Sales and use taxes: exemption: vehicle modifications: physically handicapped persons: veterans.

Existing state sales and use tax laws impose 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. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes, including an exemption for items and materials when used to modify a vehicle for physically handicapped persons. Existing law also exempts from those taxes, in the case of a sale of a modified vehicle for physically handicapped persons to a disabled person who is eligible to be issued a distinguishing license plate or placard for parking purposes, the gross receipts attributable to that portion of the vehicle that has been so modified. Existing regulations implementing those provisions provide that physically handicapped persons include disabled persons, as specified, which existing law defines as, among others, persons with a diagnosed disease or disorder which substantially impairs or interferes with mobility. Existing federal law provides various benefits to disabled veterans, including assistance with the purchase of an automobile and adaptive equipment. Existing federal law defines an eligible person, for purposes of that benefit, as, among others, certain veterans with specified disabilities, including a severe burn injury, if the disability is the result of an injury incurred or disease contracted in or aggravated by active military, naval, or air service. Existing federal regulations implementing those provisions define severe burn injuries as deep partial thickness or full thickness burns resulting in scar formation that cause contractures and limit motion of one or more extremities or the trunk and preclude effective operation of an automobile. This bill, on and after July 1, 2020, and before July 1, 2030, would specify that, for purposes of the exemptions described above, physically handicapped persons include eligible persons with a severe burn injury, as those terms are defined in existing federal law. 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.