* § 491. Returns to be secret. 1. Except in accordance with proper
judicial order or as in this section or otherwise provided by law, it
shall be unlawful for the commissioner, any officer or employee of the
department, or any officer or person who, pursuant to this section, is
permitted to inspect any return or report or to whom a copy, an abstract
or a portion of any return or report is furnished, or to whom any
information contained in any return or report is furnished, or any
person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract
basis or any person who in any manner may acquire knowledge of the
contents of a return or report filed pursuant to this article to divulge
or make known in any manner the contents or any other information
relating to the business of a distributor, owner or other person
contained in any return or report required under this article. The
officers charged with the custody of such returns or reports shall not
be required to produce any of them or evidence of anything contained in
them in any action or proceeding in any court, except on behalf of the
state, office of cannabis management, or the commissioner in an action
or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter or on behalf of the
state or the commissioner in any other action or proceeding involving
the collection of a tax due under this chapter to which the state or the
commissioner is a party or a claimant or on behalf of any party to any
action or proceeding under the provisions of this article, when the
returns or the reports or the facts shown thereby are directly involved
in such action or proceeding, or in an action or proceeding relating to
the regulation or taxation of medical cannabis on behalf of officers to
whom information shall have been supplied as provided in subdivision two
of this section, in any of which events the court may require the
production of, and may admit in evidence so much of said returns or
reports or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent to the action or
proceeding and no more. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit
the commissioner, in his or her discretion, from allowing the inspection
or delivery of a certified copy of any return or report filed under this
article or of any information contained in any such return or report by
or to a duly authorized officer or employee of the office of cannabis
management; or by or to the attorney general or other legal
representatives of the state when an action shall have been recommended
or commenced pursuant to this chapter in which such returns or reports
or the facts shown thereby are directly involved; or the inspection of
the returns or reports required under this article by the comptroller or
duly designated officer or employee of the state department of audit and
control, for purposes of the audit of a refund of any tax paid by a
registered organization or other person under this article; nor to
prohibit the delivery to a registered organization, or a duly authorized
representative of such registered organization, a certified copy of any
return or report filed by such registered organization pursuant to this
article, nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as
to prevent the identification of particular returns or reports and the
items thereof. This section shall also not be construed to prohibit the
disclosure, for tax administration purposes, to the division of the
budget and the office of the state comptroller, of information
aggregated from the returns filed by all the registered organizations
making sales of, or manufacturing, medical cannabis in a specified
county, whether the number of such registered organizations is one or
more. Provided further that, notwithstanding the provisions of this
subdivision, the commissioner may, in his or her discretion, permit the
proper officer of any county entitled to receive an allocation,
following appropriation by the legislature, pursuant to this article and
section eighty-nine-h of the state finance law, or the authorized
representative of such officer, to inspect any return filed under this
article, or may furnish to such officer or the officer's authorized
representative an abstract of any such return or supply such officer or
such representative with information concerning an item contained in any
such return, or disclosed by any investigation of tax liability under
this article.

2. The commissioner, in his or her discretion and pursuant to such
rules and regulations as he or she may adopt, may permit the appropriate
officers of any other state which regulates or taxes medical cannabis,
or the duly authorized representatives of such officers, to inspect
returns or reports made pursuant to this article, or may furnish to such
other officers, or duly authorized representatives, a copy of any such
return or report or an abstract of the information therein contained, or
any portion thereof, or may supply any such officers or such
representatives with information relating to the business of a
registered organization making returns or reports hereunder. The
commissioner may refuse to supply information pursuant to this
subdivision to the officers of any other state if the statutes of the
state represented by such officers, do not grant substantially similar
privileges to the commissioner, but such refusal shall not be mandatory.
Information shall not be supplied to the appropriate officers of any
other state which regulates or taxes medical cannabis, or the duly
authorized representatives of any of such officers, unless such officer
or other representatives shall agree not to divulge or make known in any
manner the information so supplied, but such officers may transmit such
information to their employees or legal representatives when necessary,
who in turn shall be subject to the same restrictions as those hereby
imposed upon such officer or other representatives.

3. (a) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the
provisions of subdivision one or two of this section shall be dismissed
from office and be incapable of holding any public office in this state
for a period of five years thereafter.

(b) Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven
of this chapter.

* NB Repealed July 5, 2028