California Public Records Act: trade secrets.

The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. Existing law provides that nothing in the act requires the disclosure of corporate proprietary information including trade secrets, among other things. This bill would provide that specified records of a private industry employer that are prepared, owned, used, or retained by a public agency are not trade secrets and are public records, including certain records relating to employment terms and conditions of employees working for a private industry employer pursuant to a contract with a public agency, if those wages, benefits, working hours and other employment terms and conditions relate to work performed under the contract, records of compliance with local, state, or federal domestic content requirements, and records of a private industry employer's compliance with job creation, job quality, or job retention obligations contained in a contract or agreement with a state or local agency. The bill, however, would exclude contracts between a public agency and a private industry employer entered into before January 1, 2020, and records that include communications between the state or local agency and specified state or local officials, on matters posing a threat to the security of a public building, a threat to the security of essential public services, or a threat to the public's right of access to public services or public facilities, from these provisions. Because the bill would require local officials to perform additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.