15-7-308. Disclosure of information restricted -- exceptions. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), the certificate required by this part and the information contained in the certificate are not a public record and must be held confidential by the county clerk and recorder and the department. This is because the legislature finds that the demands of individual privacy outweigh the merits of public disclosure. The confidentiality provisions do not apply to compilations from the certificates, to summaries, analyses, and evaluations based upon the compilations, or to sales data used by the department to value residential property in a property taxpayer's market model area after the property taxpayer signs a written or electronic confidentiality agreement.

(2) The confidentiality provisions of this section do not apply to the information contained in the water right ownership update form or any other form prepared and filed with the department of natural resources and conservation pursuant to 85-2-424 for purposes of maintaining a system of centralized water right records as mandated by Article IX, section 3(4), of the Montana constitution. A person may access water right transfer information through the department of natural resources and conservation pursuant to the department's implementation of the requirements of 85-2-112(3).