Existing law authorizes a public agency to establish a contractual assessment program, under which public agency officials and individual property owners may enter into voluntary contractual assessments to finance certain improvements to real property, as specified. To finance those improvements, existing law authorizes a public agency to issue bonds, or to advance its own funds and later sell bonds to reimburse itself for those advances. Under the program, those bonds or advances would be repaid through the voluntary contractual assessments, which constitute a lien against the lots and parcels land, as specified. To establish a contractual assessment program, existing law requires the legislative body of the public agency to adopt a resolution that, among other things, provides certain details of the program, including the kinds of projects and the geographic area within which properties would be eligible for financing under the program. Existing law authorizes a public agency to establish a contractual assessment program to finance certain kinds of improvements that are attached to real property, including energy or water efficiency improvements. This contractual assessment program is commonly known as a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program. The California Financing Law requires the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation to license and regulate persons who administer a contractual assessment program on behalf of a public agency, as specified. Existing law, the Wildfire Safety Finance Act (act) , authorizes the legislative body of any public agency that has accepted the designation of Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone to create a voluntary contractual assessment program to finance wildfire safety improvements, as specified. The act defines "wildfire safety improvements" as, among other things, permanent wildfire resilience and safety improvements fixed to existing real property. The act prohibits a wildfire safety improvement financed under the act from being used as a part of a project to construct a new home or to rebuild or reconstruct a home that was destroyed or damaged in a fire. Existing law repeals the Wildfire Safety Finance Act on January 1, 2029. This bill would indefinitely extend the operation of certain provisions of the Wildfire Safety Finance Act and would revise the requirements on a legislative body of a public agency to establish a voluntary contractual assessment program under the act. In this regard, the bill would eliminate the requirements that the legislative body accept a designation of Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. The bill would instead authorize any public agency that has established a PACE program or established a special tax relating to a specified community facilities district to enter into voluntary contractual assessments with property owners to finance the installation of wildfire safety improvements, as defined. The bill would, until January 1, 2035, modify the projects eligible for financing under the act to, among other things, include wildfire safety improvements consisting of Class A fire-rated roofs, enclosed eaves, fire-resistant vents, multipane windows, and other wildfire safety improvements identified in regulations adopted by the Department of Insurance, as specified. The bill would also, until January 1, 2035, include improvements that contribute to the defensible space Zones 1 and 2 of a property, which includes the space between 0 and 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structures that can be fixed to a building or structure, as specified. The bill, until January 1, 2035, would require a program administrator providing wildfire safety improvements to have a hardship program that includes a process for requesting that a program administrator remove a lien if a wildfire destroys the property or improvements. Existing law requires a program administrator to submit, for each PACE program it administers, a biannual report to the public agency that includes certain information, including the number of PACE assessments funded, by city, county, and ZIP Code. This bill would require that report to include the total number of wildfire safety improvements, including the average cost of each product type. The bill would also require the report to include the estimated total amount of savings produced by the wildfire safety improvements installed in the calendar year by city, county, and ZIP Code. The bill would require a program administrator providing wildfire improvements to file a report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature by January 1, 2030, that includes the information included in the above-described report provided to the public agency, information relating to complaints regarding the wildfire safety improvements, and a description of the above-described hardship program, as specified.
