The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including various motion picture credits, commonly referred to as motion picture credit 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, and the certified studio credit, to be allocated by the California Film Commission in differing amounts equal to specified percentages of the qualified expenditures of a qualified motion picture in this state. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account and the Corporation Tax Fund and provides that payments required to be made to taxpayers or other persons are to be paid from those funds. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes in an amount between 35% and 50% of qualified expenses relating to the post-production of a qualified motion picture in California to be allocated by the California Film Commission, as specified. The bill would require the credit to be administered in the same manner as the motion picture credit 4.0, except as specified. The bill would require the California Film Commission to utilize a post-production services ratio, as defined, to allocate credits, as specified. The bill would limit the aggregate amount of credits allocated in a fiscal year based on a determination made by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act plus additional amounts, as described. The bill would require that 85% of the total allocable credits are reserved for qualified taxpayers that attest, under penalty of perjury, that they will abide by specified labor condition requirements. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated locale program. This bill would allow a qualified taxpayer to elect to be paid a refund if the amount allowable as a credit exceeds the qualified taxpayer's tax liability for the taxable year, as specified. By requiring moneys to be paid from the Tax Relief and Refund Account and the Corporation Tax Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure, as defined, to include tax credits, to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include findings and reporting requirements in compliance with this requirement. The bill would require exchange of information between the Legislative Analyst's Office and other specified agencies in order to comply with these requirements. The bill would make the unauthorized disclosure of this information subject to existing law, the violation of which is a crime. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 17039 and 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by AB 2222 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2222 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, through its Office of Migrant Services, to assist in the development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or operation of migrant farm labor centers and authorizes the Director of Housing and Community Development to contract with school districts, housing authorities, health agencies, and other appropriate local public and private nonprofit agencies for the procurement or construction of housing or shelter and to obtain services for migratory agricultural workers. Existing law establishes the Napa County Farmworker Centers Account to be administered by the department, as specified, to assist in the financing, maintenance, and operation of the Napa County Housing Authority's Farmworker Centers for year-round use by migrant and nonmigrant farm labor employees. Existing law requires the department to award, annually, up to $250,000 in matching funds to the Napa County Housing Authority upon demonstration that the Napa County Housing Authority is capable of continuing to effectively serve the housing needs of migrant or other farmworkers in the County of Napa and requires the Napa County Housing Authority, to be eligible for funding, to provide equal or greater funds from local sources. Existing law requires the department to use funds allocated from the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund, as provided. This bill would instead require the department to award, annually, up to $500,000 in matching funds to the Napa County Housing Authority upon demonstration that the Napa County Housing Authority is capable of continuing to effectively serve the housing needs of migrant or other farmworkers in the County of Napa. The bill would require all funds awarded under its provisions to comply with specified prohibitions against state funding, loans, grants, or other state subsidies for an employer that employs certain workers, as provided, and would require that employer to reimburse the state or state agency that provided the funding, as provided. The bill would, instead of requiring the department to use specified funds allocated from the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund, provide that this bill is not operative until funding is appropriated by the Legislature in the Budget Act or any other measure for the purposes of the bill. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Napa.
Under existing law, if sufficient appropriations are not available for the payment of certain claims, settlements, or judgments, the Attorney General is required to report the claims, settlements, and judgments to the chairperson of either the Senate Committee on Appropriations or the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, who is then required to cause introduction of legislation appropriating the funds necessary for payment. This bill would appropriate $7,391,650.83 from the General Fund to the Attorney General for the payment of claims, settlements, or judgments against the state arising from 8 specified actions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in California and extends eligibility for grants to, among others, local agencies, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, the California Conservation Corps, certified community conservation corps, Native American tribes, and qualified nonprofit organizations. Existing law requires the department, on or before December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, to post on its internet website certain information regarding hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management projects funded or conducted by the department for the preceding fiscal year, including projects funded under the department's Wildfire Prevention Grants Program, as provided. Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, who have completed a specific training program developed and administered by the department to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee, to establish a wildfire mitigation validation program to provide voluntary official recognition to a community that achieves progress toward community-scale wildfire preparedness and mitigations. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the committee, to (1) set the wildfire mitigations, including, among other things, home hardening and defensible space requirements, and (2) set the minimum percentage of mitigations required to achieve recognition and set increases in those percentages, as provided. The bill would authorize the department, commencing with the 2028–29 fiscal year, to disburse funds appropriated for the Wildfire Prevention Grants Program to recognized communities that partner with fire safe councils or other eligible groups, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to prioritize disadvantaged recognized fire communities pursuant to its established procedures for prioritizing disadvantaged applicants for the Wildfire Prevention Grants Program.
