or in conjunction with a governmental body or private concern, until such data, records, or information have been publicly released, published, or patented.

(c) Those portions of research proposals, supporting documentation and information, submitted by an institution of higher learning to the Board of Regents' Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund Program, which have been certified by the institution as containing data, information, ideas, or plans of a potentially patentable or licensable nature, including any discussions or written comments concerning such information by reviewers of the proposals, but not including reviewer ratings, until such data, records, or information have been publicly released, published, or patented.

(d) Those portions of private document collections donated to state institutions of higher learning for historical research or preservation purposes, which are designated by the donor to have restricted access for a specific period of time.

(17) To any records or information required of hospitals by the Department of Health and Hospitals as a condition of hospital licensure pursuant to R.S. 40:2104(B).

(18) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, and any report or reports concerning the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license to practice chiropractic, in the custody or control of the Louisiana Board of Chiropractic Examiners. However, any final determination made by the board, and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a chiropractor shall be a public record.

(19) To any records or information defined as "confidential data" as provided in R.S. 40:3.1.

(20) To any records, notes, or maps within the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' Natural Heritage Program database on rare, threatened, or endangered species or unique natural communities.

(21) To any information received by the Department of Agriculture and Forestry as a result of questionnaires sent to private persons regarding the timber industry; however, the compiled results shall be public record. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Paragraph, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry shall provide any information which it receives as a result of such questionnaires to the Louisiana Tax Commission upon request of the commission.

(22) To any records or information defined as confidential under provisions of R.S. 40:2018(I).

(23) To the name and address of a law enforcement officer in the custody of the registrar of voters or the secretary of state, if certified by the law enforcement agency employing the officer that the officer is engaging in hazardous activities to the extent that it is necessary for his name and address to be kept confidential.

(24) To accident reports, and the information in accident reports, as provided in R.S. 32:398(H).

(25) To any information, documents, or records received by the Louisiana State Child Death Review Panel, or any local or regional panel established by the Louisiana State Child Death Review Panel defined as confidential under the provisions of R.S. 40:2019(F).

(26) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, exhibits, pictures, drawings, charts, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, in any reports of examinations or evaluations or any other information or data concerning the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license or certificate to practice social work or clinical social work in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners. However, any final determination made by the board, and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or to continue to hold a license or certificate to practice social work shall be a public record.

(27)(a) To any testing instrument used or to be used by the state Department of Education or the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to assess the performance of individual students, nor to any answers for such tests or any individual student scores on such tests.

(b) Nothing in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph shall prohibit any person authorized by policies adopted by the state Department of Education or the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from having access to the test instrument, test answers, or any individual student scores on such tests as necessary for the performance of his duties and responsibilities, nor any parent or guardian of a child who has taken any such test from having access to or being provided the child's individual test scores.

(28) To the name of any person, contained within or referred to in the records, papers or files of the Crime Victims Reparations Board, applying for or receiving funds from the Crime Victims Reparations Fund. In lieu of the person's name, the person's file number shall be utilized.

(29) To any records, writings, accounts, recordings, letters, exhibits, data, pictures, drawings, charts, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, and any report or reports concerning the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a psychologist in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists or to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a medical psychologist in the custody or control of or the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners; however, any action taken by the board and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a psychologist shall be a public record, and statistical reports which do not reveal the identity of any licensed psychologist may be released to the public.

(30) To personal information of toll patrons of the Crescent City Connection and the Greater New Orleans Expressway. For the purposes of this Paragraph "personal information" means the address, telephone number, social security number, or financial account numbers of a toll patron who pays toll charges when such information is supplied by a toll patron to the Crescent City Connection Division or the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission, and the date or time a toll patron has traversed the Crescent City Connection or the Greater New Orleans Expressway.

(31) To proprietary information provided to a communications district by a service provider, as defined in R.S. 33:9106(A)(4). "Proprietary information" as used in this Paragraph shall mean customer telephone numbers, information relating to the quantity, technical destination, location, and amount of use of a telecommunications service subscribed to by any customer of a telecommunications carrier, and information that is made available to the carrier by the customer solely by virtue of the carrier-customer relationship.

(32) To any records, writings, accounts, recordings, letters, exhibits, data, pictures, drawings, charts, photographs, or copies of memoranda thereof, and any report concerning the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a practical nurse in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners; however, any final determination made by the board, and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license to practice as a practical nurse shall be a public record.

(33)(a) To the name, address, and telephone number of any student enrolled in any public elementary or secondary school in the state in a record of a public elementary or secondary school or a city or parish school board.

(b) Nothing in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph shall prohibit any official or employee of any public elementary or secondary school, the state Department of Education, or the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from having access to a student's name, address, and telephone number but only as necessary for the performance of his duties and responsibilities.

(34)(a) To the social security number of any teacher or school employee employed by a city, parish, or other local public school board or any nonpublic school.

(b) Nothing in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph shall prohibit any official or employee of any elementary or secondary school at which the teacher or school employee works, of the school board employing the teacher, of the state Department of Education, or of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from having access to the social security number of a teacher or school employee but only as necessary for the performance of the duties and responsibilities of such official or employee.

(c) For the purposes of this Paragraph, "school board" shall include any city, parish, or other local public school board and the governing authority of any nonpublic school.

(35) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, exhibits, pictures, drawings, charts, or photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, in any reports of examinations or evaluations or in any other information or data in the custody of the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy concerning the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license, permit, certificate, or registration to practice or assist in the practice of pharmacy. However, any final determination made by the board and any legal grounds upon which such action is based, relative to the fitness of any person to receive or continue to hold a license, permit, certificate, or registration to practice or assist in the practice of pharmacy shall be a public record.

