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.
The Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. Existing federal income tax law authorizes a qualifying vessel operator, as defined, to elect to determine its corporate tax burden for specified international shipping activities using a per-ton rate and provides an exclusion from gross income for qualifying shipping activities of an electing corporation or a member of an electing group, as specified. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would provide an exclusion from gross income for qualifying shipping activities of an electing corporation or a member of an electing group for which an election is in effect under the above-described federal law, as specified. The bill would also provide special rules relating to depreciation and basis of a qualifying vessel, as defined, and would, in conformity with federal income tax laws, provide for the nonrecognition of gain from the disposition of a qualifying vessel where the electing corporation acquires a replacement qualifying vessel, as provided. 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. This bill, the Shortline Railroad Modernization Act of 2026, would allow credits against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, to a qualified taxpayer in an amount equal to 50% of the qualified shortline railroad expenditures and for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2028, and before January 1, 2033, in an amount equal to 50% of the qualified new rail infrastructure expenditures, as defined and specified. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives 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.
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.
(1) 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, 2027, and before July 1, 2032, exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of a used motor vehicle sold by specified dealers or their affiliates or a new motor vehicle. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would exclude the exemption from that requirement. 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 this 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 this 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. (2) The Vehicle License Fee Law imposes a license fee for the privilege of operating upon the public highways in this state of specified vehicles, including any vehicle of a type which is subject to registration under the Vehicle Code. This bill would impose, on and after July 1, 2027, and before July 1, 2032, upon the sale of a used motor vehicle sold by specified dealers or their affiliates or the first sale of a new motor vehicle to a consumer, an additional license fee equal to 3.9375% of the gross receipts from the sale. The bill would require the dealer to collect the license fee, as described, and remit the funds. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to report the amounts collected to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and deposit those moneys in the General Fund. 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. (3) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. Existing law requires the joint powers authority to develop eligibility criteria for property owners, community organizations, and local governments who may receive financial assistance under the program. Existing law authorizes the joint powers authority to accept any federal funds granted, by act of Congress or by executive order, for any purposes related to the wildfire mitigation program. Existing law requires the joint powers authority to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the wildfire mitigation program, including specified information. This bill would require the joint powers authority, upon appropriation for specified purposes, to provide financial assistance to the counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the above-described eligibility criteria, as provided. The bill would also require certain federal funding, subject to specified conditions, to revert to the joint powers authority to fund home hardening in those counties. The bill would authorize the Office of Emergency Services to exercise maximum discretion to adjust its funding allocations and strategy to include more counties with specified approaches to home hardening, as provided. The bill would require the joint powers authority to additionally include an evaluation of the amount of additional funding that would be required to expand the wildfire mitigation program to those counties. This bill would make related findings and declarations.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various deductions in calculating taxable income. Existing federal income tax law, for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2029, allows deductions in determining taxable income, as defined, for amounts equal to the qualified tips, as defined. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2029, would conform to federal income tax law with regard to qualified tips, except as provided. 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 law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law requires moneys collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of certain allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and continuously appropriates a portion of the moneys in the fund for various purposes, including a specified portion to the authority for certain purposes. Existing law prohibits the authority from entering into new funding commitments with those moneys for activities outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment, until June 30, 2030, or when that segment is fully funded, whichever is sooner. Notwithstanding that prohibition, existing law authorizes the authority to enter into new funding commitments outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment for certain purposes, including for additional activities, not to cumulatively exceed $500,000,000, that maximize the efficiency of delivering the project, as specified. This bill would revise and recast that authorization to instead authorize the authority to enter into new funding commitments with the above-described moneys outside of the Merced to Bakersfield segment in any amount for activities related to early works, as defined, and for projects developed through public partnership agreements or public-private partnership agreements, subject to the requirements that those funding commitments maximize the efficiency of delivering the project and do not delay the completion of the Merced to Bakersfield segment, as specified. By expanding the purposes for which continuously appropriated moneys may be used, the bill would make an appropriation.
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 generally provides financial support for cities and counties to provide public safety services, including, among other funding, moneys allocated through the Local Revenue Fund 2011 and its accounts. Existing law, enacted by the voters as the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act (Proposition 36) at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorizes the Board of State and Community Corrections to allocate appropriate funds to counties and local governments for programs under the Treatment-Mandated Felony Act, as specified. This bill, the Funding of Proposition 36 Act, would create the California Public Safety Services Support Fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement Proposition 36. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature for the 2026–27 fiscal year, require the funds to be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, as specified. The bill would also require, beginning in the 2027–28 fiscal year, the Governor to annually include a proposed transfer from the General Fund to the California Public Safety Services Support Fund of an amount sufficient to fund the ongoing administration of Proposition 36 as part of the Governor's proposed budget to the Legislature. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
