The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a young child tax credit to a qualified taxpayer in a specified amount multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as provided. That law also allows a payment from the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account for an amount in excess of tax liability. Existing law defines "qualified taxpayer" for this purpose to include an eligible individual, as defined, who has a qualifying child, defined to be a child younger than 6 years of age as of the last day of the taxable year, and who meets other specified criteria. Under existing law, the young child tax credit phases out by reducing the amount of the credit by $20 for each $100, or fraction thereof, that the taxpayer's earned income, as defined, exceeds a specified amount. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, would instead define a "qualifying child" to mean a child younger than 18 years of age as of the last day of the taxable year. The bill would also require the Franchise Tax Board, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, to recalculate the phaseout provisions for the young child tax credit such that the credit reaches $0 as earned income reaches $50,000. By increasing the payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure.
Existing law, the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, requires a state agency that serves a substantial number of non-English-speaking people, as defined, and that finds other specific factors to exist to distribute specified written materials in the appropriate non-English language through its statewide and local offices or facilities to those non-English-speaking persons. As an alternative, the act requires the state agency to furnish translation aids or guides or to provide assistance, through use of a qualified bilingual person, in completing English forms or questionnaires and in understanding English forms, letters, or notices. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, to establish and administer the Bilingual-Oriented Social Equity Services Grant Program to distribute funding to community-based nonprofit organizations that provide equitable language access to individuals seeking social services. Under the bill, grants awarded pursuant to the program would be used to provide a pay differential to direct service professionals whose primary job responsibilities include communicating in a language or medium other than English, as defined. The bill would require the department to prioritize funding to organizations who are current state program grantees or subgrantees, but would not limit the department from awarding funds to organizations that are not current grantees or subgrantees, as long as they are eligible to receive a grant under these provisions. The bill would require 40% of funds appropriated for its purposes to be awarded as Multilingual Success Grants to community-based organizations serving those limited-English-proficient Californians whose language communities represent 2% or more of California's total population. The bill would require 60% of the appropriated funds to be awarded as Multilingual Access Grants to community-based organizations serving those limited-English-proficient populations that do not meet that threshold. The bill would establish the Bilingual-Oriented Social Equity Services Grant Program Fund, which would consist of moneys appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of providing the grants described in the bill. The bill would require, beginning July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, grantees and subgrantees to report specified information to the department. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the department to report specified information to the Legislature.
Existing law generally prohibits a person who manufactures a prescription drug from offering in California any discount, repayment, product voucher, or other reduction in an individual's out-of-pocket expenses associated with the individual's health insurance, health care service plan, or other health coverage, including, but not limited to, a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible, for any prescription drug if a lower cost generic drug is covered under the individual's health insurance, health care service plan, or other health coverage on a lower cost-sharing tier that is designated as therapeutically equivalent to the prescription drug manufactured by that person or if the active ingredients of the drug are contained in products regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, are available without prescription at a lower cost, and are not otherwise contraindicated for the condition for which the prescription drug is approved. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. This bill would require a health care service plan, health insurance policy, or pharmacy benefit manager that administers pharmacy benefits for a health care service plan or health insurer to apply any amounts paid by the enrollee, insured, or a third-party patient assistance program for prescription drugs toward the enrollee's or insured's cost-sharing requirement, and would only apply those requirements with respect to enrollees or insureds who have a chronic disease or terminal illness. The bill would limit the application of the section to health care service plans and health insurance policies issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2035. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, by March 31, 2034, to provide a report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature on the impact of the provisions on drug prices and health care premium rates, including a recommendation whether the repeal date should be deleted. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer that files certain rate information to report to the appropriate department specified cost information regarding covered prescription drugs, including generic drugs, brand name drugs, and specialty drugs, dispensed as provided. This bill, until January 1, 2035, additionally would require health care service plans and health insurers to report the 25 most frequently prescribed drugs with a patient assistance program, as described in the bill, and the 25 most costly drugs, by total annual plan spending, with a prescription assistance program, as described in the bill. The bill also would require the health care service plan or health insurer to report the aggregate dollar amount of all patient assistance programs that the health care service plan, health insurer, or their designee collected from all third-party entities in connection with the bill's cost-sharing requirements that are attributable to drug utilization by enrollees or insureds during that calendar year. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, this bill 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.
