Personal income taxes: voluntary contributions: Rare and Endangered Species Preservation Program: Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund.

Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of his or her personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds and accounts, including among others, to the Endangered and Rare Fish, Wildlife, and Plant Species Conservation and Enhancement Account. Existing law authorizes contributions to be made to this account pursuant to these provisions until January 1, 2018, or until an earlier date if specified minimum contributions are not received. Existing law requires all moneys contributed to this account pursuant to these provisions to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for the costs of collection and administration of the funds, and to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for specified purposes. This bill would authorize contributions to be made to this account pursuant to these provisions until January 1, 2025, or until an earlier date if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received during a calendar year will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount of $250,000. The bill would instead require moneys contributed to this account pursuant to these provisions to be continuously appropriated and allocated for the above-specified purposes. This bill would also allow an individual to designate on his or her tax return that a specified amount in excess of his or her tax liability be transferred to the Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation 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. The bill would require money contributed to the fund to be continuously appropriated and allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and to the Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish a competitive grant program for the purposes of the recovery and rehabilitation of injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife, and conservation education, as specified. The bill would authorize a maximum of 5% of the funds allocated to the Department of Fish and Wildlife to be used by the department to defray administrative expenses. The bill would provide that these provisions would remain in effect only until January 1 of the 7th taxable year following the first appearance of the Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund on the tax return, but would further provide for an earlier repeal if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received during a calendar year will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount of $250,000, in which case these provisions would be repealed on December 1 of that year.