Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws. This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction. This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes, including a partial exemption from those taxes, on and after July 1, 2014, and before July 1, 2030, for the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, among other things, qualified tangible personal property purchased by a qualified person for purchases not exceeding $200,000,000, for use primarily in manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of tangible personal property, as specified. Existing law requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to provide a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance of, among other things, the total dollar amount of exemptions, as specified. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2031. This bill would, instead, extend the above-described partial exemption from those taxes until January 1, 2031, and would remove the above-described reporting requirement pertaining to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The bill would make various conforming changes and repeal these provisions on January 1, 2036. 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 require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, if requested by the Legislature, to submit a report to the Legislature on the exemption and would provide findings and declarations relating to the goals of the exemption. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. Existing law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, allows a deduction for specified investment interest, not to exceed the net investment income of the taxpayer for the taxable year, as provided. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would provide an exclusion from gross income for any amount of interest income that a taxpayer generates on an investment during the taxable year and, without the qualified taxpayer's consent and against the qualified taxpayer's will, is stolen, sold, or otherwise transferred, as specified. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law establishes a system of elementary and secondary education in this state. This system consists of the public and private schools that provide instruction in kindergarten and in grades 1 to 12, inclusive. This bill would enact the School Choice Flex Account Act of 2025 and establish the School Choice Flex Account (SCFA) Trust, to be known as the SCFA Trust, as a fund within the State Treasury to be administered by the SCFA Trust Board. For the 2027–28 to 2030–31, inclusive, school years, the bill would authorize certain children eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to establish an SCFA or Special Education Flex Account (SEFA) , based on parent or guardian income. The bill would, beginning with the 2031–32 school year, authorize every child eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to establish an SCFA or SEFA. The bill would credit a deposit amount to the account of every eligible student enrolled in an eligible school for tuition and certain school expenses. The bill would specify the deposit amounts for the 2027–28 school year, and require the Department of Finance, beginning on July 1, 2028, to determine the SCFA and SEFA deposit amounts annually for the upcoming school year, as provided. The bill would require the Controller to transfer an amount of money from the General Fund to the SCFA Trust in those amounts. The bill would require any unused funds remaining in an SCFA or SEFA account on June 30 of each school year to be returned to the state for the benefit of elementary and secondary education, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would specify the membership of the SCFA Trust Board and would vest the SCFA Trust Board with certain powers and duties. The bill would establish 2 accounts within the SCFA Trust, the SCFA Trust Program Account and the SCFA Trust Administrative Account, and would continuously appropriate the moneys in the program account to the SCFA Trust Board for purposes of the bill, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a procedure for the parents and legal guardians of eligible students to apply to establish an SCFA or SEFA and submit an executed participation agreement. The bill would authorize the SCFA Trust Board to disburse funds from SCFAs or SEFAs to eligible schools, defined as private full-time day schools accredited by, or, except as provided, awaiting accreditation from, a regional accrediting agency recognized by the state or the United States Department of Education. The bill would specify the procedures for participating eligible schools to receive funds disbursed by the SCFA Trust Board. (2) The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, set forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts based on one of 3 tests in any given fiscal year, one of which is based on the percentage of General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts and community college districts, respectively, in the 1986–87 fiscal year, and 2 of which are based on, among other things, changes in enrollment. This bill would require the Legislature to recalculate that minimum education funding guarantee by including eligible students not enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school before the operative date of the act in those minimum funding guarantee calculations based on average daily attendance, as provided. The bill would also require the costs of providing SCFA and SEFA deposit amounts for eligible students to be apportioned between the General Fund and the public school district in which those eligible students reside in the same ratio of General Fund and local property tax revenue that would have been used to educate those eligible students in their public school district. (3) The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income for purposes of computing tax liability. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, exclude from gross income any amounts received as distribution from an SCFA or SEFA, as defined, as part of a participation agreement. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives 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. (4) These provisions would become operative on January 1, 2027, and only if Senate Constitutional Amendment ____ of the 2025–26 Regular Session is approved by the voters at the statewide general election on November 4, 2026.
