2023 California Code › Public Resources Code - PRC › DIVISION 15 - ENERGY CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT › CHAPTER 4.5 - Petroleum Supply and Pricing › Section 25364.

25364. (a) A person required to present information to the commission pursuant to Section 25354 or 25355 or a person making a request for exemption pursuant to Section 25355.5 may request that specific information be held in confidence. Information requested to be held in confidence shall be presumed to be confidential.
(b) Information presented to the commission pursuant to Section 25354, 25355, or 25355.5 shall be held in confidence by the commission or aggregated to the extent necessary to ensure confidentiality if public disclosure of the specific information or data would result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information or would adversely affect market competition.
(c) (1) Whenever the commission receives a request to publicly disclose unaggregated information, or otherwise proposes to publicly disclose information submitted pursuant to Section 25354, 25355, or 25355.5, notice of the request or proposal shall be provided to the person submitting the information. The notice shall indicate the form in which the information is to be released. Upon receipt of notice, the person submitting the information shall have 10 working days in which to respond to the notice to justify the claim of confidentiality on each specific item of information covered by the notice on the basis that public disclosure of the specific information would result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information or would adversely affect market competition.
(2) The commission shall consider the respondent’s submittal in determining whether to publicly disclose the information submitted to it to which a claim of confidentiality is made. The commission shall issue a written decision which sets forth its reasons for making the determination whether each item of information for which a claim of confidentiality is made shall remain confidential or shall be publicly disclosed.
(d) The commission shall not make public disclosure of information submitted to it pursuant to Section 25354, 25355, or 25355.5 within 10 working days after the commission has issued its written decision required in this section.
(e) No information submitted to the commission pursuant to Section 25354, 25355, or 25355.5 shall be deemed confidential if the person submitting the information or data has made it public.
(f) With respect to petroleum products and blendstocks reported by type pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354, information provided pursuant to subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354, and information provided under Section 25355, neither the commission, the State Air Resources Board, or the Attorney General, nor any employee or contractor of those entities, may do any of the following:
(1) Use the information furnished under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354, under subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354, or under Section 25355 for any purpose other than law enforcement or the statistical purposes for which it is supplied.
(2) Make any publication whereby the information furnished by any particular establishment or individual under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354, under subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354, or under Section 25355 can be identified.
(3) Permit anyone other than commission members, the State Air Resources Board, the Attorney General, and employees or contractors of those entities to examine the individual reports provided under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354, under subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354, or under Section 25355.
(g) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission may disclose confidential information received pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25304, or Section 25354 or 25355 to the State Air Resources Board or the Attorney General if the state board or the Attorney General agrees to keep the information confidential. With respect to the information it receives, the state board and the Attorney General shall be subject to all pertinent provisions of this section.
(h) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission shall, upon request, timely disclose confidential information received pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25304, or Section 25354 or 25355 to the Speaker of the Assembly, the Senate Committee on Rules, the appropriate policy committees in the Assembly or the Senate, or staff members of each, provided that the information shall be provided only in aggregated or otherwise anonymized form, and each individual person receiving or having access to the information shall first agree, in writing, to keep the information confidential. Any person or committee receiving information under this subdivision shall be subject to all pertinent provisions of this section.
(2) Aggregated or otherwise anonymized information disclosed under paragraph (1) shall be made available by the commission to the public no more than quarterly, upon request of the Speaker of the Assembly, the Senate Committee on Rules, or the appropriate policy committees in the Assembly or the Senate, under conditions as the commission may determine are necessary to ensure that public disclosure of the specific information would not result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information or adversely affect market competition.
(i) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission may disclose confidential information received pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) of Section 25354 to the administrator for oil spill response, appointed pursuant to Section 8670.4 of the Government Code, upon request for oil spill planning and preparedness purposes, and to first responders in the event of an accident or spill. Information disclosed to the administrator or first responders pursuant to this subdivision that has been identified as confidential under subdivision (a) shall not be disclosed to any other entity except pursuant to a request in accordance with the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). Upon receipt of a records request seeking information disclosed pursuant to this subdivision, the administrator or first responder receiving the request shall provide the destination facility who provided the confidential information to the commission with an opportunity to submit, within a reasonable time, a response and information in support of exemption from disclosure before making the determination whether the requested records are exempt from disclosure. No requirement or deadline contained in the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code) shall be extended or waived as a result of this subdivision.
(i) This section does not apply to aggregate data that are required to be posted on the commission’s internet website pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 25355.
(Amended by Stats. 2023, 1st Ex. Sess., Ch. 1, Sec. 8. (SB 2 1x) Effective June 26, 2023.)