Existing law establishes the Community Care Expansion Program, under the administration of the State Department of Social Services. Under the program, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the department awards grants to qualified grantees to administer projects for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of property to be operated as residential adult and senior care facilities, or to promote the sustainability of existing licensed residential adult and senior care facilities through the provision of capitalized operating subsidy reserves. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with one or more entities to facilitate the grant awards. Existing law requires the contracting entity to act as a third-party administrator to provide operational services under the contract, including, but not limited to, developing an online application portal and processing invoices and making grant payments. This bill would require the department to develop the grant application for tribes in consultation with tribes in the event the program obtains additional funding available to tribes. The bill would require the department to include its existing tribal liaison or their designee in discussions throughout the grant process to ensure tribal sovereignty is honored. The bill would also require that, if additional funds are appropriated, an agreement between the department and a tribe align with federal tribal housing grant agreements to the extent practicable and consistent with the program. Existing law requires, subject to an appropriation, the department to award grants to preserve or expand the capacity of residential adult and senior care facilities through the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of property and requires counties and tribes receiving funds for this purpose to provide matching funds or real property. This bill would exempt a tribe from providing real property if federal restrictions limit tribal property ownership.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. This bill would require the commission to assess opportunities for rate structures to ensure data centers pay a reasonable share of their costs associated with transmission and distribution needs, ensure that data centers pay for their proportionate share of load increases and procurements needed to reliably serve their loads while maintaining consistency with the applicable integrated resource planning requirements, and alleviate cost pressures on residential ratepayers.
Existing law, the Arts and Music in Schools—Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 28 at the November 8, 2022, statewide general election, provides a minimum source of annual funding to K–12 public schools, including public charter schools, to supplement arts education programs for pupils attending those schools, as specified. The act defines "arts education program" for these purposes to include, but not be limited to, instruction and training, supplies, materials, and arts educational partnership programs, for instruction in specified topics. The act requires the continuous appropriation for these purposes, without regard to fiscal years, from the General Fund to the State Department of Education, of an amount equal to 1% of the total state and local revenues received by local educational agencies in the preceding fiscal year that are included in the calculation of the minimum funding guarantee established by the California Constitution, as provided. The act requires funds appropriated pursuant to Proposition 28 to be allocated by the department to each local educational agency, and requires local educational agencies to allocate those funds to each schoolsite, pursuant to specified calculations. The act requires the principal or program director of each schoolsite or preschool to develop an expenditure plan for allocated funds. This bill would change the definition of "arts education program" to additionally include curriculum, instructional materials, and professional development, and would require all arts education programs to be consistent with the California Arts Standards for Public Schools, the California Arts Education Framework, or the California Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations, as applicable. The bill would authorize local educational agencies to pool allocated funds and require, as a condition of this pooling, local educational agencies to ensure, among other things, (1) that expenditures for each schoolsite are in proportion to the allocation for each schoolsite and (2) compliance with the expenditure plan adopted by the principal or program director. The act requires, as a condition of receiving Proposition 28 funds, a local educational agency to, among other things, annually certify that the funds will be used to supplement arts education programs and not supplant existing funding for those programs, and that funds expended in the prior fiscal year were used to supplement arts education programs. This bill would require this certification to include specified calculations that compare existing funds available for arts education programs, as provided, with current year expenditures for arts education programs. The bill would require, in determining the existing funds available for arts education programs, a local educational agency to (1) subtract from the prior year total expenditures for arts programs expenditures from Proposition 28 funds and from resources that are no longer available in the current year, as provided, and (2) subsequently add newly available resources that are spent on arts education programs, excluding current year Proposition 28 funds. The bill would deem a local educational agency for which current year expenditures for arts education programs equal or exceed the calculations of existing funds available for arts education programs to be in compliance with the requirement to supplement arts education programs. The act also requires, as a condition of receiving Proposition 28 funds, a local educational agency to submit an annual governing board or body-approved report in a manner determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction detailing program expenditures and to certify (1) that all funds will be used to provide arts education programs, and that funds expended in the prior fiscal year were, in fact, used for those purposes and (2) , for local educational agencies