Under existing law, the purpose of the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act is to advance the state's goals of reducing the levels of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the deployment of sustainable and renewable energy sources, implementing measures that increase the efficiency of the use of energy, creating high quality employment opportunities, and lessening the state's dependence on fossil fuels and to that end to provide an alternative method of financing in providing and promoting the establishment of facilities utilizing alternative methods and sources of energy and facilities needed for the development and commercialization of advanced transportation technologies. Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to carry out that purpose. Existing Public Utilities Commission decisions established the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing program, administered by the authority and funded through charges collected by specified electrical corporations and gas corporations from their ratepayers. This bill would require the authority to administer the GoGreen Program, previously known as the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing program, and would authorize the authority to use moneys collected from the ratepayers of electrical and gas corporations, as directed by the commission, and other available funding sources, consistent with the program's purposes. The bill would require the program to provide financing assistance to participating lenders to support residents in financing eligible energy efficiency and decarbonization measures at costs that are competitive with or below market rates. The bill would authorize the authority to receive, administer, and deploy additional moneys from federal, state, local, or private sources to support and expand the GoGreen Program, if those moneys are used in a manner consistent with the program's goals and the parameters of the funding source. The bill would create the GoGreen Program Fund in the State Treasury and would make all moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the authority for expenditure, as provided.
Existing law authorizes various local governmental entities, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax for general or specific purposes, in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the Transactions and Use Tax Law, including a requirement that the combined rate of all taxes that may be imposed in accordance with that law in any county not exceed 2%. This bill would authorize, until December 31, 2031, the County of Los Angeles, by an ordinance adopted by the county, to levy a tax pursuant to the Transactions and Use Tax Law at a rate not to exceed 0.5% for general and special purposes, subject to voter approval, as specified. The bill would also authorize, until December 31, 2031, the County of Contra Costa, by an ordinance adopted by the county, to levy a tax pursuant to the Transactions and Use Tax Law at a rate not to exceed 0.625% for general or specific purposes, subject to voter approval, as specified. The bill would authorize those taxes to exceed the 2% limit described above. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Contra Costa and Los Angeles. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate and maintain. This bill would prohibit, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, a community college district's annual unrestricted general fund balance, as specified, for a fiscal year from exceeding 50% of its unrestricted general fund expenditures for that year, unless the community college district meets specified conditions. The bill would prohibit a community college district from transferring unrestricted general funds to another fund if the receiving fund has an existing balance of 33% or more of the community college district's unrestricted general fund expenditures for that fiscal year or if the transfer would cause the receiving fund to have a balance of 33% or more of the community college district's unrestricted general fund expenditures for that fiscal year. For a community college district that violates the above-described prohibitions, the bill would require the community college district to distribute the amount of the annual unrestricted general fund balance that exceeds 50% to nonsupervisory and nonmanagement employees of the community college district, as provided. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, the 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, 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 provides funding for career technical education (CTE) programs, including through, among others, the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, the Strong Workforce Program, and a K–12 component of the Strong Workforce Program, with the purpose of creating, maintaining, supporting, encouraging, strengthening, and expanding the delivery of CTE programs in the state, as provided. This bill would establish the Career Technical Education Technical Assistance and Equity Pilot Program, a 3-year pilot program related to technical assistance in CTE, with a focus on equity and inclusion. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to designate, based on specified criteria, a county office of education to serve as the lead agency for administering the program. The bill would also require the Superintendent to designate 2 pilot regions to receive intensive technical assistance services, as provided. The bill would appropriate $4,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to the lead agency for purposes of implementing the pilot program for the 2026–27 fiscal year. The bill would require the lead agency to, among other things, (1) further develop and disseminate exemplary models for inclusive CTE pathways that effectively serve pupils with disabilities, English learners, and other historically underserved populations, (2) create scalable frameworks and toolkits for industry-education partnerships, (3) provide technical assistance, capacity building, and coordination support to participating county offices of education within the designated pilot regions, (4) develop and maintain a public-facing internet website, and (5) submit annual reports to the Superintendent, the Governor, and the Legislature, as provided. The bill would encourage county offices of education within designated pilot regions to participate in the technical assistance services provided by the lead agency, and would require participating county offices of education to, among other things, designate staff to coordinate CTE technical assistance within their jurisdiction. The bill would require the lead agency to prioritize support to county offices of education serving high proportions of historically underserved populations or demonstrating significant equity gaps in CTE access and outcomes. The bill would require school districts and charter schools that choose to receive direct technical assistance from their county office of education to participate in specified data collection and reporting processes, share promising practices and lessons learned, and commit to implementing recommendations and improvement strategies developed through the technical assistance process. The bill would require the pilot program to be funded through an annual appropriation in the Budget Act for the duration of the 3-year pilot program, require the appropriated funds to be allocated to the lead agency, authorize the lead agency to expend the allocated funds for specified purposes, and establish that the lead agency is subject to audit by the California State Auditor. The bill would require the Superintendent to designate the lead agency and pilot regions no later than 6 months following the effective date of the bill and the lead agency to commence providing services no later than the beginning of the fiscal year following designation. The bill would require the lead agency, no later than 6 months before the conclusion of the 3-year pilot period, to submit a comprehensive evaluation report to the Superintendent, the Governor, and the Legislature, as provided, and to post the report on the lead agency's public-facing internet website. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the Cal Grant Program for participating students attending qualifying postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law limits an award for access costs, as defined, under the Cal Grant B Program to no more than $1,551, except as specified, but allows this amount to be adjusted in the annual Budget Act. This bill, commencing with the 2027–28 award year, would instead require the award for access costs under the Cal Grant B program to be at least the maximum per-student amount provided in the 2025–26 award year and would require that award amount to be increased annually by the amount of the percentage increase, if any, in the California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, as specified.
