Existing law establishes the California College Promise, under the administration of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to provide funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each community college meeting prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college to use that funding to waive some or all of the fees for 2 academic years for first-time community college students and returning community college students, as defined, who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent, or less for students certified as "full time" by a staff person in the disabled student services program, as specified, and who complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application, except as provided. This bill would instead require, for purposes of eligibility for the California College Promise, that students be enrolled in 9 or more, rather than 12 or more, semester units or the equivalent, or less for a student certified as eligible, based on a commitment by the student that is analogous to the 9 semester unit or equivalent workload, by a staff person in the disabled student services program. The bill would additionally require, as a condition of participating in, and receiving funding for, the California College Promise, community colleges and community college districts to refrain from referring to any other student financial aid funding or program as the California College Promise, and require community colleges to provide a written notification to initial recipients of the California College Promise that includes specified information related to the 2 academic years of eligibility for the California College Promise.
This measure would call on members of the United States Congress to oppose reductions to funding that negatively impact educational services for students with disabilities and would call on the President of the United States and Congress to ensure that services and funding for students with disabilities are uninterrupted.
Existing law establishes the Richard Paul Hemann Parkinson's Disease Program, which, among other things, requires the State Department of Public Health to collect data on the incidence of Parkinson's disease in California, as specified. Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of their personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds and accounts, including, among others, to the California Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. This bill would also allow an individual to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the Parkinson's Disease Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the State Department of Public Health to support the above-referenced program relating to Parkinson's disease in California. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return form to include a space for the designation of contributions to the fund when another voluntary designation is removed from the form or there is space, whichever occurs first. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
(1) The California Constitution generally limits the maximum rate of ad valorem tax on real property to 1% of the full cash value of the property and defines "full cash value" for these purposes as the appraised value of real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred after the 1975 assessment. Pursuant to constitutional authorization, existing property tax law excludes from the definition of "newly constructed" for these purposes the construction or addition of any active solar energy system, as defined, through the 2025–26 fiscal year, as provided. Existing law provides the exclusion for an active solar energy system applies to the initial purchaser of a new building, as provided, and requires the initial purchaser to file a claim with the assessor. This bill would state a claim filed by an initial purchaser is timely if it is filed within three years of the date of purchase. The bill would also provide that an otherwise valid claim for exclusion filed after the three year deadline would be applied beginning on the lien date for the assessment year in which the claim is filed. The bill would make these provisions operative beginning January 1, 2027. (2) Existing law, with respect to supplemental property tax assessments, specifies various limitation periods for assessments on the supplemental tax roll. Existing law provides for the application of property tax exemptions to those supplemental assessments provided, among other things, that an assessee file an exemption application within a specified time. Existing property tax law allows taxes, penalties, and interest imposed for late filings of property tax exemption applications for the supplemental roll that exceed $250 in total to be canceled or refunded up to 85% or 90%, as applicable, in the case of the exemption for a college, cemetery, church, religious, exhibition, or veterans' organization. This bill would expand this reduction to be applied to exemptions for public schools, as provided. (3) Existing property tax law provides, with respect to property eligible for the college, cemetery, church, religious, exhibition, veterans' organization, free public libraries, free museums, public schools, community colleges, state colleges, state universities, tribal housing, or welfare exemption but for which a timely application for exemption was not filed, that 90% of any tax or penalty or interest on that property shall be canceled or refunded if an appropriate application for exemption is filed on or before the lien date in the calendar year next succeeding the calendar year in which the exemption was not claimed by a timely application. Existing property tax law requires, if an appropriate application for exemption is filed within 90 days from the first day of the month following the month in which the property was acquired or by February 15 of the following calendar year, whichever occurs first, any tax or penalty or interest imposed upon property owned by any organization qualified for the college, cemetery, church, religious, exhibition, veterans' organization, tribal housing, or welfare exemption that is acquired by that organization during a given calendar year, after the lien date but before the first day of the fiscal year commencing within that calendar year, if the property is of a kind that would have been qualified for the college, cemetery, church, religious, exhibition, veterans' organization, tribal housing, or welfare exemption if it had been owned by the organization on the lien date, to be canceled or refunded. This bill would add public schools to the list of entities eligible for the cancellation or refund of any tax or penalty or interest imposed on property acquired in a given calendar year after the lien date but before the first day of the fiscal year commencing within that calendar year. The bill also would make conforming changes. By expanding the duties of local tax officials, 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.
Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of their personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds and accounts, including, among others, to the California Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. This bill would allow an individual to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the continuously appropriated California Pediatric Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return form to include a space for the designation of contributions to the fund when another voluntary designation is removed from the form or there is space, whichever occurs first. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require that the above provisions remain operative only until January 1 of the 7th calendar year following the first appearance of the California Pediatric Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund on the tax return, except as specified.
This measure would urge the United States Congress to avoid any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , which could harm the state's children, older adults, and families, and impact the state's economic well-being.
