(a) Unless a judge trial referee makes a finding of probable cause, a complaint alleging a violation of this part shall be confidential except upon the request of the respondent. An Office of State Ethics evaluation of a possible violation of this part undertaken prior to a complaint being filed shall be confidential except upon the request of the subject of the evaluation. If the evaluation is confidential, any information supplied to or received from the Office of State Ethics shall not be disclosed to any third party by a subject of the evaluation, a person contacted for the purpose of obtaining information or by a board or staff member of the Office of State Ethics. No provision of this subsection shall prevent the board or the Office of State Ethics from reporting the possible commission of a crime to the Chief State's Attorney or other prosecutorial authority.

(b) An investigation conducted prior to a probable cause finding shall be confidential except upon the request of the respondent. If the investigation is confidential, the allegations in the complaint and any information supplied to or received from the Office of State Ethics shall not be disclosed during the investigation to any third party by a complainant, respondent, witness, designated party, or Office of State Ethics or staff member.

(c) Not later than three business days after the termination of the investigation, the Office of State Ethics shall inform the complainant and the respondent of its finding and provide them a summary of its reasons for making that finding. The Office of State Ethics shall publish its finding upon the respondent's request and may also publish a summary of its reasons for making such finding.

(d) If a judge trial referee makes a finding of no probable cause, the complaint and the record of its investigation shall remain confidential, except upon the request of the respondent and except that some or all of the record may be used in subsequent proceedings. No complainant, respondent, witness, designated party, or Office of State Ethics or staff member shall disclose to any third party any information learned from the investigation, including knowledge of the existence of a complaint, which the disclosing party would not otherwise have known. If such a disclosure is made, the judge trial referee may, after consultation with the respondent if the respondent is not the source of the disclosure, publish its finding and a summary of its reasons therefor.

(e) The judge trial referee shall make public a finding of probable cause not later than five business days after any such finding. At such time, the entire record of the investigation shall become public, except that the Office of State Ethics may postpone examination or release of such public records for a period not to exceed fourteen days for the purpose of reaching a stipulation agreement pursuant to subsection (c) of section 4-177. Any stipulation agreement or settlement entered into for a violation of this part shall be approved by a majority of its members present and voting.

(P.A. 84-52, S. 4; P.A. 85-290, S. 6; P.A. 88-317, S. 42, 107; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-1, S. 17; P.A. 94-132, S. 7; P.A. 05-183, S. 18; P.A. 06-196, S. 12, 13.)

History: P.A. 85-290 amended Subsec. (a) to add provisions re confidentiality of a commission evaluation prior to the filing of a complaint; P.A. 88-317 substituted “subsection (c) of section 4-177” for “subsection (d) of section 4-177” in Subsec. (e), effective July 1, 1989, and applicable to all agency proceedings commencing on or after that date; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-1 repealed former Subsec. (f) re publication of commission finding and memorandum under Sec. 1-93(b); P.A. 94-132 amended Subsec. (a) by changing “an evaluation” to “a commission evaluation” and authorizing reports to prosecutorial authority other than chief state's attorney; P.A. 05-183 replaced “commission” with “judge trial referee”, “Office of State Ethics” or “board” throughout the section and amended Subsec. (e) to add requirement that any stipulation agreement or settlement be approved by a majority of members present and voting, effective July 1, 2005; P.A. 06-196 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (e), effective June 7, 2006.