with an enrollment of 500 or more pupils, that at least 80% of Proposition 28 funds will be used to employ certificated or classified employees to provide arts education program instruction, as provided, and authorizes the department, for good cause shown, to provide a waiver to these requirements. This bill would instead require the annual governing board or body-approved report to be submitted and posted on or before September 30 in a manner determined by the department. The bill would require each schoolsite or preschool to post on its internet website the above-described expenditure plan and information on granted waivers and would authorize a local educational agency to instead require this information to be posted on the local educational agency's internet website. The bill would, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, require a local educational agency to certify that all provisions of Proposition 28 have been implemented in accordance with the requirements of Proposition 28 at each of its schoolsites. To the extent these provisions impose new duties on schoolsites or local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to post approved waivers on its internet website. Existing law, on or before May 1 of each fiscal year, requires (1) the governing board of each school district to either provide for an audit of all funds under the control of that school district or make arrangements with the county superintendent of schools having jurisdiction over the school district to provide for that auditing, (2) the governing body of each charter school to either provide for an audit of all funds under the control of the charter school or make arrangements with the chartering authority to provide for that auditing, and (3) each county superintendent of schools to either provide for an audit of all funds under their jurisdiction and control or make arrangements with the Controller to provide for that auditing. The act requires annual audits of a local educational agency to include, for purposes of Proposition 28, (1) all funds received and distributed by the local educational agency pursuant to specified Proposition 28 provisions and (2) a determination of whether the funds were expended pursuant to the (A) certifications submitted by the local educational agency and (B) requirements of certain Proposition 28 provisions. This bill would delete the requirement that an annual audit of a local educational agency include a determination of whether Proposition 28 funds were expended pursuant to the requirements of certain Proposition 28 provisions. Proposition 28 authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions by a 23 vote of each house if the amendment furthers its purposes. This bill would declare that the above-described provisions further the purposes of Proposition 28. 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 Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, including the Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in coordination with certain public agencies, to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in California's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided. Existing law requires the task force, on or before March 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, to update that action plan, as provided. Existing law establishes, in the Department of Conservation, a Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire-adapted communities and landscapes, as provided. Existing law requires the department to, upon appropriation by the Legislature for purposes of the program, provide block grants to regional entities, as defined, to develop regional strategies that develop governance structures, identify wildfire risks, foster collaboration, and prioritize and implement projects within the region to achieve the goals of the program, as specified. Existing law authorizes the regional entities, as defined, to implement activities pursuant to this program, directly or by providing subgrants or contracts, and collaborative planning efforts with local entities to accomplish development of regional priority strategies, among other objectives. Existing law authorizes the department to, until July 1, 2025, authorize advance payments of grants awarded pursuant to the program. This bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Conservation to directly award regional landscape grants to regional entities to implement the above-described regional priority strategies to contribute to the achievement of the goals of California's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as specified. The bill would extend the authorization for the department to award advance payments of grants awarded pursuant to the program indefinitely. Existing law authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide grants to, or enter contracts or other cooperative agreements with, specified entities for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Existing law requires moneys appropriated to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for landscape-scale projects to be allocated to subsidize the removal of small-diameter material and dead trees, for multiple benefit projects, and for activities on national forest lands, as provided. This bill would additionally require moneys appropriated to the department for landscape-scale projects to be allocated for projects that improve ecosystem health and for regional landscape grants that the director would be authorized to directly award to regional entities, as defined, to implement the above-described regional priority strategies. The bill would also require the director, in collaboration with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to, before the issuance of these grants, establish guidelines for funding the grants to contribute to the achievement of the goals of California's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in the state and extends eligibility for grants to, among others, local agencies, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, the California Conservation Corps, certified community conservation corps, Native American tribes, and qualified nonprofit organizations. Existing law requires eligible activities under the local assistance grant program to include, but not be limited to, vegetation management along roadways and driveways to reduce fire