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State Audit Privilege and Immunity Laws & Self-Disclosure Laws and Policies
- State Audit Privilege and Immunity Laws
- State Voluntary Self-Disclosure Civil Penalty Mitigation Law
- State Voluntary Self-Disclosure Penalty Immunity Rule
- State Self-Disclosure Policies
State Audit Privilege and Immunity Laws
The following states have enacted environmental audit privilege and/or penalty immunity laws. The first date contained in the parenthetical indicates when the law was enacted; the subsequent dates reference the effective date of actions to satisfy minimum requirements for federally authorized, delegated or approved environmental programs (i.e., sunset, amendment, memorandum of agreement and/or attorney general statement).
Privilege Only |
Immunity Only |
| Arkansas (2/95, 3/99)* | New Jersey (12/95)* |
| Indiana (7/94, 5/99)* | Rhode Island (7/97) |
| Illinois (1/95, repealed 08/12/05) | Minnesota (1/95)(5/99) |
| Oregon (11/93, 6/01)* |
Privilege & Immunity |
|
| Alaska (5/97, 3/00)* | Nebraska (4/98, 3/01)* |
| Arizona (4/00, never became effective)** | Nevada (7/97, 6/01)* |
| Colorado (6/94, 5/00)* | New Hampshire (7/96, 5/99, sunset 7/03)* |
| Idaho (7/95, sunset 12/97) | Ohio (12/96, 7/98)* |
| Iowa (4/98, 2/01)* | South Carolina (6/96, 5/00)* |
| Kansas (7/95, 7/06)* | South Dakota (3/96, 2/99, 3/99)* |
| Kentucky (7/94, 6/01)* | Texas (5/95, 5/97)* |
| Michigan (3/96, 11/97)* | Utah (3/95, 5/97)* |
| Mississippi (4/95, 1/03)* | Virginia (7/95)(1/98)* |
| Montana (5/97, 12/99, sunset 10/01)* | Wyoming (2/95, 3/98)* |
* State has enacted statutory revisions and/or issued a clarifying Attorney General's statement and/or entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with EPA to satisfy minimum requirements for federally authorized, delegated, or approved environmental programs.
Note: These laws need to be scrutinized carefully to discern differences which may impact decisions on compliance with federal requirements.
** Arizona has enacted a law that contains elements of audit privilege and/or immunity in the context of encouraging environmental management systems. The law satisfies minimum requirements for federally authorized, delegated, or approved environmental programs. The Arizona law never became effective because its effectiveness was conditioned on passage of an appropriations bill to fund a program to administer the law, which never happened.
State Voluntary Self-Disclosure Civil Penalty Mitigation Law
One state, Illinois, enacted a statute in January of 2004 that permits mitigation of a civil penalty when a person or entity, under a number of specified conditions set forth in the statute, self-discloses its noncompliance.
State Voluntary Self-Disclosure Penalty Immunity Rule
One state, Oklahoma, adopted a rule in June of 1997 that allows penalty immunity under certain conditions.
State Self-Disclosure Policies
The following states have adopted self-disclosure policies. The first date contained in the parenthetical indicates when the policy was adopted; subsequent dates reflect policy revisions.
| Self-Disclosure Policies |
|---|
| Arizona (8/30/02) |
| California (7/8/96, revised 12/15/98) |
| Connecticut (10/30/96, 3/27/00, 4/5/02) |
| Delaware (4/94, 6/7/00, 6/14/02, 12/9/02, 03/12/03) |
| Florida (4/1/96) |
| Hawaii (1/15/98) |
| Indiana (4/5/99) |
| Maine (1/1/96, 2/14/96, only applicable to small business) |
| Maryland (6/24/97) |
| Massachusetts (4/26/97) |
| Minnesota (1/24/95) |
| New Mexico (2/5/99, 7/01) |
| New York (8/12/99, only applicable to small business) |
| North Carolina (9/1/95, 7/10/00) |
| Oregon (2/18/99) |
| Pennsylvania (9/25/96) |
| Tennessee (11/27/96) |
| Vermont (12/14/96, sunset on 12/8/98, re-adopted 4/20/01) |
| Washington (12/20/94) |