Existing property tax law requires that all property subject to tax be assessed at its full cash value, and includes certain possessory interests among those property interests that are subject to tax. Existing property tax law defines a taxable possessory interest to be a use that is independent, durable, and exclusive. Existing property tax law specifies, for purposes of the definition of a taxable possessory interest, various types of possession or use that are not considered independent possession or use of land, including when that possession or use is a tenancy in a residential unit of a publicly owned housing project by a low-income household, as specified. This bill would provide, for the 2025–26 fiscal year to the 2029–30 fiscal year, inclusive, that there is no independent or exclusive possession or use of land or improvements if that possession or use is of any infrastructure at a public seaport, as defined, that is newly constructed on or after January 1, 2025, as described, as part of a nonrevenue-generating environmental improvement, as defined. The bill would, among other things, deem the construction or installation made or used for the operation of any fully automated cargo handling equipment, as defined, to be independent, durable, and exclusive, as specified. The bill would continue to exclude a possessory interest from exclusion under the bill's provisions after the 2029–30 fiscal year, if the interest is excluded prior to the inoperative date of the bill's provisions, until there is a subsequent change in ownership of the interest or until the date the nonrevenue-generating environmental improvement is used for the operation of any fully automated cargo handling equipment, whichever is earlier. By requiring local tax officials to administer the bill's provisions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would specify that it does not authorize a tax expenditure. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the California Food Safety Act, prohibits a person or entity from manufacturing, selling, delivering, distributing, holding, or offering for sale in commerce a food product for human consumption that contains a specified substance, including, among others, red dye 3. This bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazzard Assessment to conduct a study on the health impacts of the consumption of methylene chloride. The bill would require the office to update its no significant risk level and its maximum allowable level of methylene chloride by January 1, 2026.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes 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 California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. The act authorizes, until January 1, 2026, the authority to provide financial assistance to a participating party in the form of specified sales and use tax exclusions for projects, including those that promote California-based manufacturing, California-based jobs, advanced manufacturing, reduction of greenhouse gases, or reduction in air and water pollution or energy consumption. The act prohibits the sales and use tax exclusions from exceeding $100,000,000 for each calendar year, except as provided. The Sales and Use Tax Law, for the purposes of the taxes imposed pursuant to that law, until January 1, 2026, excludes the lease or transfer of title of tangible personal property constituting a project to any contractor for use in the performance of a construction contract for a participating party that will use that property as an integral part of the approved project. This bill would extend the authorization to provide financial assistance in the form of a sales and use tax exclusion for qualifying projects to January 1, 2031, and would extend the sales and use tax exclusion to January 1, 2031. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is established to promote beverage container recycling. The act defines "beverage container" to mean the individual, separate bottle, can, jar, carton, or other receptacle, however denominated, in which a beverage is sold, and that is constructed of metal, glass, or plastic, or other material, or any combination of these materials, but does not include cups or other similar open or loosely sealed receptacles. The act defines "reusable beverage container" to mean a glass beverage container that has an established refund value and that is processed by a processor for subsequent washing for refill and sale by a beverage manufacturer. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would require, for certain beverage manufacturers, by January 1, 2031, that no less than 5% of the volume of beverages that a beverage manufacturer sells in beverage containers in California be sold in reusable beverage containers, and that by January 1, 2032, no less than 60% of that 5% be in reusable beverage containers that were returned for reuse. The bill would provide for periodic increases to those percentages. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2030, and annually thereafter, a beverage manufacturer to report certain information to the department regarding the sale of beverages in beverage containers and reusable beverage containers, as specified. The bill would require a beverage manufacturer to make those reports publicly available on the beverage manufacturer's internet website. The bill would require, beginning in 2031, the department to aggregate the information provided by beverage manufacturers into an annual report, as specified. The bill would authorize one or more beverage manufacturers to form a reusable beverage container management system and to submit a plan to the department regarding their plan to comply with the requirements of this bill, as specified. By creating new requirements under the act, a violation of which would be a crime, this bill 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.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State to adopt regulations requiring each county to design and implement programs intended to identify qualified electors who are not registered to vote and to register those persons to vote. This bill would require the Secretary of State to award grants from the Civic Learning, Outreach, and Engagement Fund to local elections officials for programs that integrate voter registration and preregistration with civic education and engagement, and to coordinate with school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools to implement these programs. The bill would require a local elections official applying for a grant to submit to the Secretary of State a plan for administration of the civic education and engagement program, as specified. The bill would require a local elections official receiving a grant to evaluate the program each year and report the results to the Secretary of State, as specified. The bill would require initial grants be awarded for a minimum of three years and would require the Secretary of State, when awarding grants, to prioritize counties with lower voter registration and participation rates. The bill would establish the Civic Learning, Outreach, and Engagement Fund in the General Fund and would make the moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the grants and contracts provided for in the bill.
Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of child care and development services for children up to 13 years of age. The act requires the department to contract with entities organized to operate family childcare home education networks that support educational objectives for children in licensed family childcare homes that serve families eligible for subsidized care. Existing law requires the family childcare home education network programs to include certain components, including an assessment of each family childcare home provider to ensure that services are of high quality and are educationally and developmentally appropriate. Existing law also imposes various requirements on family childcare home education network contractors, including ensuring that a developmental profile is completed for each child. This bill would require that tools used to make the family assessments be appropriate to family childcare home settings, and would require a family childcare home education network program to maintain a developmental portfolio for each child, as provided, and include opportunities for parent involvement. This bill would impose additional requirements on family childcare home education network contractors, including that the developmental profiles specified above be completed in accordance with the provider's observations and that the contractors conduct a parent survey. The bill would also impose various duties on family childcare home education network providers, including requiring providers to adopt and use a curriculum and to provide age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate educational activities for children.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law establishes the Milton Marks "Little Hoover" Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy to promote economy, efficiency, and improved service in the transaction of the public business in the various departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the executive branch of the state government. This bill would require the Little Hoover Commission to conduct a study on the use of fixed wireless and other technologies to bridge the digital divide. The bill would require the Little Hoover Commission, on or before January 1, 2027, to submit a report to the Legislature with the commission's recommendations based on the study.