The California Constitution provides that all property is taxable, and requires that it be assessed at the same percentage of fair market value, unless otherwise provided by the California Constitution or federal law. The California Constitution and existing property tax law provide various exemptions from taxation, including, among others, a disabled veterans' exemption. Under existing law, the disabled veterans' exemption exempts from taxation part of the full value of property that constitutes the principal place of residence of a veteran, the veteran's spouse, or the veteran and veteran's spouse jointly, and the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran, as provided, if the veteran incurred specified injuries or died while on active duty in military service, as described. Existing law exempts that part of the full value of the residence that does not exceed $100,000, or $150,000 if the household income of the claimant does not exceed $40,000, as adjusted for inflation, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2036, exclude service-connected disability payments from the definition of "household income" for purposes of the disabled veterans' exemption. The bill would also correct an erroneous cross-reference in the above-described provisions. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, the 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.
The California Constitution limits the amount of ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property, defined as the county assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975–76 tax bill and, thereafter, the appraised value of the real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership occurs after the 1975 assessment, subject to an annual inflation adjustment not to exceed 2%. Pursuant to constitutional authorization, existing property tax law, on and after February 16, 2021, excludes from classification as a change in ownership the purchase or transfer of a family home or family farm, as those terms are defined, of the transferor in the case of a transfer between parents and their children, or between grandparents and their grandchildren if all the parents of those grandchildren are deceased, if the property continues as the family home or family farm of the transferee, as specified. For purposes of the transfer of a family home, that law requires the transfer to be of a principal residence of the transferor and to become the principal residence of the transferee within one year of the transfer. That law also requires the transferee to file for the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption within a year of the transfer, as described. This bill would expand the above-described exclusion to include, in the case of the purchase or transfer of a family home or a family farm, as applicable, a purchase or transfer of that family home or family farm between eligible transferees, as specified. The bill would also specify that, in the event of a transfer by certain judicial decrees, the transfer commencing either of the above-described one-year periods shall be deemed to occur as of the effective date of the final judicial decree, as specified. The bill would require a transferee to notify the assessor of the county in which the property is located of their intention to claim the exclusion, as specified. By expanding the duties of local tax officials, the 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. 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.
The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, with the approval of 23 of the membership of each legislative house, to allow a county board of supervisors to exempt from property taxation those properties having a full value too low to justify the costs of assessment and collection. Existing property tax law implementing this authority generally limits any exemption granted under this constitutional provision by a county board of supervisors to real property with a total base year value, as adjusted annually for inflation as provided, or personal property with a full value, not exceeding $10,000. Existing property tax law also limits any exemption for new construction to situations where the new total base year value of the property, as adjusted for inflation, including the new construction, is $10,000 or less. This bill would raise these maximum exemption amounts from $10,000 to $20,000 for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax exemption will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would make specified findings detailing the goal, purpose, and objective of the above-described expansion of a tax exemption, performance indicators for determining whether the expanded exemption meets that goal, purpose, and objective, and data collection requirements. 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.
(1) Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program, administered by the Interagency Council on Homelessness, with respect to rounds 1 to 5, inclusive, of the program, and the Department of Housing and Community Development, with respect to round 6 of the program, for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. This bill would establish round 7 of the program. The bill would authorize the Department of Finance to augment Item 2240-001-0001 of the Budget Act of 2025 by $8,000,000 from the General Fund to prepare to administer round 7 of the program, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide notification of any augmentation within 10 days to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The bill would, effective July 1, 2026, appropriate $500,000,000, as specified, provided that these funds be disbursed in accordance with specified requirements, including that funds from this appropriation be disbursed to a city, county, tribe, or continuum of care for round 7 of the program after a declaration by the director of the department, in consultation with the Director of Finance, that the department has substantially completed its initial disbursement of round 6 funds to the city, county, tribe, or continuum of care, and that the city, county, tribe, or continuum of care has obligated at least 50% of its total round 6 award. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters for round 7 of the program, as specified. (2) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to prepare and develop proposed guidelines for the implementation of CEQA by public agencies and requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt those proposed guidelines. CEQA requires those adopted guidelines to include a list of classes of projects that have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and exempts those classes of projects from CEQA, commonly known as categorical exemptions. CEQA requires the guidelines to include criteria for public agencies to follow in determining whether or not a proposed project may have a significant effect on the environment, and requires the criteria to require a finding that a project may have a significant effect on the environment if one or more of specified conditions exist. This bill would exempt from CEQA, except as provided, a rezoning that implements the schedule of actions contained in an approved housing element, as specified. The bill would require the lead agency to be responsible for determining whether a project is exempt from CEQA. By requiring