Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §191, sub-§§3-A and 3-B are enacted to read:

3-A.__Confidentiality of property tax information.__ Notwithstanding subsection 2, paragraph I, information provided for property tax purposes to an assessor or reviewing authority that is designated as confidential information pursuant to subsection 3-B by the person or entity providing the information must be treated as confidential by the assessor or the reviewing authority.__The assessor or the reviewing authority may not without prior written consent of the person or entity use, divulge or reveal the confidential information for any person other than to determine the taxpayer's property tax assessment or tax appeal.__An assessor or reviewing authority shall notify the person or entity providing confidential information of any attempt or request to gain access to or review, inspect or copy the confidential information or any of its contents, including notifying of any administrative or judicial action seeking to obtain disclosure of the confidential information or any of its contents.__The notice must be in writing and must be provided by the assessor or reviewing authority to the person or entity providing the confidential information within 5 business days of the attempt or request to gain access to or otherwise to obtain disclosure of the confidential information.__Within 20 days of receiving written notice, the person or entity providing the confidential information must be permitted, as of right, to intervene in any administrative proceeding or judicial action seeking to obtain disclosure of the confidential information or any of its contents and must be treated as a party for all purposes.

Unless the person or entity who provides confidential information requests in writing otherwise, an assessor receiving confidential information may disclose it to an assessor of another taxing jurisdiction within the State who makes a written request for the information for use in the assessment process.__An assessor who receives information from another assessor is subject to the provisions of this subsection.__At the time of supplying the information, the assessor providing the information to the other assessor shall in writing identify the confidential information and state that it has been designated confidential and the name, address and telephone number of the person or entity who provided the information.

As used in this subsection, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

A.__Notwithstanding section 111, subsection 1, "assessor" means any person, board or entity charged with assessing