Existing law requires the governing board of each local educational agency to either provide for an audit of the books and accounts of the local educational agency or make arrangements with the respective county superintendent of schools to provide for that auditing. Existing law requires the governing board of each local educational agency, by January 31 of each year, to review, at a public meeting as an item on the agenda, the annual audit of the local educational agency for the prior year, any audit exceptions identified in that audit, the recommendations or findings of any management letter issued by the auditor, and any description of correction or plans to correct any exceptions or management letter issue, as provided. This bill would change the date by which the governing board or body of each school district, educational joint powers authority, county superintendent of schools, or charter school is required to review the above-described annual audit of the local educational agency at a public meeting from January 31 of each year to instead be within 45 days after the issuance of an audit report. The bill would additionally require the governing board or body of the local educational agency, at the public meeting described above, to accept or reject the annual audit report. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies or other local entities or officials, the 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, 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.
(1) Existing law establishes the Office of the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and establishes the Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation within the office. Existing law makes the deputy director responsible for fire preparedness and mitigation missions of the department, as provided. Existing law requires the department to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in California and specifies eligible activities under the local assistance grant program, as provided. Under existing law, funding for this local assistance grant program is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the deputy director, on or before January 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter, in consultation with the state hazard mitigation officer, as defined, to prepare a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework sufficient to quantitatively evaluate wildfire risk mitigation actions, as provided. The bill would require the framework to allow for geospatial evaluation and comparison of wildfire risk mitigation actions, as described, sufficient to direct coordinated mitigation efforts and long-term collaborative mitigation planning. The bill would require the deputy director to, each year the framework is completed, submit a copy of the framework to the Legislature, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, and the Public Utilities Commission for review and consideration. This bill would require the deputy director, on or before April 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter, in consultation with the state hazard mitigation officer, to prepare a Wildfire Risk Baseline and Forecast for the state delineated on a statewide level and by county, as provided. The bill would require the forecast to include geographic specificity as determined by the deputy director to be sufficient to evaluate targeted wildfire risk mitigation actions, and to accomplish specific things, including establishing key risk metrics for wildfire risk for the state as a whole, by county, and by geographic location. The bill would require the deputy director to, each year the forecast is completed, submit a copy of the forecast to the Legislature, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, and the Public Utilities Commission for review and consideration. This bill would require the deputy director, on or before August 1, 2027, in consultation with the state hazard mitigation officer, to prepare a Wildfire Mitigation Scenarios Report, to be updated annually. The bill would require the report to contain specified information, including identification of a reasonable range of possible scenarios for overall wildfire risk mitigation spending, as provided. This bill would require the deputy director to contract with a private consultant with special expertise in quantitative evaluation of specified wildfire risk and risk mitigation topics, as provided, to conduct quantitative wildfire risk modeling and for preparation of reports to accomplish the purposes of this act. This bill would, contingent upon an annual appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, require the department, beginning in the 2029–30 fiscal year and extending to the 2044–45 fiscal year, inclusive, to make funds available through the local assistance grant program for programs to be implemented by local governments to achieve wildfire risk reduction in a cost-effective manner that is maximally consistent with the Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework. (2) Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas in the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide criteria and the severity of the fire hazard. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains (A) an occupied dwelling or structure within a very high fire hazard severity zone as designated by a local agency, or (B) a building or structure in the state responsibility area, to comply with specified defensible space requirements, including a requirement to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, and a requirement to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure, based on regulations promulgated by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, as provided. Executive Order No. N-18-25 directs the board to complete the formal rulemaking process applicable to these ember-resistant zone requirements no later than December 31, 2025. Under existing law, the requirement for an ember-resistant zone does not take effect for new structures until the board updates the applicable regulations and guidance document, as specified, and does not take effect for existing structures until 3 years after the effective date for the new structures. A violation of these requirements is a crime. This bill would move up the effective date of the ember-resistant zone requirement for certain existing structures in the state responsibility area, as provided. