Unclaimed property: gift certificates: poison control center funding.

Existing law, the Unclaimed Property Law, governs the disposition of unclaimed property, including the escheat of certain property to the state. Those provisions require a person holding funds or other property escheated to the state to report to the Controller certain information regarding the property and the owner. Existing law regulates the sale of gift certificates, as defined, and excludes unredeemed gift certificates from the unclaimed property law. This bill would, instead, include gift certificates within the unclaimed property law and would require the full value of a gift certificate issued commencing July 1, 2006, or portion thereof that has not been redeemed within 3 years after issuance of the gift certificate to escheat to the state and be forwarded to the Controller. The bill would provide that it does not alter the rights and responsibilities of the seller and buyer under the terms of the gift certificate and would authorize a seller to claim the value of a subsequently redeemed gift certificate as a credit against the seller's next payment to the Controller. Pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services System and Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act (EMS Act) , the Emergency Medical Services Authority (the authority) is established within the California Health and Human Services Agency to administer the emergency medical services system to coordinate and integrate effective and efficient emergency medical services throughout the 58 counties of the state. The EMS Act requires the authority to establish minimum standards for poison control centers, to designate poison control centers, and to establish their geographical service areas. The EMS Act authorizes a county to establish an emergency medical services fund for reimbursement of certain EMS-related costs, including, but not limited to, the funding of poison control centers. This bill would establish the Escheated Gift Certificate/Poison Control Center Funding Account within the State Treasury and would require deposit of the funds collected pursuant to this bill into the account for the purposes of funding poison control centers, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and would require the transfer of excess funds to the General Fund. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution.