(a) Notwithstanding Sections 7924.510 and 7924.700 of the Government Code, if a manufacturer believes that information provided to a state agency pursuant to Section 57019 involves the release of a trade secret, the manufacturer shall make the disclosure to the state agency and notify the state agency in writing of that belief. In its written notice, the manufacturer shall identify the portion of the information submitted to the state agency that it believes is a trade secret and provide documentation supporting its conclusion.

(b) Subject to this section, the state agency shall protect from disclosure a trade secret designated as a trade secret by the manufacturer, if that trade secret is not a public record.

(c) Upon receipt of a request for the release of information to the public that includes information that the manufacturer has notified the state agency is a trade secret and that is not a public record, the following procedure applies:

(1) The state agency shall notify the manufacturer that disclosed the information to the state agency of the request, in writing by certified mail, return receipt requested.

(2) The state agency 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 manufacturer 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 state agency of that action. In order to prevent the state agency from releasing the information to the public, the manufacturer shall obtain a declaratory judgment or preliminary injunction within 30 days of filing an action for a declaratory judgment or preliminary injunction.

(d) This section does not authorize a manufacturer to refuse to disclose to the state agency information required by Section 57019.

(e) Any information that a court, pursuant to this section, determines is a trade secret and not a public record, or pending final judgment pursuant to subdivision (c), shall not be disclosed by the state agency to anyone, except to an officer or employee of a city or county, the state, or the United States, or to a contractor with a city or county, or the state, and its employees, if, in the opinion of the state agency, disclosure is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance of a contract, for the performance of work, or to protect the health and safety of the employees of the contractor.

(f) The definitions in Section 57018 apply to this section.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 615, Sec. 266. (AB 474) Effective January 1, 2022. Operative January 1, 2023, pursuant to Sec. 463 of Stats. 2021, Ch. 615.)