Section 44346 Of Chapter 3. Air Toxics Emission Inventories From California Health And Safety Code >> Division 26. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 3.
44346
. (a) If an operator believes that any information required in
the facility diagram specified pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 44342 involves the release of a trade secret, the operator
shall nevertheless make the disclosure to the district, and shall
notify the district in writing of that belief in the report.
(b) Subject to this section, the district shall protect from
disclosure any trade secret designated as such by the operator, if
that trade secret is not a public record.
(c) Upon receipt of a request for the release of information to
the public which includes information which the operator has notified
the district is a trade secret and which is not a public record, the
following procedure applies:
(1) The district shall notify the operator of the request in
writing by certified mail, return receipt requested.
(2) The district shall release the information to the public, but
not earlier than 30 days after the date of mailing the notice of the
request for information, unless, prior to the expiration of the
30-day period, the operator obtains an action in an appropriate court
for a declaratory judgment that the information is subject to
protection under this section or for a preliminary injunction
prohibiting disclosure of the information to the public and promptly
notifies the district of that action.
(d) This section does not permit an operator to refuse to disclose
the information required pursuant to this part to the district.
(e) Any information determined by a court to be a trade secret,
and not a public record pursuant to this section, shall not be
disclosed to anyone except an officer or employee of the district,
the state, or the United States, in connection with the official
duties of that officer or employee under any law for the protection
of health, or to contractors with the district or the state and its
employees if, in the opinion of the district or the state, disclosure
is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance of a
contract, for performance of work, or to protect the health and
safety of the employees of the contractor.
(f) Any officer or employee of the district or former officer or
employee who, by virtue of that employment or official position, has
possession of, or has access to, any trade secret subject to this
section, and who, knowing that disclosure of the information to the
general public is prohibited by this section, knowingly and willfully
discloses the information in any manner to any person not entitled
to receive it is guilty of a misdemeanor. Any contractor of the
district and any employee of the contractor, who has been furnished
information as authorized by this section, shall be considered an
employee of the district for purposes of this section.
(g) Information certified by appropriate officials of the United
States as necessary to be kept secret for national defense purposes
shall be accorded the full protections against disclosure as
specified by those officials or in accordance with the laws of the
United States
(h) As used in this section, "trade secret" and "public record"
have the meanings and protections given to them by Section 6254.7 of
the Government Code and Section 1060 of the Evidence Code. All
information collected pursuant to this chapter, except for data used
to calculate emissions data required in the facility diagram, shall
be considered "air pollution emission data," for the purposes of this
section.