The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, until January 1, 2031, authorizes the State Air Resources Board to adopt a regulation establishing a system of market-based declining aggregate emissions limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gases (market-based compliance mechanism) that meets certain requirements. Existing law establishes the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sales of allowances as a part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited into the fund and requires the Legislature to appropriate moneys in the fund for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state, as provided. Existing law, the California Climate Crisis Act, declares that it is the policy of the state both to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and achieve and maintain net-negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter, and to ensure that by 2045, statewide anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 85% below the 1990 levels. This bill would enact the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 and would establish the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Program to be administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency to require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere during the covered period, which the bill would define as the time period between the 1990 and 2024 calendar years, inclusive, resulting from the extraction, production, refining, sale, or combustion of fossil fuels or petroleum products, to relieve a portion of the burden to address cost borne by current and future California taxpayers. The bill would require the agency, within 90 days of the effective date of the act, to determine and publish a list of responsible parties, which the bill would define as an entity with a majority ownership interest in a business engaged in extracting or refining fossil fuels that, during the covered period, did business in the state or otherwise had sufficient contact with the state, and is determined by the agency to be responsible for more than 1,000,000,000 metric tons of covered fossil fuel emissions, as defined, in aggregate globally, during the covered period. This bill would require the agency, within one year of the effective date of the act, to conduct and complete a climate cost study to, among other things, quantify the total damage amount, which the bill would define as all past and future climate harms and damages to the state from January 1, 1990, through December 31, 2045, inclusive. The bill would require the agency to update the climate cost study, not less frequently than every 5 years, through January 1, 2045, as provided. The bill would require the agency, within 60 days of the completion of the climate cost study, to determine and assess, as provided, a cost recovery demand for each responsible party listed, which represents the responsible party's proportionate share of the total damage amount. The bill would require responsible parties to pay their cost recovery demand, as provided. The bill would require the collected cost recovery demands to be deposited in the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require moneys in the fund be expended for, among other things, qualifying expenditures, which the bill would define to include expenditures for projects and programs to mitigate, adapt, or respond to the damages and costs caused to the state from climate change. The bill would require all interest earned on moneys that have been deposited into the fund to be retained in the fund for use in implementing the program. The bill would require the agency to determine the initial implementation costs for the act, as provided, and would require the agency to assess an amount allocated equitably among responsible parties to cover those costs. This bill would require the Director of Finance, within 45 days of the effective date of the act, to perform an initial assessment of the reasonable and appropriate initial implementation costs that will be incurred by the agency. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law requires the department to be responsible for specified activities, including maintaining an integrated staff to accomplish fire protection, fire prevention, pest control, and forest and range protection and enhancement activities, as needed. This bill would require the department to reach full staffing levels, as defined, on or before January 1, 2028, and to maintain full staffing levels throughout the calendar year at all fire stations and facilities under its jurisdiction. The bill would require the department to implement staffing requirements on a schedule, as specified. The bill would require the department to report annually to the Legislature on, among other things, progress toward implementation of year-round staffing requirements. The bill would require the Legislature to appropriate in the annual Budget Act or another statute sufficient moneys to implement these provisions.
Existing law establishes the California Rangeland, Grazing Land, and Grassland Protection Program to protect California's rangeland, grazing land, and grasslands through the use of conservation easements, for specified purposes. Existing law authorizes, under the program, funds to be expended by the Wildlife Conservation Board for the acquisition of conservation easements over qualified property, as defined, and authorizes the board to make grants of funds to a state agency, local public agency, or nonprofit organization for the acquisition of conservation easements over qualified property. The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. The act makes available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, $870,000,000 to the board for grant programs to protect and enhance fish and wildlife resources and habitat and achieve the state's biodiversity, public access, and conservation goals. This bill would appropriate, from the above-described bond funds made available to the board, $400,000,000 to the board to award under the program as grants to eligible entities, as defined, to acquire conservation easements on qualified property that is privately owned and supports the production of food and fiber and ecosystem services, including, but not limited to, wildfire fuel reduction, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, and open vistas. The bill would require the board to disburse the funds to grantees through grant agreements on or before June 30, 2028, and to allocate the funds to eligible entities across the state in a specified manner. The bill would require, on or before June 30, 2029, a grantee to expend the grant funds to acquire a conservation easement and record the conservation easement. The bill would authorize the board to partner with, and receive funds from, land trusts that are certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, as provided.