25.06.060 Confidential Materials Procedure

(a) Prior to making any documents available to the Gaming Office or its Counsel, the applicant (respondent) may designate any document he or she believes to contain confidential information as "Subject to a Confidentiality Claim" by so marking the document prior to providing a copy of the document to Gaming Office or its Counsel.

(b) No document provided to the Gaming Office or its Counsel, which has been marked in accord with this section and no non-public information contained with the document will be made a part of the public record of the Commission proceedings or otherwise disclosed by the Commission to any person other than its authorized agents (or except as may be required under any laws, regulations, court order, or the Compact), without first providing the respondent with the opportunity to seek a ruling by the Commission that the documents and/or non-public information contained therein should not be made public. The request for such a ruling and any discussion relating to the document will be heard and ruled upon by the Commission in an executive session, the bearing session will be adjourned and the Commission will conduct an executive session meeting in order to hear and rule upon the respondent's request. The applicant (respondent) may present to the Commission, in executive session, written and oral arguments regarding the confidentiality claim, along with any facts the applicant (respondent) believes to be relevant to such argument.

(c) When weighing the public's right to be informed of the information before the Gaming Commission, the Commission in executive session will evaluate the evidence present as "Subject to a Confidentiality Claim" as follows:

(1) The Commission will balance the applicant's (respondent's)claims of confidentiality against the materiality of the information to the license application or renewal decision;

(2) The Commission will balance the public's right to know the information against the applicant's (respondent's) claim of confidentiality;

(3) The Commission will balance its own accountability as a public service regulatory body to create a public record for the Licensure against the applicant's (respondent 's) claim of confidentiality; and

(4) The Commission will consider all facts and circumstances relevant to making a proper ruling, this will include but is not limited to the public's safety, tradition and custom of the Tribe, the standard evidentiary privileges which includes but is not limited to doctor-patient privilege, clergy privilege, and/or attorney-client privilege.

(5) After considering the record ''Subject to a Confidentiality Claim" in executive session and determining that the record will be made a part of the public record of the applicant's (respondent's) application or licensure, renewal proceedings, the Commission will rule in public session on the record as to which documents are "Subject to a Confidentiality Claim."

(6) If the Commission rules against the Confidentiality Claim and the applicant (respondent) continues to contest that the record or document should continue to be "Subject to a Confidentiality Claim," the applicant (respondent) will be permitted to:

(A) Withdraw his or her license application or licensure application from consideration by the Commission; or

(B) withdraw the record or document from the Commission's

proceeding.

(d) If the applicant (respondent) selects the option to withdraw the evidence from the hearing the Commission when making the licensure decision shall weigh the withdrawal of the record or document along with other evidence in making the determination. Withdrawal of the documents from the application process ordinarily will be considered with disfavor and, depending on the facts and circumstances of the public record, the Commission may deem the withdrawal of the record or document to be sufficient cause in and of itself for denial of the license application or licensure renewal.

(e) In the event that the Commission rules during executive session that the document and/or information contained therein should not be made part of the public record, but will be considered in the license application or renewal, the record or document shall be designated "Confidential," sealed, and will not be made part of the public record. The Commission may consider the document and information contained within the confidential record or document, in camera in making its determination

(f) At the conclusion of the Commission' s proceedings, the Commission will

return to the applicant (respondent) all documents marked as "Subject to a Confidentiality Claim" which were not made part of the public record or were viewed in camera and designated as "Confidential."