SB 1073: Income taxes: voluntary contributions: Black Cultural District Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. - California

02/13/26 - Introduced → 03/19/26 - Amended Senate · 6 edits · Mar 19, 2026

MODERATE

The Senate amendment to SB 1073 converts the Black Cultural District Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund from a fund requiring annual legislative appropriation to a continuously appropriated fund, making the bill an appropriation measure. It also replaces the fixed January 1, 2031 sunset with a floating sunset tied to when the fund first appears on tax returns (seven years later), adds an earlier-repeal trigger if contributions fall below $250,000 in any year after the second, and adds a new transparency requirement for the Arts Council to publish grant information online.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from a non-appropriation measure to an appropriation measure by making the fund continuously appropriated. The sunset mechanism shifted from a fixed calendar date to a floating date based on when the fund actually appears on tax returns, with a new automatic early-repeal trigger tied to contribution levels.

FISCAL

The fund is now continuously appropriated rather than requiring annual legislative appropriation. Section 18728(a) now states 'Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all moneys transferred to the fund shall be continuously appropriated.' The bill's appropriation vote changed from 'no' to 'yes.'

TIMELINE

The sunset provision was replaced. Instead of a fixed repeal date of January 1, 2031, the article now remains operative only until January 1 of the seventh calendar year following the first appearance of the fund on the tax return, and is repealed as of December 1 of that year.

ENFORCEMENT

A new earlier-repeal mechanism was added: starting in the second calendar year after the fund first appears on returns, the Franchise Tax Board must determine by September 1 each year whether estimated contributions will meet the $250,000 minimum. If not, the article becomes inoperative for taxable years beginning on or after January 1 of that year and is repealed on December 1 of that year.

REQUIREMENT

A new transparency requirement was added in Section 18728(b): the Arts Council must report on its internet website information provided by its grantee regarding the process for awarding money, the amount spent on administration, and an itemization of how program funds were awarded.

SCOPE

The allocation language to the Arts Council was expanded from simply 'To the Arts Council' to 'To the Arts Council for allocation for the construction and maintenance of the Black Cultural District designated in south City of Los Angeles to support the following purposes,' making the purpose more explicit.

TECHNICAL

Section 18727 was restructured into three subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) separating the fund establishment, FTB notification duty, and Controller transfer duty. Minor wording change in Section 18726(c): 'In the event that payments' was changed to 'If payments.'

06/11/26 - Amended Assembly → 08/25/26 - Enrolled · 4 edits · Aug 25, 2026

MODERATE

SB 1073 moved from its Amended Assembly version to the Enrolled version after passing both chambers. The only substantive policy change is in Section 18728(b), where the phrase 'provided by its grantee, if any' was removed from the Arts Council's website reporting requirement, making the obligation more direct and removing a qualifier that could have limited when reporting was required. All other changes are procedural formatting associated with enrollment (removal of line numbers, author coauthor information, and vote/fiscal notes).

ENFORCEMENT

Section 18728(b) removed the phrase 'provided by its grantee, if any' from the Arts Council's website reporting requirement. Previously, the Arts Council was required to report information 'provided by its grantee, if any,' which could be read as making the reporting obligation contingent on a grantee actually providing that information. Now the Arts Council must directly report on the process for awarding money, administrative spending, and fund allocation without that qualifier.

TECHNICAL

Coauthor information (Assembly Member Bryan, Senator McNerney, Assembly Member Bonta) was removed from the bill header, which is standard when a bill becomes enrolled.

Line numbering prefixes (line 1, line 2, etc.) used for tracking amendments were removed throughout the statutory text, standard for enrolled bills.

The legislative counsel's digest notes 'Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.' and 'State-mandated local program: no.' were removed, consistent with enrollment formatting.

08/25/26 - Enrolled → SB1073 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes were made between these two versions. The diff reflects a transition from the formal enrolled bill document (with page numbers, signature blocks, and legislative formatting) to a web page rendering of the same bill text on the California Legislature website. All legislative language in Sections 18726 through 18729 is identical.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reformatted from an official enrolled document (with page numbers, Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk signature blocks, and Governor approval line) to a web page layout with navigation menus, search tools, and version history links. No legislative language was altered.

05/28/26 - Amended Assembly → 06/11/26 - Amended Assembly · 4 edits · Jun 11, 2026

MODERATE

The June 11 amendment adds a new 5 percent administrative cost cap on Arts Council spending from the Black Cultural District Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, changes the early repeal date from December 1 to January 1 of the following year, and simplifies sunset language by replacing a relative 'seventh calendar year' formulation with the fixed date of January 1, 2034. Two additional coauthors (Senator McNerney and Assembly Member Bonta) were also added.

REQUIREMENT

New provision caps Arts Council administrative spending at no more than 5 percent of moneys received under the article, ensuring at least 95 percent goes to program purposes.

TIMELINE

The early repeal date was changed from December 1 of the year in which contributions fall below the minimum to January 1 of the following year, extending the effective period by approximately one month in that scenario.

Sunset language was simplified from 'the seventh calendar year following the first appearance of the fund on the tax return' to a fixed date of January 1, 2034, and the early repeal trigger date was clarified as September 1, 2028, and each September 1 thereafter.

TECHNICAL

The word 'initial' was removed from 'initial original return,' leaving just 'original return,' eliminating a redundant term.

03/19/26 - Amended Senate → 05/28/26 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · May 28, 2026

MODERATE

The Assembly amended SB 1073 to set explicit start and end dates for the voluntary tax contribution (taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2033), extended the sunset date from January 1, 2031 to January 1, 2034, removed the requirement that the Legislature appropriate the fund each year (making it truly continuously appropriated), and simplified the early-repeal trigger by removing a prerequisite step and shifting the repeal effective date from December 1 of the triggering year to January 1 of the following year.

TIMELINE

Added explicit operative window: contributions are available only for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026 and before January 1, 2033. The Senate version had no stated start date.

Sunset date changed from January 1, 2031 (with a provision allowing extension by later legislation) to January 1 of the seventh calendar year following the fund's first appearance on the tax return, specified as January 1, 2034.

Changed the early-repeal effective date from 'December 1 of that year' to 'January 1 of the following year,' giving a slightly longer transition period before the article is fully repealed if contributions fall below the threshold.

FISCAL

Removed the phrase 'upon appropriation by the Legislature' from Section 18728(a), making the fund continuously appropriated without requiring a separate legislative appropriation action each year.

ENFORCEMENT

Simplified the early-repeal mechanism: removed the Senate version's requirement that the repeal date first be deleted by later legislation before the minimum-contribution check could trigger inoperability. The Franchise Tax Board now checks by September 1, 2028 (and each September 1 thereafter) whether estimated contributions will meet the $250,000 minimum.

Income taxes: voluntary contributions: Black Cultural District Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund.

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