(a) It is unlawful for any local jurisdiction, including any employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction, to permit any utility user’s tax return or copy thereof, or any records of any payment of utility user’s tax, to be seen or examined by, or disclosed to, any person who is not one of the following:
(1) An employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction with administrative or compliance responsibilities relating to the utility user’s tax ordinance.
(2) An employee of the utility or other company that is required to report or pay a utility user’s tax to the local jurisdiction, and that furnished the records or information.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this section does not prohibit a local jurisdiction from doing any of the following:
(1) Disclosing to a taxpayer information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the utility user’s tax of that taxpayer; or, disclosing that information in a tax collection action, provided that that information is subject to a protective order issued by a court.
(2) Disclosing to a tax officer of the state or federal government, pursuant to a written reciprocal agreement, information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the local utility user’s tax.
(3) Disclosing the gross utility user’s tax revenues collected from the customers of a utility that is owned or operated by the local jurisdiction that imposes the utility user’s tax.
(c) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Local jurisdiction” means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
(2) “District” means any agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or a special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries.
(d) Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both, in the discretion of the court.
(e) This section shall not be construed to prohibit the divulging of information to the State Board of Equalization for the purposes of its administration of the Energy Resources Surcharge Law (Part 19 (commencing with Section 40001) of Division 2).
(f) Any information subject to subdivision (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of the Government Code), except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the disclosure of records pursuant to Section 6254.16 of the Government Code.
(Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 485, Sec. 147. Effective January 1, 1999.)