Existing law requires the California Transportation Commission to establish a competitive funding program, commonly known as the Short-Line Railroad Improvement Program, to provide funds to the Department of Transportation or regional transportation planning agencies, or both, for short-line railroad projects such as railroad reconstruction, maintenance, upgrade, or replacement. Existing law appropriates up to $7,200,000 from the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund to the program and makes those moneys available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2028. This bill would extend the availability of those moneys for expenditure by one year. By extending the expenditure date of those moneys, the bill would make an appropriation. In order to receive funding from the Short-Line Railroad Improvement Program, existing law requires at least 30% of the total project cost to be provided from nongovernmental sources. This bill would authorize, for a project under the program for a publicly owned railroad, those funds to be provided from private funds, local funds, or state or federal funds not allocated by the commission on a project-specific basis.
Existing law prescribes various requirements regarding the formation, content, and enforcement of state and local public contracts. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2027, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2017, a claim resolution process applicable to any claim by a contractor in connection with a public works project against a public entity, as specified. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines "public entity" to include, among others, a city, including a charter city, and county, including a charter county. Existing law imposes various requirements on a public entity in relating to the claim resolution process, including, among other things, conducting a reasonable review of the claim and, within 45 days, providing the claimant a written statement identifying the disputed and undisputed portions of the claim. This bill would repeal the above-described January 1, 2027, repeal date, thereby extending the operation of these provisions indefinitely. By indefinitely extending the duties of local agencies in relation to the above-specified claim resolution process, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 cities, including charter cities. 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 creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a local area planning agency for the 9-county San Francisco Bay area with comprehensive regional transportation planning and other related responsibilities. Existing law establishes the Public Transit Revenue Measure District, governed by the same board that governs the commission, with jurisdiction extending throughout the boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara, and the City and County of San Francisco. Existing law authorizes a retail transactions and use tax applicable to the entire district to be imposed by the board of the district or by a qualified voter initiative for a duration of 14 years, and in specified amounts, subject to voter approval at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election. Existing law establishes specified procedures for that election, including a requirement that the elections officials of the counties where the measure will appear on the ballot mutually agree to use the same letter designation for the measure. This bill would revise those election procedures by, among other things, instead requiring the measure to be identified on the ballot by the designation "Regional Transit Measure" in each county included in the district and by requiring each county elections official in the district to select, from among the submissions of proposed arguments in favor of, and against, the measure, the arguments to be included in the county voter information guide of that county, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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. Existing law defines "sale" and "purchase" for these purposes and provides certain exclusions from those definitions. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, excludes the transfer of vested property by a pawnbroker to a person who pledged the property to the pawnbroker as security for a loan, if specified requirements are met, from the definition of "sale" and "purchase," thus excluding that transfer from imposition of sales and use tax. This bill would extend the exclusion of the transfer of vested property by a pawnbroker to the person who pledged it, as described above, until January 1, 2032. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a sales and use tax exemption 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 include that additional information required for the above sales and use tax exclusion. 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.
This measure would urge the United States Congress to enact federal legislation that would ensure that federal unemployment taxes on businesses are not increased due to any debt to the federal Unemployment Trust Fund that was a direct result of a state's decisions resulting in increased filings, including shutdowns, extensions of shutdowns, or lapses in fraud prevention programs.
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 of, 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 a partial exemption for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person to be used primarily in any stage of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of tangible personal property, beginning at the point any raw materials are received by the qualified person and introduced into the process and ending at the point at which the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling has altered tangible personal property to its completed form, including packaging, if required. Existing law (backfill requirement) requires an amount that equals the estimated revenue loss to the General Fund from the allowance of the above-described exemptions, with the concurrence of the Department of Finance, to be transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the General Fund, as prescribed. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2027, define "processing" to include the altering, converting, conditioning, or other preparation of hydrogen or electricity for the purposes of selling the hydrogen for fueling or the electricity for charging a vehicle and would define "qualified tangible personal property" to include hydrogen fueling station equipment and charging station equipment and component parts used as an integral part of those activities. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that the backfill requirement does not apply with respect to the exemptions allowed by the bill, as specified. 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 include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various deductions from gross income in calculating adjusted gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, would allow a deduction in determining adjusted gross income for a taxpayer in an amount equal to $3,000 per qualified individual, reduced by 6% of the taxpayer's federal adjusted gross income in excess of specified thresholds. The bill would define "qualified individual" for these purposes to mean the taxpayer if the taxpayer is an elderly senior and, in the case of a married couple filing a joint return, the taxpayer's spouse if the taxpayer's spouse is an elderly senior, and would define "elderly senior" to mean an individual who meets specified age criteria as of the last day of the taxable year. 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2027, a credit for qualified taxpayers in an amount equal to 15% of the qualified value of fresh fruits or vegetables and specified raw agricultural products or processed foods donated to a food bank. This bill would extend the authorization for those tax credits for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2032. 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. For purposes of complying with these requirements, existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the utilization of the credit on or before December 1 of each year until January 1, 2026. This bill would extend that reporting requirement to December 1, 2035. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes the California College Promise, under the administration of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to provide funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each community college meeting prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college to use that funding to waive some or all of the fees for 2 academic years for first-time community college students and returning community college students, as defined, who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent, or less for students certified as "full time," as specified, and who complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application, except that a student who has previously earned a degree or certificate from a postsecondary educational institution is not eligible for this fee waiver. This bill would prohibit a certificate awarded to a student by a postsecondary educational institution as part of a course sequence leading to an associate degree from making the student ineligible for that fee waiver.
The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a local government upon the approval of 23 of the voters of the local government voting on that tax, and prohibits these entities from imposing an ad valorem tax on real property or a transactions or sales tax on the sale of real property. The Supreme Court of California interpreted this provision and other provisions restricting the authority of local governments to impose, extend, or increase taxes as not restricting the authority of voters to impose taxes via initiative. This measure would, beginning January 1, 2027, prohibit a local government, including the electorate of a local government exercising the initiative power, from imposing, extending, or increasing any special tax, except as provided, unless and until that tax is submitted to the electorate and approved by a 23 vote. The measure would prohibit a local government, including the electorate of a local government exercising the initiative power, from imposing ad valorem taxes on real property, except as provided pursuant to specified constitutional provisions.
