Transportation finance.

(1) Existing law requires the Director of Finance to make certain adjustments in one of the formulas used in computing the state's obligation under the California Constitution to provide funding for school districts and community college districts so as to ensure that the modifications in property tax revenue allocation requirements that were made by prior enactments do not have a net fiscal impact on school districts or community college districts, or upon the state's funding obligation to those districts. This bill would additionally specify adjustments on the calculation of the state's constitutional funding obligations that are related to the change in taxes made by this bill. (2) The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax 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. Tangible personal property includes motor vehicle fuel, commonly referred to as gasoline, and including aviation gasoline. Existing law, pursuant to Article XIX B of the California Constitution, requires a portion of the revenues from the sales and use tax on the sale of, and the storage, use or other consumption of, motor vehicle fuel to be deposited in the Transportation Investment Fund to be used for specified highway, local street and road, and mass transportation purposes. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2010, exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, motor vehicle fuel, thereby eliminating funding from this revenue source for those transportation programs. This exemption would not apply to local sales and use taxes imposed under the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law or transactions and use taxes, imposed in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, and specified state sales and use taxes. This bill, on or after July 1, 2011, would impose an additional 1.75% tax on the sale of, and the storage, use, and other consumption in this state of diesel fuel with revenues from those taxes transferred to the Public Transportation Account. (3) The Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law and the Diesel Fuel Tax Law each impose a tax at the rate of $0.18 per gallon on the removal, entry, sale, delivery, or specified use of motor vehicle fuel, commonly referred to as gasoline, and including aviation gasoline, and diesel fuel, and also imposes a tax at the rate of $0.02 per gallon of aircraft jet fuel sold to a fuel user or used by a dealer. Article XIX of the California Constitution requires state-imposed excise tax revenues from fuel used in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways to be used solely for highway and mass transit guideway purposes. This bill would increase the rate of tax on motor vehicle fuel from $0.18 per gallon to $0.309 per gallon between July 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011, as specified. The bill would impose a floor stock tax equal to $0.129 per gallon for the privilege of storing motor vehicle fuel and diesel fuel on July 1, 2010. Beginning with the 2011–12 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, the bill would require the Board of Equalization to annually compute the motor vehicle fuel tax rate consistent with the requirement that the estimated revenues from an increase shall not exceed the estimated revenues from the repealed sales and use tax on the sale of, or the storage, use, or other consumption of, motor vehicle fuel, as provided. The new revenues would first be used to reimburse the General Fund for the amount needed for debt service on specified general obligation transportation bonds, with 30% of remaining revenues to be transferred to the State Highway Account to fund projects in the state transportation improvement program (STIP) , 30% to be transferred to the State Highway Account for the State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP) , and the remaining 40% to be apportioned to cities and counties for local street and road purposes pursuant to a specified formula, thereby resulting in an appropriation. However, in the 2010–11 fiscal year, 50% of the remaining revenues would be allocated to the STIP and 50% would be allocated to local streets and roads. This bill would, on July 1, 2011, reduce the rate of tax on diesel fuel from $0.18 per gallon to $0.136 per gallon, subject to adjustment, as specified. (4) Existing law, pursuant to Proposition 116 of 1990, creates the Public Transportation Account as a trust fund, with revenues in the account to be used solely for mass transportation and transportation planning purposes, and requires revenues from specified portions of the state sales and use tax on the sale of, and the storage, use or other consumption of, motor vehicle fuel and diesel fuel to be transferred to the account. Existing law also requires revenues deposited in the State Highway Account from various miscellaneous sources that are not subject to Article XIX of the California Constitution to be transferred to the Public Transportation Account. This bill, pursuant to the exemptions described in (2) above, would eliminate the sales and use tax revenues from the sale of, and the storage, use or other consumption of, motor vehicle fuel which are currently deposited in the Public Transportation Account, thereby eliminating funding from this source for the account. This bill would also eliminate the transfer of miscellaneous revenues from the State Highway Account to the Public Transportation Account in the 2010–11 fiscal year, and would instead transfer those revenues to the Transportation Debt Service Fund for reimbursement of the General Fund for payment of debt service for specified general obligation rail and transit bonds. This bill would require the Controller to retransfer to the State Highway Account $78,903,000 from the Public Transportation Account that was transferred to that account in the 2009–10 fiscal year from the miscellaneous revenues in the State Highway Account, and to transfer those revenues from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund for reimbursement for debt service on specified general obligation rail and transit bonds. This bill would also reduce the amount to be transferred during the 2009–10 fiscal year from the Public Transportation Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund for reimbursement of the General Fund for specified general obligation rail and transit bonds from $225,044,000 to $142,058,000. This bill, in the 2010–11 fiscal year, would transfer $254,222,000 from the Public Transportation Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund for reimbursement of the General Fund for payment of debt service for specified general