California Community Health Fund.

Existing law provides for various programs that prevent disease and promote health. Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges and establishes criminal penalties for specified acts, including making it a misdemeanor to knowingly or willfully file a false return and making it a felony to willfully evade or attempt to evade or defeat the payment of a fee. This bill, subject to specified exemptions, would impose a fee on every distributor, as defined, for the privilege of distributing bottled sugary drinks and concentrate in the state, at a rate of $0.02 per fluid ounce and for the privilege of distributing syrups and powders in this state, either as concentrate or as sweetened beverages derived from that concentrate, at the rate of $0.02 per fluid ounce of sweetened beverage to be produced from concentrate. The bill would require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to administer and collect the fee pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law and to register the distributors upon whom the fee is imposed, and would authorize the department to promulgate and enforce regulations related to administration of the fee. The bill would require the fee revenue to be deposited into the California Community Health Fund, created by the bill. The bill would require moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to specified entities to promote health equity, to reduce health disparities, to improve oral health, and to prevent the leading causes of illness, injury, and premature death. The bill would establish the California Community Health Fund Oversight and Accountability Committee to distribute funds locally, monitor the distribution and implementation of local grants, and provide oversight to ensure the local projects are fulfilling their goals and outcomes. The bill would authorize state departments to award competitive grants to specified entities in support of the bill's objectives. Because the bill would expand the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. 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. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.