a lead agency to determine the applicability of the exemption and by increasing the duties of a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would, for the approval of a proposed project that would otherwise be exempt from CEQA pursuant to a statutory exemption, or specified categorical exemptions adopted before January 1, 2026, but for a single condition, as specified, limit the application of CEQA to the effects upon the environment that are caused solely by that single condition. For these projects, the bill would only require the initial study or EIR to examine those effects that the lead agency determines, based upon substantial evidence in the record, are caused solely by the single condition that makes the proposed project ineligible for a statutory or categorical exemption. The bill would provide that these provisions do not apply to, among other things, a project that includes a distribution center, as defined, oil and gas infrastructure, as defined, or a project located on specified natural and protected lands, as defined. This bill would exempt from CEQA specified new agricultural employee housing projects and projects consisting exclusively of the repair or maintenance of an existing farmworker housing project. Existing law exempts from CEQA, until January 1, 2028, specified projects that, among other things, do not affect wetlands or sensitive habitats, undertaken by a public agency or private entity that primarily benefit a small disadvantaged community water system or a state small water system, as provided. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would extend the applicability of that exemption until January 1, 2032, and would expand the definition of a project for purposes of the exemption to include a project to provide sewer service to a disadvantaged community served by one or more inadequate sewage treatment systems, as defined. This bill would, until January 1, 2030, exempt from CEQA specified projects for a community water system that receives funding from specified sources that does not otherwise include any construction activities if the project results in long-term net benefits to climate resiliency, biodiversity, and sensitive species recovery and includes procedures and ongoing management for the protection of the environment. This bill would exempt from CEQA wildfire risk reduction projects, including, among other things, projects for prescribed fire, defensible space clearance, and fuel breaks. Existing law exempts from CEQA specified projects that consist of linear broadband deployment in a right-of-way if the project meets specified conditions. This bill would expand that exemption to include a right-of-way of a local street or road. This bill would exempt from CEQA updates to the state's climate adaptation strategy, as provided. This bill would exempt from CEQA any activity or approval necessary for or incidental to planning, design, site acquisition, construction, operation, or maintenance of public park or nonmotorized recreational trail facilities funded by a specified source. This bill would exempt from CEQA, except when located on natural and protected lands, as defined, a project that consists exclusively of a day care center, as specified, a project that consists exclusively of a federally qualified health center or a rural health clinic, as specified, a project that consists exclusively of a nonprofit food bank or food pantry, as specified, and a project that consists exclusively of a facility for advanced manufacturing, as specified. This bill would exempt from CEQA a project that consists of the development, construction, or operation of a heavy maintenance facility or other maintenance facility for electrically powered high-speed rail, as defined, if specified conditions are met. The bill would exempt from CEQA a project that consists of the development, construction, or modification of a proposed passenger rail station, or design changes to a passenger rail station, for the purpose of serving electrically powered high-speed rail, if specified conditions are met. Because a lead agency would be required to determine the applicability of some of the above-described exemptions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would require the office, on or before July 1, 2027, to map the eligible urban infill sites within every urbanized area or urban cluster in the state, as provided. The bill would require the office to develop a definition of and metrics for identifying an eligible urban infill site, as provided. The bill would require the office, at least 120 days before initial adoption of a map of eligible urban infill sites, to transmit a copy of the draft map or revision to the board of supervisors of each county and to the city council of each city in which any portion of the mapped area is located. The bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county to submit comments and proposed corrections and would require the office to consider those comments or proposed corrections and revise the draft map as appropriate. The bill would require the office to publish the draft map on its internet website for at least 45 days, conduct at least one public meeting to present the draft map, and receive public comments, as provided. The bill would authorize the office to amend any portion of the map, as provided. This bill would exempt the adoption or amendment of a map of eligible urban infill sites and the development of the definition of and metrics for identifying an eligible urban infill site from the Administrative Procedure Act. Existing law limits the application of CEQA to the approval of an infill project, as defined, to the effects on the environment that are specific to the project or to the project site and were not addressed as significant effects in the prior EIR or where substantial new information shows the effects will be more significant than described in the prior EIR, as provided. Existing law requires the office to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption guidelines to implement this provision. This bill would, on or before January 1, 2026, and at least once every 2 years thereafter, require the guidelines to be updated to address any rigid requirements, lack of clarity in vague terminology, and the potential for excessive exposure to frivolous litigation over lead agency determinations, as specified. (4) CEQA requires an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul certain acts or decisions of a public agency to be commenced according to specified processes, including that at the time that the action or proceeding is filed, the plaintiff or petitioner is required to file a request that the respondent public agency prepare the record of proceedings relating to the subject of the action or proceeding, and requires the record of proceedings to include specified items and materials, including, among other things, all internal agency communications, including staff notes and memoranda related to the project or to compliance with CEQA, but excluding communications that are of a logistical nature, as specified. This bill would, except for a project that includes a distribution center or oil and gas infrastructure, exclude staff notes and internal agency communications from the record of proceedings, as provided. (5) 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. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