The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes on taxable income, as provided. Under existing law, every employer who pays wages to a resident employee for services performed either within or without this state, or to a nonresident employee for services performed in this state, is required to deduct and withhold from those wages, except as provided, for each payroll, a tax computed in an amount substantially equivalent to the amount reasonably estimated to be due under the Personal Income Tax Law. Under existing law, every employer required to withhold those taxes is required to, for each calendar quarter, file a withholding report, a quarterly return, and a report of wages in a form prescribed by the Employment Development Department, and pay over the taxes required to be withheld. This bill would authorize an employer to claim a credit in an amount equal to the amount of overtime wages, as defined, paid during that quarter to specified agricultural employees covered by a certain wage order. The bill would require the credit to be claimed on the employer's report of contributions, quarterly return, and report of wages, or in an electronic funds transfer, as specified. The bill would prohibit the total amount claimed in any given quarter from exceeding the amount that would have been remitted for that quarter to the Employment Development Department for employee withholdings.
Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law authorizes the department to do any act necessary, convenient, or proper for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or use of all highways that are under its jurisdiction, possession, or control. This bill would establish the Highway Signage Fund in the State Treasury and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the department's costs in erecting signage for highway designations previously approved by the Legislature that memorialize individuals who have promoted racial and gender equity.
Except as provided, the California Constitution requires that all property be taxed in proportion to its full value and assessed at the same percentage of fair market value. Existing statutory law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the imposition of a tax by a county or city, as provided, with respect to specified instruments that transfer specified interests in real property. Existing law establishes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration for the purpose of administering various taxes. This bill would require a person, as defined, that owns commercial property, as defined, in this state to register with the department, as provided. The bill would require every person owning commercial real property in this state to file an information return each year by a date determined by the department, as provided. The bill would require the information return to include specified information, including, among other requirements, whether any buildings or portions of buildings were vacant in the previous calendar year. The bill would authorize extensions of the time for a person to file an information return under specified circumstances, including for good cause. The bill would impose on any person who fails or refuses to timely furnish a return required by its provisions a penalty of $100 per commercial property that the person fails or refuses to timely furnish the information return. The bill would authorize the Director of Finance to make a loan from the General Fund to the department to implement those provisions, and would require any loan to be repaid from revenues from penalties imposed. By authorizing the expenditure of moneys from the General Fund for specified purposes, the bill would create an appropriation. This bill would require the department to collect information from the information returns filed pursuant to its provisions and would require the department to annually post on its internet website data aggregated by ZIP Code, including, among other information, the percentage of commercial properties included in information returns required under this part that were vacant in a calendar year. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2031. The bill would also make findings and declarations related to its provisions.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. Existing law, known as the Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act, establishes the Golden State Scholarshare College Savings Trust (Scholarshare trust) , under the administration of the Scholarshare Investment Board, to provide financial aid for postsecondary education costs of participating students. Existing state and federal law generally includes in gross income distributions from a qualified tuition program, as defined to include the Scholarshare trust, except as provided. Existing federal law, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, excludes from gross income, for federal income tax purposes, distributions from a qualified tuition program that are made after December 31, 2023, and are paid in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to a Roth IRA, as described. This bill would exempt from gross income distribution made from a long-term qualified tuition program during the taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, that are paid in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to a Roth IRA, and would conform state tax law to those changes relating to federal law, as described above. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, provides various exclusions from gross income in computing tax liability. Existing law requires employers to make specified payments and withholdings from wages paid for employment to, and to file reports of wages and make contributions for unemployment insurance and the employment training tax with, the Employment Development Department. The department is charged with administering the state's payroll taxes. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would exclude tips, as defined, from gross income for the purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law. The bill, on and after January 1, 2026, and until January 1, 2031, would also exclude tips from the definition of wages paid for employment for purposes of income tax withholding and for purposes of unemployment insurance and the employment training tax. This bill would also make related changes to other provisions. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals 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 declares that all property is taxable and establishes or authorizes various exemptions from tax for real property, including, among others, a homeowners' exemption in the amount of $7,000 of the full value of a dwelling unless the dwelling receives another real property exemption. This bill, for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2025, to, and including, January 1, 2030, would statutorily exempt from property taxation real property impacted by the Chiquita Canyon elevated temperature landfill event, as defined. By imposing additional duties on county assessors, 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.