risk, as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to, until July 1, 2025, authorize advance payments from grants awarded pursuant to the local assistance grant program. This bill would expand eligible activities to include vegetation modification and specify that the vegetation management and modification along roadways and driveways includes wildfire ignition risk. The bill would also add ignition prevention, as defined, to the eligible activities. The bill would extend the authorization for the department to award advance payments from grants awarded pursuant to the program indefinitely. The Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947 establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board within the Department of Fish and Wildlife to investigate, study, and determine what areas within the state are most essential and suitable for wildlife production and preservation, among other things. Under existing law, the board administers various habitat conservation programs. This bill would authorize the Wildlife Conservation Board to award regional landscape grants to local entities, as defined, to implement regional priority strategies as described above. The bill would also require, before the issuance of these grants, the board, in collaboration with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to establish guidelines for funding these regional landscape grants to contribute to the achievement of the goals of California's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4799.05 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1699 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1699 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, establishes a low-income housing tax credit program through which the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee allocates low-income housing tax credits aimed at providing affordable low-income housing within and throughout the state. Existing federal law sets limitations and guidelines regarding what projects are eligible for credits, including a requirement that an extended low-income housing commitment is in effect, and a prohibition against eviction except for good cause. This bill would specify, for housing projects where the low-income housing commitment requires 100% of the units, not including any manager's units, to be restricted to lower income households, as defined, that good cause for nonrenewal of a lease includes cases where the nonrenewal relates to a household whose income exceeds 140% of the area median income for at least 2 consecutive years and 30% of the household's monthly income exceeds the fair market rent, determined as specified. The bill would require an owner to provide notice of the potential of good cause for nonrenewal described above if the household's income exceeds 140% of the area median income during any income certification, as specified. The bill would also require an owner electing to not renew a lease as described above to issue a notice of nonrenewal describing the basis of good cause for nonrenewal at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the lease, as specified.
The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) establishes the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) to provide a defined benefit to members of the system based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. Existing law creates the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, which is continuously appropriated for purposes of PERS, including depositing employer and employee contributions. Under the California Constitution, assets of a public pension or retirement system are trust funds. The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) establishes a variety of requirements and restrictions on public employers offering defined benefit pension plans. In this regard, PEPRA restricts the amount of compensation that may be applied for purposes of calculating a defined pension benefit for a new member, as defined, by restricting it to specified percentages of the contribution and benefit base under a specified federal law with respect to old age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits. Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, creditable service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. This bill, for service performed on and after January 1, 2027, would prohibit the pensionable compensation for calendar year 2027 used to calculate the defined benefit paid to a new member of a retirement system subject to PEPRA who retires from the system from exceeding specified percentages of the contribution and benefit base under the specified federal law with respect to old age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits. The bill would make related, conforming changes to these provisions on pensionable compensation. The bill also would require a new member of STRS to be subject to specified limits of the Teachers' Retirement Law. PEPRA requires each retirement system that offers a defined benefit plan for safety members of the system to use one of 3 formulas for safety members, 2% at age 57, 2.5% at age 57, or 2.7% at age 57. This bill would establish new retirement formulas, for employees first hired on or after January 1, 2027, as 2.5% at age 55, 2.7% at age 55, or 3% at age 55, subject to certain exceptions. For new members hired on or after January 1, 2013, who are safety members, the bill would require employers to adjust the formulas for service performed on or after January 1, 2027, to offer the formula that has the same fraction at age 55 as the fraction at age 57 in the formula the employer offered pursuant to existing law. The bill would authorize a public employer and a recognized employee organization to negotiate a prospective increase to the retirement benefit formulas for safety members and new safety members, consistent with the formulas permitted under PEPRA, including the new formulas described above. This bill would authorize an employer and its employees to agree in a memorandum of understanding to be subject to a higher safety plan or a lower safety plan, subject to certain requirements, including that the memorandum of understanding is collectively bargained in accordance with applicable laws. By increasing the contribution to continuously appropriated funds, and by increasing expenditures from those funds, this bill would make an appropriation.