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would revise and recast the local assistance grant program, described above, by, among other things, authorizing funding from the program to be used for projects to plan and carry out risk-targeted wildfire prevention work within a local government's jurisdiction, including costs necessary to use the above-described Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework to select, plan, and implement projects, and to implement activities consistent with early implementation of the ember-resistant zone rules, as provided. This bill would, upon an annual appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, require the department, during the 2025–26 to 2028–29 fiscal years, inclusive, to make funds available through the local assistance grant program for programs to be implemented by local agencies to fund wildfire inspector positions sufficient to conduct inspections in very high fire hazard severity zones, in order to facilitate early implementation of the ember-resistant zone rules for existing commercial and residential structures, as provided. As a condition of receiving funds, the bill would require local agencies to adopt the ember-resistant zone regulations, applicable to very high fire hazard severity zones, as provided. (3) The California Building Standards Law requires any building standard adopted or proposed by state agencies to be submitted to, and approved or adopted by, the California Building Standards Commission before codification. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to propose, pursuant to that process, fire protection building standards applicable to buildings in fire hazard severity zones, as provided. Existing law also applies fire protection building standards adopted pursuant to this process to buildings located in urban wildland interface communities, defined as communities identified by the department pursuant to a specified process. From October 1, 2025, to June 1, 2031, inclusive, existing law prohibits proposed building standards affecting residential units from being considered, approved, or adopted by the California Building Standards Commission or any other adopting agency unless a specified condition is met, including that the building standards are amendments by the State Fire Marshal to building standards within the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code. This bill would, notwithstanding that prohibition, require the State Fire Marshal, on or before July 1, 2026, and pursuant to the California Building Standards Law process for state agencies proposing building standards, to propose to extend the applicability of the above-described fire protection building standards to all reconstruction of all buildings destroyed within the perimeters of wildfires that occur on or after July 1, 2026. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4291 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1455 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1455 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including numerous motion picture credits. Most recently, existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, allows a motion picture credit (motion picture credit 4.0) to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2025, and before July 1, 2030, in an amount equal to 20% or 25% of qualified expenditures for the production of a qualified motion picture in this state. Existing law establishes the California Film Commission to administer the motion picture credits, to provide services necessary to increase filming in the state, and to implement specified programs related to the motion picture industry, including a program to promote media production in the state. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the California Film Commission to integrate additional data collection requirements, as specified, into the existing motion picture tax credit framework. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with industry stakeholders, payroll companies, and subject matter experts, to adopt definitions, reporting templates, and metrics for the additional data collection, and to develop protocols to reduce nonresponse rates. The bill would require the commission to address noncompliance with the data collection requirements through existing enforcement conditions and procedures of the motion picture tax credits, as provided. The bill would additionally require the commission to publish an annual compliance report summarizing the collected data, trends in diversity and economic impact, and recommendations for program improvements.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would allow a credit against those taxes in an amount equal to 50% of unreimbursed costs paid or incurred by a taxpayer for the purchase of durable medical equipment, as defined, for use by a qualifying dependent, as defined, during the taxable year. The bill would limit the credit to $5,000 per taxable year for each qualifying dependent. 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 also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
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. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2026, provide an exemption from the taxes imposed by the Sales and Use Tax Law for the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, hydrogen fuel, as defined. 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. This bill would provide that the exemption created by the bill does not apply to local sales and use taxes or transactions and use taxes. Existing law imposes or dedicates certain state sales and use tax rates for local funding, including through the Local Revenue Fund 2011. This bill would provide that the exemption created by the bill does not apply to those state sales and use tax rates imposed or dedicated for local government funding, including those rates for which revenues are deposited into the Local Revenue Fund 2011. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
