Section 10426 Of Article 9. Remedies And Penalties From California Public Contract Code >> Division 2. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 9.
10426
. (a) It shall be unlawful for a person to intentionally
disclose proprietary information obtained in the negotiation,
execution, or performance of a consulting services contract, as
defined in Section 10335.5, or an information technology contract, as
defined in Section 11702 of the Government Code, with a state agency
when the contracting party knew or should have known that the
disclosure was likely to cause harm.
(b) A violation of this section shall be punishable as a
misdemeanor and may be prosecuted by the Attorney General or by a
local district attorney in the district in which the disclosure took
place.
(c) (1) For the purposes of this section "proprietary information"
shall include any information agreed by the contracting parties to
be proprietary or any information that is designated by a contracting
state agency to be proprietary. A contracting state agency shall
specifically identify in the contract any information that is
considered to be proprietary. The state agency shall make this
designation only in cases where the state agency has reason to
believe that the release of this information poses an immediate
threat to the health, safety, or welfare of the public or the state
agency has reason to believe that the contracting party intends to
sell the information. If the state agency makes a designation of
proprietary information subsequent to the execution of the contract,
the state agency shall make a good faith effort to amend the contract
to incorporate the subsequent designation of proprietary
information. A contracting state agency shall provide written
notification to a contracting party of any information that,
subsequent to the execution of the contract, is identified to be
proprietary. A contracting party is not in violation of this section
if that party discloses information prior to the receipt of the
written notification.
(2) Any information that is required to be released or disclosed
by a contracting party pursuant to a legal requirement, including an
order of a court or regulatory agency, shall not be considered a
violation of this section.