obligation rail and transit bonds. (5) Existing law specifies the authorized expenditures from the Public Transportation Account. Existing law creates the State Transit Assistance Program as one of the eligible transit programs to be funded with 50% of specified revenues in the account. The program provides grants to eligible local agencies under 2 different formulas. Existing law, however, suspends the program for the 2009–10 to 2012–13 fiscal years, inclusive. The remaining funds in the account are allocated to state-level mass transportation and transportation planning programs. This bill would lift the suspension of the State Transit Assistance Program and appropriate $400,000,000 from the Public Transportation Account for the program in the 2009–10 fiscal year under the applicable formulas. The bill would provide for no further funding of the State Transit Assistance Program in the 2010–11 fiscal year. For 2010–11 and subsequent fiscal years, the bill would continuously appropriate 3 /4 of specified revenues in the Public Transportation Account under the applicable formulas to the State Transit Assistance Program. (6) Existing law requires certain motor vehicle fuel sales tax revenues commonly known as the "spillover" that would otherwise be deposited in the Public Transportation Account to instead be deposited in the Mass Transportation Fund, for expenditure on various programs and for transfer to the Transportation Debt Service Fund. This bill would repeal the provisions governing the expenditures from the Mass Transportation Fund. (7) Existing law requires certain transportation planning activities by regional transportation planning agencies designated by the Director of Transportation, including development of a regional transportation plan. Certain of these agencies are designated under federal law as metropolitan planning organizations. This bill would authorize a metropolitan planning organization, subject to voter approval, to impose a light-duty vehicle mitigation fee in all or part of the region within its jurisdiction. The fee would be imposed on purchasers of motor vehicle fuel for use in cars and light trucks and would be collected from those purchasers by the retailer, and would define motor vehicle fuel for these purposes to include gasoline and diesel. The bill would provide for the fee to be imposed by the metropolitan planning organization, with fee revenues to be used for transit, bicycle, and pedestrian programs that have been identified in the regional transportation plan. The bill would require a finding by the metropolitan planning organization that the programs cost effectively mitigate or avoid pollution from criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions directly associated with the operation of cars and light trucks, that the programs are consistent with a sustainable communities or alternative planning strategy adopted in conjunction with the regional transportation plan that would achieve the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets adopted by the State Air Resources Board, and that there is a nexus between the payers of the fee and the mitigation or avoidance, as funded by the fee, of pollution from criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. The bill would require the board of supervisors of each county in the jurisdiction of the metropolitan planning organization where the fee is to be imposed, upon request of the organization, to submit a ballot measure to the voters. The ballot measure would require approval of a majority of the voters of the affected county. The bill would require the metropolitan planning organization to contract with the State Board of Equalization for administration of the fee pursuant to the Fee Collections Procedures Law, a violation of which is a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. In certain counties, the county transportation commission rather than the metropolitan planning organization, would impose the fee under these provisions. (8) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow individual and corporate taxpayers to utilize net operating losses and carryovers of those losses for purposes of offsetting their individual and corporate tax liabilities. Those laws disallow the deduction for net operating losses and net operating loss carryovers in the 2008 and 2009 taxable years. Those laws extend the carryover period for those net operating losses, thus allowing the taxpayers to have the same number of years to utilize the deduction as they would have if the change had not been enacted. Those laws, for net operating losses incurred in taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, extend the carryover period to 20 years. This bill would limit the allowable deductions for net operating losses to a maximum of 68% of the taxpayer's income, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, and before January 1, 2011. (9) The Corporation Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2008, allows a credit to be assigned to an eligible assignee, as defined, for use by that assignee in a taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2010. This bill would delay the use of the assigned credit by an eligible assignee to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011. (10) Existing law, the Clean Air and Transportation Improvement Act of 1990, authorizes the issuance of $1.99 billion in general obligation bonds for rail and transit purposes. Existing law provides for the California Transportation Commission to allocate bond funds to eligible projects. Existing law, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, authorizes the issuance of $19.925 billion in general obligation bonds for various transportation purposes. Existing law designates an administrative agency that is responsible for programming these bond funds for the various categories of projects funded by the act. Existing law authorizes a regional or local agency that is a lead agency for a project to be funded under the act to apply to the administrative agency for a letter of no prejudice that permits the applicant to spend its own resources on the project and then to be reimbursed at a later date when bond funds become available, subject to various requirements and conditions. This bill would enact similar provisions applicable to regional or local agencies relative to projects to be funded by the Clean Air and Transportation Improvement Act of 1990. (11) 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. (12) 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 January 8, 2010. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 8, 2010, pursuant to the California Constitution.