California Works and Recovery Act.

(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow credits against the taxes imposed under those laws. Existing law allows an earned income tax credit under the Personal Income Tax Law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws. This bill would allow a small business or a nonprofit organization impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as those terms are defined, an earned income tax credit for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2020, in an amount equal to 20% of the taxpayer's annual revenue. The bill would specify that the credit is only operative for taxable years for which the Legislature appropriates from the General Fund to the Franchise Tax Board moneys to administer the credit. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law also allow a credit against the taxes imposed under those laws, for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2030, in an amount as provided in a written agreement between the GO-Biz and the taxpayer, agreed upon by the California Competes Tax Credit Committee, and based on specified factors, including the number of jobs the taxpayer will create or retain in the state and the amount of investment in the state by the taxpayer. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund to the GO-Biz to administer this provision, require GO-Biz, when determining whether to enter into a written agreement with a taxpayer for allocation periods beginning with the 2020–21 fiscal year, to consider the overall economic impact in this state of the COVID-19 pandemic to the taxpayer's project or business. (2) Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, and prescribes the duties and functions of the Small Business Advocate, who is also the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate. Among these duties, the director is to serve as the principal advocate in the state on behalf of small businesses and to represent the views and interests of small businesses before other state agencies whose policies and activities may affect small businesses. This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, the Small Business Advocate to convene a task force to research and provide a report to the Legislature, on or after the effective date of this bill, regarding the regulations or regulatory areas that most negatively impact small businesses in the state. (3) Existing law creates the Department of Human Resources, which succeeds to and is vested with all of the powers and duties exercised and performed by the Department of Personnel Administration. Existing law specifically grants the department the powers, duties, and authority necessary to operate the state civil service system in accordance with Article VII of the California Constitution, the Government Code, the merit principle, and applicable rules duly adopted by the State Personnel Board. Existing law requires the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules consistent with a merit-based civil service system to govern classification, examinations, probationary periods, disciplinary actions, and other matters related to the board's authority under the California Constitution. This bill would require the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules to include as a factor for recruitment, outreach, and hiring whether the person can demonstrate that they have become unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as provided. (4) Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Under existing the law, the department is responsible for, among other things, the fire protection, fire prevention, maintenance, and enhancement of the state's forest, range, and brushland resources, and for maintaining an integrated staff to accomplish, among other things, fire protection and fire prevention activities as needed. Existing law requires the department, in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to, among other things, provide fire prevention and firefighting implements and apparatus, organize fire crews and patrols, and employ people to effect the plan. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the department to establish new, or expand existing, entry-level positions within the department that are aimed at reducing and mitigating wildfire risk and to give priority, in hiring for these positions, to applicants who have lost their jobs due to the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, pandemic. (5) Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps and requires that young people participating in the corps program generally be engaged in projects that, among other things, preserve, maintain, and enhance environmentally important lands and waters. Existing law authorizes the Director of the California Conservation Corps to adopt criteria for selecting applicants for enrollment in the corps program. This bill would authorize, notwithstanding any other law, a person who is over 25 years of age to serve as a corpsmember, require priority, in the selection of any corpsmember, to be given to applicants who have lost their jobs because of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, pandemic, and require corpsmembers who join the corps because they lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic to be paid at least minimum wage pursuant to existing law. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only upon appropriation by the Legislature. (6) Existing law establishes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in the California Health and Human Services Agency. The office is vested with all the duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the State Department of Public Health relating to health planning and research development. Existing law establishes various scholarship and training programs that are managed by the office to improve access to health care. These programs include, among others, the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, which provides for the repayment of prescribed educational loans obtained by a physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area of the state. Existing law also requires the office to establish a nonprofit public benefit corporation known as the Health Professions Education Foundation to perform various duties with respect to implementing health professions scholarship and loan programs. This bill would establish, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Health Profession Economic Recovery Program to be administered by the office. The bill would require the program to accomplish various goals, including expanding the number of primary care physician and psychiatry residency positions and expanding and strengthening programs to recruit and prepare students from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds for health careers. (7) Existing law authorizes a person or gleaner engaged in the business of processing, distributing, or selling an agricultural product to donate, free of charge, a product that is in a condition that it may be used as food for human consumption to a nonprofit charitable organization within the state. For this purpose, existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to divert agricultural products to nonprofit organizations, including food banks, and authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to establish a surplus food collection and distribution system. In order to qualify as a food bank, existing law requires an organization to meet certain minimum standards. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, to create a grant program to provide grants to food banks to contract labor to harvest produce from farms willing to donate produce and to transport the produce to the food bank for distribution to the public. (8) Under existing law, the Department of Housing and Community Development Department administers various grant programs to local governments to fund housing and community development projects. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, to create a grant program to award grants to local governments for shovel-ready housing and community development projects. (9) Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and associated property. Existing law provides various sources of funding to local governments for transportation projects and operations. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, to create a grant program to award grants to local governments for shovel-ready transportation projects. (10) The Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983 establishes a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals. The act requires the office to observe the construction of, or addition to, a hospital building or the reconstruction or alteration of a hospital building, as it deems necessary to comply with the act for the protection of life and property. This bill would establish, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Economic Recovery Seismic Retrofitting Program to be administered by the office. The bill would require the office to provide loans to hospitals to fund seismic retrofit construction, as defined. The bill would also establish the Economic Recovery Seismic Retrofitting Program Fund to fund loans made under the program.