Oklahoma § 36-306 - Records - Disclosure

§ 36-306. Records - Disclosure

A. The records, books, and papers pertaining to the official

transactions, filings, examinations, investigations, and proceedings

of the Insurance Department shall be maintained by the Department

until disposition thereof has been approved by the Archives and

Records Commission. These records, books, and papers shall be

public records of the state. However, reports of examinations of

insurers shall be filed and made public only as provided in Section

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 36. Insurance

309.4 of this title. Open and ongoing investigative and

disciplinary files shall not be made public until their completion

or unless they are ordered to be made public by the proper judicial

official. Files of the claims division of the office of the

Commissioner, including but not limited to complaints and requests

for assistance from insureds, and insurance agency and company

records, shall not be public records and shall not be disclosed

except in connection with disciplinary proceedings by the

Commissioner. Final market conduct orders shall be open public

records.

B. Any document or other information generated by the Insurance

Department or received by the Insurance Department from a

governmental agency or any other public body of any kind, including

an insurance guaranty fund or risk pool board, that has a protection

from disclosure under any statute or evidentiary privilege from

disclosure, while in the possession of the body that generated or

received the information, shall retain its confidential character

while in the possession of the Insurance Department. The Insurance

Department may require that any agency or public body providing a

document or other information, if it expects the information to be

treated confidentially by the Insurance Department, to also provide

simultaneously an express reference to the claimed protection from

disclosure.

C. A court shall quash any subpoena commanding the disclosure

of confidential information or closed records of the Insurance

Department absent a showing of justification for the disclosure.

Added by Laws 1957, p. 219, § 306, operative July 1, 1957. Amended

by Laws 1980, c. 322, § 3, eff. Jan. 1, 1981; Laws 1983, c. 68, § 3,

eff. Nov. 1, 1983; Laws 1985, c. 328, § 1, emerg. eff. July 29,

1985; Laws 1997, c. 418, § 5, eff. Nov. 1, 1997; Laws 2010, c. 222,

§ 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2010.