AN ACT to provide that law student externs at the general assembly are subject to legislative confidentiality.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 120‑29(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2)	"Legislative employee" means employees and officers of the General Assembly, consultants and counsel to members and committees of either house of the General Assembly or of legislative commissions who are paid by State funds, students at an accredited law school while in an externship program at the General Assembly approved by the Legislative Services Commission, and employees of the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; but does not mean legislators and members of the Council of State."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 120‑134 reads as rewritten:
"§ 120‑134.  Penalty.
Violation of any provision of this Article shall be grounds for disciplinary action in the case of employees, for referral to the academic institution for appropriate discipline in the case of law student externs, and for removal from office in the case of public officers. No criminal penalty shall attach for any violation of this Article."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 120C‑100(a)(6) reads as rewritten:
"(6)	Legislative employee. – Employees and officers of the General Assembly, consultants and counsel to committees of either house of the General Assembly or of legislative commissions, who are paid by State funds, and students at an accredited law school while in an externship program at the General Assembly approved by the Legislative Services Commission, but not including legislators, members of the Council of State, nonsupervisory employees of the Administrative Division's Facility Maintenance and Food Services staff, or pages."
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 10th day of June, 2009.

	_____________________________________
		 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2009