(a) Each registered structural pest control company shall make all existing records pertaining to pesticide and device use available to the director, the Structural Pest Control Board, or commissioner upon demand at the headquarters of the business during normal business hours. A registered structural pest control company or licensee may not prohibit onsite inspection for compliance with the Business and Professions Code and this division regarding pesticides and structural pest control devices and regulations adopted pursuant thereto. Except as provided in Section 8505.5 of the Business and Professions Code, nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring a registered structural pest control company or licensee to provide advance notice of the date, time, location of the application, type of device or pesticide application, or any other related information unless the information is contained in existing records available to the registered company or licensee, in which case the director, the Structural Pest Control Board, or commissioner may require that this information be produced at the company’s place of business.

(b) Information and documents gathered by the director, the Structural Pest Control Board, or the commissioner pursuant to this section that are protected from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code) shall remain confidential while in the director’s, the board’s, or the commissioner’s possession.

(c) (1) “Device,” for purposes of this section, means any method, instrument, or contrivance intended to be used to prevent, eliminate, destroy, repel, attract, or mitigate any wood destroying pest, but does not include firearms, pesticides as defined in Section 12753, or equipment used for the application of pesticides when sold separately from a pesticide.

(2) “Wood destroying pest,” for purposes of this section, includes, but is not limited to, insects such as wood borers and termites. “Wood destroying pest” does not include wood-decaying fungi, general household pests such as cockroaches, or vertebrate pests such as rats and mice.

(Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 651, Sec. 10. Effective January 1, 1999.)