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and makes the department responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the Multifamily Housing Program. This bill would establish the Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2026, to take specified actions to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, provide grants to applicants, as defined, for innovative or evidence-based housing, housing-based services, and employment interventions to allow people with recent histories of incarceration to exit homelessness and remain stably housed. The bill would require the department to establish a process, in collaboration with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and with counties in which recipients are operating, for referral of participants, in accordance with certain guidelines and procedures. The bill would require the department to score applicants to the program competitively according to specified criteria. The bill would require recipients of funds from the program to use those funds for, among other things, long-term rental assistance in permanent housing, incentives to landlords, and innovative or evidence-based services to assist participants in accessing permanent supportive housing. The bill would require the department to distribute funds allocated by executing contracts with awarded entities for a term of 5 years, subject to automatic renewal. The bill would require a recipient of the program to submit an annual report to the department. The bill would require the department to hire an independent evaluator to assess outcomes from the program and would require the department to submit that analysis to specified committees of the Legislature.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district that determines during a fiscal year that its revenues are less than the amount necessary to meet its current year expenditure obligations to request an emergency apportionment through the Superintendent of Public Instruction, subject to specified requirements. Existing law authorizes emergency apportionments to be provided through an interim loan from the General Fund and lease financing made available by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, which is authorized to issue bonds for purposes of the emergency apportionments and related costs, or as an alternative to lease financing, as an emergency apportionment from the General Fund. Existing law prescribes the financing conditions on emergency apportionments, including the calculation of the interest rate. Existing law, notwithstanding any other law, authorizes the Inglewood Unified School District, through the State Department of Education, to request cashflow loans from the General Fund for a total of up to $55,000,000 for emergency operational purposes, as provided. Existing law requires the interest on these loans to be charged at the annual rate of return of the Pooled Money Investment Account, plus an additional 2%. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, and once the Inglewood Unified School District has successfully repaid at least 10 years of a General Fund cashflow loan made pursuant to those provisions, would authorize the school district to seek, and would require the Department of Finance to grant, a waiver of interest on that loan for the next succeeding fiscal year if specified conditions are met, including, among other conditions, that the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, in consultation with the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, determines that the school district is making substantial progress towards fiscal solvency and that a waiver of interest would help the school district to exit receivership, as provided. In each subsequent fiscal year, the bill would authorize the school district to seek, and would require the Department of Finance to grant, a subsequent waiver of interest for the applicable fiscal year if the school district again meets those same requirements. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Inglewood Unified School District. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, administered by the State Department of Education, with the purpose of encouraging, maintaining, and strengthening the delivery of high-quality career technical education programs. Existing law requires, for the 2021–22 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, $300,000,000 to be available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the program. Existing law requires a grant applicant to demonstrate a proportional dollar-for-dollar match and sets that amount at $2 for every $1 received from the program. Existing law prohibits an applicant from being awarded an amount higher than the amount that the allocation formula determines them to be eligible to receive under the program. Existing law authorizes a grant recipient under the program to consist of one or more, or any combination, of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or regional occupational centers or programs operated by joint powers authorities or county offices of education, as provided. Existing law provides that an applicant receiving a grant from the program in a prior fiscal year is eligible to apply to receive a renewal grant if the applicant's career technical education program continues to meet specified requirements, as provided. This bill would delete the prohibition against an applicant being awarded more than the amount determined by the allocation formula and would provide, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, that the amount to be made available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the program to be the amount appropriated in the prior fiscal year as adjusted by a specified percentage, as provided. The bill would instead provide that an applicant receiving a grant from the program in a prior fiscal year is required to receive a renewal grant for 3 additional years, as provided. The bill would require, beginning with the 2025–26 fiscal year, up to 90% of the grants awarded pursuant to the program to be designated for renewal grants and up to 10% to be designated for grants for new applicants, unless otherwise determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as provided. The bill would require the Superintendent to cease distribution of funding and recover previously distributed funding if certain conditions occur, including, among others, that the grant recipient did not implement the program substantively as was initially proposed, as provided.
Existing law appropriates $10,000,000 from the General Fund for the 2021–22 fiscal year to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer the Dual Language Immersion Grant Program for the purpose of expanding access to quality dual language learning and fostering languages that English learners bring to California's education system. Under that program, the State Department of Education is required to award a minimum of 25 one-time Dual Language Immersion Grants over a period of 3 fiscal years of up to $380,000 per grant to an eligible entity to expand or establish dual language immersion programs. This bill would establish the Dual Language Immersion Education Instructional Materials Grant Program, to be administered by the Superintendent, for purposes of providing one-time grants of $100,000 to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to increase available instructional materials in partner languages for dual language immersion programs at one or more schoolsites, as provided. The bill would require a grant recipient to report to the department, on or before June 29, 2029, on how grant funds were expended, including a list of any materials obtained or developed. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2029, that includes the data received from the grant recipients. The bill would make implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.
