Sec 15-1640. Public records exemptions; confidential information; historical records; donor records

A. The following records of a university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents are exempt from title 39, chapter 1, article 2:

1. Information or intellectual property that is not available to the public and that is a trade secret as defined in section 44-401 or that is either:

(a) Contained in unfunded grant applications or proposals.

(b) Developed by persons employed by a university, independent contractors working with a university or third parties that are collaborating with a university, if the disclosure of this data or material would be contrary to the best interests of this state.

(c) Provided to a university by a third party pursuant to the terms and conditions of a contract between the university and the third party. In order to qualify for the exemption prescribed in this subdivision, all of the following criteria must be met:

(i) The contract specifies that the information being provided to the university is confidential and that there is a need to maintain that confidentiality.

(ii) The contract is approved before the contract becomes effective by an official of the university who is authorized to sign these contracts.

(iii) The contract includes the name or names of the third party and a general description of the research or other work that is the subject of the contract in a manner sufficient to provide the public with the information necessary to understand the nature of that research or other work.

(iv) Except for the exemptions from public disclosure prescribed in this section, the contract will become a public document that is subject to title 39, chapter 1, article 2 when the contract is executed.

(d) Composed of unpublished research data, manuscripts, preliminary analyses, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research and prepublication peer reviews.

2. Historical records and materials donated to a university by a private person or a private entity, if restricted access is a condition of the donation. The exemption provided by this paragraph shall expire no later than twenty years after the original donation.

3. All records concerning donors or potential donors to a university, other than the names of the donors and the description, date, amount and conditions of these donations.

B. This section does not affect the issues to be decided between a university and a contracting party, including issues related to the university's right to publish the data and the results of the university's research or discoveries and the timing of any related publication.

C. Any exemption provided by subsection A of this section shall no longer be applicable if the subject matter of the records becomes available to the general public.