California Voluntary Contribution Program.

Under existing law, individuals are allowed to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds. Existing law provides for various voluntary contribution check-off funds to be listed on the personal income tax return. This bill would modify the existing voluntary check-off system by establishing the California Voluntary Contribution Program to be administered by the office of California Volunteers to expand the contribution options for a taxpayer. The bill would provide that the purpose of the program is to promote charitable giving and collect through the personal income tax return individual taxpayers' voluntary contributions either to specified charities in a pool of up to 200 qualified applicants, defined to include any charitable organization meeting certain requirements or a state or local agency, or to make a general charitable gift by donating to the Charitable Giving Fund. Not later than January 1, 2017, the bill would require the office to, among other things, develop the application to participate in the program and establish application and renewal fees. The bill would authorize the office to adopt specified policies and guidelines to regulate the number of qualified applicants participating in the program. The bill would authorize the office to adopt regulations necessary to carry out these provisions and would make these regulations subject to the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the personal income tax form in a manner necessary to inform an individual about how to make designations to qualified applicants or to the Charitable Giving Fund. Commencing on January 1, 2018, this bill would allow an individual taxpayer to designate a contribution to up to 5 qualified applicants or to the Charitable Giving Fund. The bill would require an applicant wishing to receive contributions to submit an application to the program, including an application fee. The bill would require the office to approve an application if specified requirements, and other reasonable requirements, are met, thereby making a qualified applicant eligible to receive voluntary contributions. The bill would require these contributions to be transferred from the Personal Income Tax Fund to the California Voluntary Contribution Fund or to the Charitable Giving Fund, both of which are created by this bill. The bill would require moneys in the California Voluntary Contribution Fund and the Charitable Giving Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and the balance from the California Voluntary Contribution Fund to the office of California Volunteers for distribution to each qualified applicant designated by an individual and the balance from the Charitable Giving Fund to the office for distribution as grants for charitable purposes, in accordance with policies and procedures established by the office. The bill would establish a specified minimum contribution amount for each qualified applicant. The bill would prohibit a qualified applicant from receiving voluntary contributions if, among other things, the average amount of contributions received during certain calendar years did not equal the minimum contribution amount. This bill would annually require the office to provide the Legislature with a report containing specified information on the program. The bill would also require this report to be made available to the public. The bill would also require the office to work in consultation with the Department of Finance to develop a strategy to propose to the Legislature for a continuous appropriation to distribute taxpayers' contributions to the designated qualified applicants. This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2023.