(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 § 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.

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(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.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 1097, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)