(a) Any officer or employee of the state, or former officer or employee of the state, who, because of this employment or official position, obtains possession of, or has access to, material which is prohibited from disclosure by this article, and who, knowing that disclosure of this material is prohibited by this article, willfully discloses the material in any manner to any person not entitled to receive it, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.
(b) For purposes of this section, any contractor with the state who is furnished information pursuant to this article, or any employee of any contractor, shall be considered an employee of the state.