KRS 199.430: Witnesses and evidence -- Confidential treatment of information and

records.

(1) In the discharge of the duties imposed by KRS 199.420 to 199.670 the secretary or

his duly authorized representative may administer oaths and affirmations, take

depositions, certify official acts, and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of

witnesses and production of books, papers, correspondence, memoranda and other

records considered necessary and relevant as evidence in connection with the

administration of the cabinet. Such subpoena shall be served in the same manner as

a subpoena issued out of a circuit court. Witnesses subpoenaed shall be allowed

mileage allowance according to KRS 421.015 for each day their attendance is

actually required at a hearing.

(2) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books,

papers, correspondence, memoranda or other records in response to such subpoena

on the grounds that the evidence required of him may tend to incriminate him or

subject him to a penalty for forfeiture. No person shall be prosecuted or subjected to

any suit, penalty, or forfeiture on account of any transaction, matter, or thing

concerning which he or his agent or worker is compelled, after having claimed

privilege against self -incrimination, to give evidence, except that such witness so

testifying shall not be exempt from punishment for perjury.

(3) All letters, reports, communications, and other matters, written or oral, to the

cabinet or any of its agents, representatives, or employees, or to any board or

official functioning under KRS 199.420 to 199.670, which have been written, sent,

or made in connection with the requirements and administration of the cabinet shall

be absolutely privileged and shall not be the subject matter or basis for any suit for

slander or libel in any court, but no person testifying before the secretary or his duly

authorized representative shall be exempt from punishment for perjury. Information

obtained shall not be published or be open for public ins pection, except to public

employees in the performance of their duties, but any interested party at a hearing

before the secretary or his duly authorized representative shall be supplied with

information from such records to the extent necessary for the pr oper presentation of

his case.