1. (a) A producer responsibility plan, updated producer responsibility plan, plan amendments, annual report, or any document associated with the preceding that is submitted to the Department by an Independent Producer, shall meet all the following requirements:

   1. (1) The document shall be submitted to the Department electronically via email. If the Department has given notice via its website that an online portal is available for submittal of the document, the document shall instead be submitted electronically via that portal. The date of electronic submittal will be considered the date of receipt by the Department.

   2. (2) The document shall be complete and correct.

      1. (A) The Department shall consider a document to be complete if it contains provisions intended to meet all requirements in sections 18980.7, 18980.7.2, 18980.7.3, 18980.7.4, 18980.8, and 18980.9.1, as applicable to each document, and if it contains sufficient detail for the Department to determine if the requirements in the referenced sections have been met.
      2. (B) A document is correct if all information provided is accurate, exact, and is certified as specified in subdivision (a)(3).
   3. (3) The document shall be provided to the Department under penalty of perjury. An individual authorized to act on behalf of the person submitting the document shall sign the document and provide the following certification statement: “I hereby declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information provided in this document is true and correct, to the best of my knowledge.”
2. (b) Submittals are public documents subject to mandatory disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 of Title 1 of the Government Code (commencing with section 7920.000)) unless an exemption from such disclosure applies. The Department shall withhold from public disclosure records that the Independent Producer appropriately identifies as trade secrets, subject to the requirements and limitations set forth in section 18980.14. In addition to identifying the particular content, as prescribed in section 18980.14, claimed to contain trade secrets and thus be non-disclosable, the producer shall identify any portions of plans submitted to the Department that it claims to be non-disclosable because they contain financial, production, or sales data, and shall include with the submission a cover letter setting forth its basis for all such claims.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 40401, 40502, 42060 and 42063, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 40062, 42051, 42051.1, 42051.3 and 42063, Public Resources Code.

History

1. New section filed 5-1-2026; operative 5-1-2026 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2026, No. 19).