2018 Arkansas Code
Title 21 - Public Officers and Employees
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
Subchapter 6 - Arkansas Whistle-Blower Act
§ 21-1-607. Protection of confidentiality
(a) This subchapter shall not be construed to permit a disclosure which would diminish or impair the rights of any person or any public official to the continued protection of confidentiality of records or working papers where a statute or the common law provides for protection.
(b)
(1) All materials and documentation, including without limitation notes, memoranda, recordings, preliminary drafts of investigation reports, and other data gathered in connection with a communication regarding the existence of waste or of a violation, are privileged and confidential and are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-19-101 et seq., except as provided in subdivisions (b)(2) and (3) of this section.
(2) Final reports issued by a public employer or an appropriate authority concerning a communication regarding the existence of waste or of a violation and any supporting documentation shall be open to public inspection and copying, except for documents that are exempt from disclosure under other law.
(3) This section does not apply to the name and identifying information of a state employee eligible to receive a reward under § 21-1-610 who does not request confidentiality under § 21-1-610(g).
(c) This section applies without limitation to communications regarding the existence of waste or of a violation received by a telephone hotline allowing for the reporting of fraud, waste, or abuse in government.
