23-722.04. Unemployment insurance information; disclosure; violation; classification

A. The department or the office of economic opportunity may disclose unemployment insurance information to the following entities:

1. Any federal, state or local governmental agency in the investigation of fraud relating to public programs or the misuse of public monies.

2. Divisions of the department, including the employment and rehabilitation services administrations, for program and research purposes.

3. The workforce Arizona council for program performance, regional planning and other program and research purposes.

4. The department of education to evaluate adult education program performance and for other primary and adult education program and research purposes.

5. The Arizona board of regents, universities under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board of regents and community college districts to evaluate program performance and for other program and research purposes.

6. The United States department of labor, or its agents, or the United States census bureau, or its agents, as required by law or in connection with the requirements imposed as a result of receiving federal funding.

7. Department contractors or subcontractors, or their agents, for the sole purpose of providing for the processing, storage and transmission of information. This disclosure must be consistent with this section.

8. The industrial commission of Arizona, department of insurance or attorney general for use by those agencies, or their agents or contractors, in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of workers' compensation fraud.

B. On the request of one of the entities specified in subsection A of this section to the department or the office of economic opportunity, the department or the office of economic opportunity shall disclose unemployment insurance information to the entity pursuant to guidelines established by the workforce data task force established by section 41-5404 and pursuant to a written data sharing agreement with the requesting entity in a form determined by the workforce data task force pursuant to the laws of this state and applicable federal regulations. The department or the office of economic opportunity may disclose the unemployment insurance information only after the requesting entity has demonstrated that the information will be kept confidential, except for those purposes for which the information was provided to the requesting entity, and that the requesting entity has security safeguards in place to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of the information.

C. Except as otherwise allowed by law or as otherwise authorized by agreement between the department of economic security and the United States department of labor, the department of economic security or the office of economic opportunity may not use federal unemployment insurance grant monies to pay for any costs incurred in processing and handling requests for disclosure of unemployment insurance information. The department of economic security and the office of economic opportunity, in consultation with the workforce data task force, shall establish a rate structure that complies with 20 Code of Federal Regulations section 603.8 for costs incurred in processing requests for disclosure of unemployment insurance information.

D. The requesting entity may not make public any unemployment insurance information that identifies an individual or the individual's employer. Any unauthorized disclosure, including security breaches, shall be reported to the department and the office of economic opportunity immediately. Any person who knowingly discloses confidential unemployment insurance information in violation of this section without prior written authorization from the department or the office of economic opportunity or authorization as otherwise provided by law is guilty of a class 3 misdemeanor.

E. The office of economic opportunity may use unemployment insurance information to perform economic analyses, for the development of labor market information and a state workforce evaluation data system and for other program and research purposes.

F. This section does not prohibit disclosure that is required or allowed by federal law.