Existing property tax law provides for the payment of taxes on the secured roll in 2 installments, which are due and payable on November 1 and February 1, respectively. Under existing property tax law, unpaid property taxes become delinquent, and subject to a delinquent penalty of 10%, as provided. Existing property tax law imposes various additional penalties, costs, and interest upon taxpayers that pay their property taxes after specified delinquency dates. Existing property tax law requires a penalty to be canceled when the reason for the delinquency is that the property tax bill was sent to the wrong address, and authorizes county officials to cancel property tax penalties in other circumstances. Existing property tax law provides for a supplemental property tax roll for property tax assessments made after the property tax lien date. Existing property tax law requires the tax collector to mail or electronically transmit a county tax bill or a copy thereof for every property on the secured roll. Under existing property tax law, a failure to receive a tax bill does not relieve the lien of taxes or prevent the imposition of penalties. This bill would suspend the above-described penalties, costs, and interest, as applicable, and would prohibit their collection until April 10, 2026, for property located in a certain area in either the County of Los Angeles or the County of Ventura, unless either the taxes on the property were delinquent as of January 6, 2025, or the taxes on the property are paid through an impound account. Existing property tax law authorizes any person to elect to pay delinquent taxes in installments (installment redemption plan) by a certain date before the tax collector obtains the power to sell the property in order to redeem certain tax-defaulted property. Existing property tax law prohibits restarting installment payments if those payments are started under these provisions and the amount required to be paid in any fiscal year is not paid as required (default) . This bill would prohibit an installment redemption plan, for which all payments due on or before January 7, 2025, have been timely made, from being considered in default until April 10, 2026, for property located in a certain area in either the County of Los Angeles or the County of Ventura. Existing property tax law authorizes, for taxes due on escape assessments for prior fiscal years, those taxes to be paid over a 4-year period (installment plan) at the option of the assessee if the additional tax is over $500 and a written request for installment payment is filed by the assessee with the tax collector by a certain time. This bill would suspend the taxes due on a property making payments pursuant to an installment plan as described above, would prohibit their collection, and would prohibit the taxes from being considered delinquent, all until April 10, 2026, for property located in a certain area in either the County of Los Angeles or the County of Ventura, provided that, on or before January 7, 2025, all payments required by the plan were timely made. Existing property tax law requires each person owning taxable personal property, other than a manufactured home, having an aggregate cost of $100,000 or more for any assessment year to file annually a signed property statement, declared to be true under the penalty of perjury, with the assessor. If a person fails to file that annual statement, existing property tax law requires a penalty of 10% of the assessed value of the unreported taxable tangible property of that person placed on the current roll to be added to the assessment made on the current roll. This bill would suspend that penalty until April 10, 2026, and prohibit it from being imposed if the person files a statement on or before April 10, 2026, and the property is located in a certain area in either the County of Los Angeles or the County of Ventura. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials with respect to the collection of property taxes, including the imposition of penalties, as described above, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles and the County of Ventura.
Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula (LCFF) , as specified. Existing law requires funding pursuant to the LCFF to include, among other things, the sum of a base grant, supplemental grant, and concentration grant, if applicable, multiplied by average daily attendance, as provided. Existing law authorizes a school district or charter school to maintain a transitional kindergarten program. Existing law requires a school district or a charter school, as a condition of receipt of apportionment for pupils in a transitional kindergarten program, to ensure that, beginning with the 2025–26 school year, a child who will have their 4th birthday by September 1 of a school year be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by the school district or charter school. Under existing law, pursuant to the LCFF, school districts and charter schools receive, as funding for transitional kindergarten, the sum of a base grant, a supplemental grant, a concentration grant, if applicable, and a transitional kindergarten add-on, multiplied by transitional kindergarten average daily attendance, as provided. Under existing law, school districts that receive local revenues that exceed the LCFF amount do not receive a specified apportionment of LCFF funds, as provided, and are known as "basic aid school districts" or "excess tax entities." Existing law, notwithstanding those provisions, requires charter schools and school districts, including basic aid districts, to receive a minimum level of state-aid funding, as provided. This bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, require the minimum level of state funding for basic aid districts to include both the above-described sum of the LCFF base, supplemental, and concentration grants for transitional kindergarten, and an unspecified add-on amount for transitional kindergarten, multiplied by transitional kindergarten average daily attendance, as provided. Existing law provides for the funding of necessary small schools and high schools, as specified. Existing law requires that funding to be based on, among other things, the necessary small school's average daily attendance and the number of full-time teachers, as specified. Existing law requires these necessary small school amounts to be added to the LCFF calculations for school districts with necessary small schools, as provided. This bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate funding for pupils attending transitional kindergarten in certain necessary small schools, as provided. The bill would require this allocation to include, for any average daily attendance generated by pupils attending a transitional kindergarten program in the necessary small school, the sum of the above-described LCFF base grant, supplemental grant, and concentration grant, if applicable, and transitional kindergarten add-on amounts, as provided. The bill would, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, appropriate the amount of funding necessary to implement the required allocations for the applicable fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to necessary small schools under these provisions. Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
Existing law requires the county assessor to consider, when valuing real property for property taxation purposes, the effect of any enforceable restrictions to which the use of the land may be subjected, including, but not limited to, zoning, recorded contracts with governmental agencies, and various other restrictions imposed by governments. This bill would add to the above-described enforceable restrictions certain renewable leases between a commercial community ownership entity, as defined, that owns the land and a nonprofit, as defined. By expanding the duties of local tax officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