(1) Existing law, the Brady-Jared Teen Driver Safety Act of 1997, establishes a provisional licensing program and generally requires that a driver's license issued to a person at least 16 years of age, but under 18 years of age be issued pursuant to that provisional licensing program. Existing law requires a person to hold an instruction permit for not less than 6 months prior to applying for a provisional license. During the first 12 months after issuance of a provisional license, existing law prohibits the licensee from driving between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. and transporting passengers who are under 20 years of age, as specified. Existing law provides limited exceptions to these restrictions under which a licensee is authorized to drive under specified circumstances. A violation of these provisions is punishable as an infraction. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, expand the scope of the provisional licensing program by expanding the applicable age range for the program to persons at least 16 years of age, but under 21 years of age. The restrictions on provisional licensees described above would apply during the first 6 months after issuance of a provisional license to a licensee who is 18, 19, or 20 years of age, subject to specified exemptions. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2027, require a person at least 18 years of age, but under 21 years of age, to hold an instruction permit for at least 60 days before applying for a provisional license. The bill would make other technical and conforming changes and related findings and declarations. By expanding the scope of the provisional licensing program, the violation of which constitutes an infraction, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law generally authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles, for good cause, to issue an instruction permit to any physically and mentally qualified person who applies to the department for an instruction permit and who meets any one of 5 specified requirements, including that the person is 17 years and 6 months of age or older. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, raise the age for the above requirement to 20 years and 6 months. Existing law provides that a person, while having in the person's immediate possession a valid permit issued pursuant to the above provisions, may operate a motor vehicle, other than a motorcycle or a motorized bicycle, when accompanied by, and under the immediate supervision of, a California-licensed driver with a valid license of the appropriate class, 18 years of age or over, whose driving privilege is not on probation, as specified. A violation of this provision is punishable as an infraction. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, for purposes of supervising a person issued a valid permit as described above, raise the required age of the California-licensed driver to 21 years of age. By changing the definition of an existing infraction, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law prohibits a person from owning or operating a driving school or giving driving instruction for compensation without a license issued by the department. The bill would require, on and after January 1, 2025, an owner or operator of a driving school or an independent driving instructor, as a condition of obtaining a new license or renewed license from the department to offer and accept installment payments, as specified, for the compensation to provide the instruction required by the Brady-Jared Teen Driver Safety Act of 1997. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2026, also authorize the department to charge a driving school, as specified, a fee not to exceed $1 for each driver education or driver training certificate of completion furnished by the department and issued to a person who has demonstrated satisfactory completion of a certified driver education and driver training course, in order to recover the department's reasonable costs in administering the provisional licensing program. The bill would prohibit a driving school from charging an applicant a fee for a certificate of completion that exceeds the fee the department charges the school. (4) 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.
(1) Existing law relating to the government of counties authorizes a county board of supervisors to contract for certain types of special services on behalf of the county, any county officer or department, or any district or court in the county. Existing law requires those special services contracts to be with persons who are specially trained, experienced, expert, and competent to perform those services. This bill would require the board or a representative, at least 10 months before beginning a procurement process to contract with persons for special services that are currently, or were in the previous 10 years, performed by employees of the county represented by an employee organization, to notify, in writing, the exclusive employee representative of the workforce affected by the contract of its determination to begin that process. The bill would provide that this 10-month notice requirement does not apply in the event of an emergency, as defined. The bill would require persons with whom the board of supervisors enter into a contract for special services to perform functions that are currently, or were in the previous 10 years, performed by employees of the county, any county officer or department, or any district or court in the county represented by an employee organization to use employees who meet or exceed the minimum qualifications and standards required of bargaining unit civil service employees who perform or performed the same job functions, as specified. The bill would also require those persons to provide information to the county sufficient to show that their employees meet the minimum qualifications and standards. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply to contracts between governmental entities. (2) Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to contract with temporary help firms for temporary help to assist county agencies, departments, or offices during any peak load, temporary absence, or emergency other than a labor dispute, if the board determines that it is in the economic interest of the county to do so. Existing law limits the use of temporary help to no more than 90 days for any single peak load, temporary absence, or emergency situation. This bill would impose requirements similar to those described in (1) for board contracts for temporary help, except that notice must be provided 90 days before beginning a procurement process to contract for temporary help. (3) Existing law relating to the government of cities authorizes the legislative body of a city to contract with any specially trained and experienced person, firm, or corporation for special services and advice in financial, economic, accounting, engineering, legal, or administrative matters. This bill would impose requirements similar to those described in (1) for city council contracts for special services. (4) Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a public or municipal corporation or district to contract with persons performing special services in regard to financial, economic, accounting, engineering, legal, and administrative matters if those persons are specially trained and experienced and competent to perform the special services required. This bill would impose requirements similar to those described in (1) for legislative body contracts for special services. The bill would clarify that special services include those for transit operation. (5) The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all counties and cities, including charter counties and charter cities. (6) By imposing new duties on local government agencies, the bill would create 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