(36) To terms and conditions of the rebate agreement, rebate amounts, percent of rebate, manufacturer's pricing, and supplemental rebates which are contained in records of the Department of Health and Hospitals and its agents with respect to supplemental rebate negotiations for prescription drug coverage by the Medicaid Program and which are prepared pursuant to a supplemental rebate agreement, provided that the total amount of supplemental rebates recouped by the department shall be a public record. Such information shall be considered proprietary and confidential, provided that such information shall be subject to review by the legislative auditor and the legislative fiscal officer.

(37) To any protected health information as defined in R.S. 29:762 pursuant to the Louisiana Public Health Emergency Act.

(38) To any records, data, writings, accounts, reports, letters, exhibits, pictures, photographs, drawings, charts, maps, e-mail, or copies or memoranda thereof, whether written or oral, in the custody of the office of conservation contained in pipeline security procedures developed to prevent potential terrorist-related threats or activities, including physical security information, proprietary information, vulnerability assessments, operational plans and analysis of such information, and internal security information. Nothing in this Paragraph shall prevent the office of conservation from transmitting information to the United States Department of Transportation as necessary for the performance of their duties and functions.

(39) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs, or copies or memoranda thereof, and any report or reports concerning the fitness of any person to receive, or continue to hold, a license to practice optometry, in the custody or control of the Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners. However, any final determination made by the board after an adjudication hearing, other than by consent order, agreement, or other informal disposition shall be a public record.

(40) To any records, writings, plans, blueprints, or any information pertaining to security systems or features submitted to obtain an individual building permit on file in the office of a regulatory agency or official; any records, writings, plans, blueprints, or information submitted to obtain an individual building permit which details the interior layout of a residence to such an extent that access thereto would make such residence particularly vulnerable to burglary or other criminal activity; or any records, writings, plans, blueprints, or information containing any proprietary work product, design, or plan of any architect or engineer submitted to obtain an individual building permit; however, this Chapter shall be applicable to any survey or plot plan submitted solely for the purposes of displaying the outline of a building on a lot or lots of record in order to show compliance with yard or other setback requirements of a zoning ordinance or other such regulatory law.

(41) To the following information related to a credit card issued to a public body: the entire credit card number, the credit card expiration date, the passcode or access code, the credit card personal identification number or "PIN", or any other information which could be used to make a charge to the credit card account or otherwise access the credit card account information; however, this Chapter shall apply to all other information regarding the credit card and credit card account.

(42) To any portion of a notarial examination administered or to be administered by the secretary of state, nor to any answers for such a notarial examination.

(43) To the information contained in an application of an applicant under the age of eighteen who is applying for membership on the Louisiana Legislative Youth Advisory Council, except as otherwise provided in R.S. 24:973.1(G).

(44) To any records, writings, accounts, letters, letter books, photographs, actual working papers, or copies thereof, any of which is in the custody or control of any officer, employee, or agent of the Louisiana Cemetery Board and which pertains to an investigation of the business of a cemetery authority that is under investigation; however any such record shall be public record and subject to the provisions of this Chapter when introduced as evidence before an administrative or other judicial tribunal or when the investigation is complete.

Amended by Acts 1950, No. 155, §1; Acts 1976, No. 133, §1, eff. July 16, 1976; Acts 1979, No. 639, §1; Acts 1981, No. 898, §1, eff. Aug. 2, 1981; Acts 1982, No. 387, §1; Acts 1982, No. 867, §1, eff. Aug. 4, 1982; Acts 1983, No. 590, §2, eff. July 14, 1983; Acts 1984, No. 664, §1, eff. July 13, 1984; Acts 1985, No. 62, §1; Acts 1986, No. 215, §1; Acts 1986, No. 784, §1; Acts 1987, No. 732, §1; Acts 1988, No. 296, §1; Acts 1988, No. 102, §1, eff. June 29, 1988; Acts 1989, No. 229, §2; Acts 1989, No. 533, §1; Acts 1990, No. 59, §2, eff. June 26, 1990; Acts 1990, No. 67, §1; Acts 1990, No. 769, §1; Acts 1990, No. 831, §1, eff. July 24, 1990; Acts 1991, No. 167, §1; Acts 1991, No. 477, §1, eff. July 15, 1991; Acts 1991, No. 515, §2; Acts 1991, No. 810, §2; Acts 1992, No. 878, §2; Acts 1993, No. 837, §2, eff. July 1, 1993; Acts 1995, No. 1203, §2, eff. June 29, 1995; Acts 1997, No. 366, §4; Acts 1999, No. 736, §2; Acts 1999, No. 793, §2; Acts 2000, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 48, §1, eff. April 17, 2000; Acts 2000, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 58, §1; Acts 2001, No. 451, §4, eff. Jan. 12, 2004; Acts 2001, No. 481, §1; Acts 2001, No. 534, §1, eff. June 21, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 581, §1; Acts 2001, No. 748, §1; Acts 2001, No. 789, §1, eff. June 26, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 798, §2; Acts 2001, No. 1102, §9; Acts 2001, No. 1107, §1; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 124, §1, eff. April 23, 2002; Acts 2003, No. 658, §1, eff. June 27, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 987, §2; Acts 2003, No. 1055, §1, eff. July 2, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1206, §2; Acts 2004, No. 149, §1, eff. June 10, 2004; Acts 2006, No. 424, §1, eff. June 15, 2006; Acts 2007, No. 155, §1, eff. June 25, 2007; Acts 2007, No. 459, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2008; Acts 2008, No. 415, §2, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2008, No. 765, §2, eff. July 6, 2008; Acts 2009, No. 251, §10, eff. Jan. 1, 2010; Acts 2010, No. 769, §1.

NOTE: See Acts 2001, No. 451, §8(A), relative to effective date of R.S. 44:4(23) as amended in §4 of the Act.