KRS § 218B.135 — KY Code / Title XVIII / Chapter 218B / Section 218B.135
218B.135 Cabinet to maintain confidential list of cardholders -- Exemptions from Open Records Act -- Certain information not exempt - Penalty
Status: in_force

218B.135 Cabinet to maintain confidential list of cardholders -- Exemptions from

Open Records Act -- Certain information not exempt - Penalty.

(1) The cabinet shall maintain a confidential list of the persons to whom the cabinet has

issued registry identification cards and their addresses, telephone numbers, and

registry identification numbers.

(2) The cabinet shall, only at a cardholder’s request, confirm his or her status as a

registered qualified patient, visiting qualified patient, or designated caregiver to a

third party, such as a landlord, employer, school, medical professional, or court.

(3) The following information received and records kept pursuant to the cabinet's

administrative regulations promulgated for purposes of administering this chapter

shall be confidential and exempt from the Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to

61.884, and shall not be subject to disclosure to any individual or public or private

entity, except as necessary for authorized employees of the cabinet to perform

official duties pursuant to this chapter:

(a) Applications and renewals, their contents, and supporting information

submitted by qualified patients, visiting qualified patients, and designated

caregivers in compliance with KRS 218B.055, including information

regarding their designated caregivers and medicinal cannabis practitioners;

(b) The individual names and other information identifying persons to whom the

cabinet has issued registry identification cards;

(c) Any dispensing information required to be kept under KRS 218B.110 or the

cabinet's administrative regulations which shall only identify cardholders by

their registry identification numbers and shall not contain names or other

personal identifying information; and

(d) Any cabinet hard drives or other data-recording media that are no longer in

use and that contain cardholder information. These hard drives and other

media shall be destroyed after a reasonable time or after the data is otherwise

stored.

Data subject to this section shall not be combined or linked in any manner with any

other list or database maintained by the cabinet and shall not be used for any

purpose not provided for in this chapter.

(4) Nothing in this section shall preclude the following:

(a) Notification by the cabinet's employees to state or local law enforcement

about falsified or fraudulent information submitted to the cabinet or of other

apparently criminal violations of this chapter if the employee who suspects

that falsified or fraudulent information has been submitted has conferred with

his or her supervisor and both agree that circumstances exist that warrant

reporting;

(b) Notification by the cabinet's employees to a state licensing board if the

cabinet has reasonable suspicion to believe a medicinal cannabis practitioner

did not have a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship with a patient for

whom he or she signed a written certification, if the cabinet has reasonable

suspicion to believe the medicinal cannabis practitioner violated the standard

of care, or for other suspected violations of this chapter by a medicinal

cannabis practitioner;

(c) Notification by dispensary agents to the cabinet of a suspected violation or

attempted violation of this chapter or the administrative regulations

promulgated thereunder;

(d) Verification by the cabinet of registry identification cards issued pursuant to

KRS 218B.055, 218B.060, and 218B.065; and

(e) The submission of the report required by KRS 218B.020 to the General

Assembly.

(5) It shall be a misdemeanor punishable by up to one hundred eighty (180) days in jail

for any person, including an employee or official of the cabinet or another state

agency or local government, to knowingly breach the confidentiality of information

obtained pursuant to this chapter.