Existing law, the State General Obligation Bond Law, generally sets forth the procedures for the issuance and sale of bonds governed by its provisions and for the disbursal of the proceeds of the sale of those bonds. Existing law specifies various provisions required for inclusion in a bond act. Existing law requires any state bond measure approved on or after January 1, 2004, to be subject to an annual reporting process, with the head of the lead state agency administering the bond proceeds reporting certain information about the projects being funded to the Legislature and the Department of Finance. Existing law permits this information to be provided on the agency's internet website or the state's open data portal under certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes the costs of the report to be included in the cost of administering the bond act unless prohibited by the bond act. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes, including "board." Existing law defines "board" to mean the state board, department, or agency authorized by a bond act to request the committee to cause bonds to be issued for the purpose of creating a fund that is to be expended by the board for the purposes specified in the bond act. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. For any state general obligation bond measure that is approved by voters on and after January 1, 2027, this bill would require a bond act to include specified information about the objectives of the bond expenditure and related data. The bill would also require the board to post on its internet website a notification that contains, among other information, details about the programs and projects authorized to be funded by the bond. The bill would require the board to provide a short, one page, executive summary style written report to the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst, and specified legislative committees that contains certain information regarding the general obligation bond, in accordance with the above-described provision permitting this information to be provided on the board's internet website or the state's online data portal. The bill would require the report to include, among other information, whether the project, grant, or other expenditure of bond proceeds has been done in a timely manner. The bill would require a bond act to include a provision requiring the cost of the report to be included in the cost of administering the bond act and would require the cost of compliance with the above-described report requirements be included in the cost of administering the bond act. The bill would exempt from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act the development and adoption of program guidelines, recommendations, or criteria pursuant to the bill. The bill would also make nonsubstantive and conforming changes.
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, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2028, and before January 1, 2033, would exclude from gross income any reparations benefit or payment, as defined, received by a taxpayer during the taxable year. 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 also 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 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. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2038, would instead define a "qualifying child" to mean a child younger than the age limit from the prior taxable year plus one year, as described. The bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2038, would define "qualifying child" as being a child younger than 18 years of age, as described. 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.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a distributor of beverage containers to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale, as provided. The act requires the department to deposit those amounts into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act requires the fund to be continuously appropriated to the department for specified purposes, including, among other things, to pay refund values, administrative fees, and processing payments associated with the collection and recycling of empty beverage containers. The act continuously appropriates up to $15,000,000 annually from the fund to the department for quality incentive payments for empty glass beverage containers to an operator of a curbside recycling program or other certified entity, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to make quality incentive payments from the fund for empty glass beverage containers that are substantially free from contamination and used for the manufacturing of glass products in the state that are not beverage containers, as specified. By authorizing a new use for continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation.
The Personal Income 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 law, known as the Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act, establishes the Golden State Scholarshare College Savings Trust (Scholarshare trust) , under the administration of the Scholarshare Investment Board, to provide financial aid for postsecondary education costs of participating students. Existing state and federal law generally includes in gross income distributions from a qualified tuition program, as defined to include the Scholarshare trust, except as provided. Existing federal law, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, excludes from gross income, for federal income tax purposes, distributions from a qualified tuition program that are made after December 31, 2023, and are paid in a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer to a Roth IRA, as described. The Personal Income Tax Law generally conforms to federal income tax law relating to qualified state tuition programs, except as specified. Among those exceptions, existing state law does not conform to the above-described exclusion for distributions from a qualified tuition program. This bill would instead conform to that federal exclusion for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031. 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 would, 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 contributions to a Scholarshare account by a qualified taxpayer, as 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.
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 and after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2030, a California Competes Tax Credit in an amount allocated by the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) through the 2027–28 fiscal year, and provided in a written agreement between GO-Biz and the taxpayer, approved by the California Competes Tax Credit Committee, and based on specified factors, including the number of jobs the taxpayer will create or retain in the state and the amount of investment in the state by the taxpayer. This bill would extend the California Competes Tax Credit through taxable years beginning before January 1, 2035, and would make conforming changes to the impacted fiscal year references in those provisions. The bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2035, also allow a taxpayer in a strategic industry, as defined, to make an election in the form and manner prescribed by GO-Biz for the California Competes Tax Credit to be refundable to the taxpayer from the Tax Relief and Refund Account or the Corporation Tax Fund, as provided. By increasing the payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account and the Corporation Tax Fund, continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of their personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds and accounts, including, among others, to the Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. This bill would allow, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2033, an individual to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the continuously appropriated Black Cultural District Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund (fund) , which would be created by this bill. The bill would allocate moneys in the fund to, among other entities, the Arts Council for allocation for the construction and maintenance of the Black Cultural District designated in south City of Los Angeles. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return form to include a space for the designation of contributions to the fund. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would provide that these provisions would remain in effect only until January 1, 2034, but would further provide for an earlier repeal if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received by September 1, 2028, and later calendar years will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount, in which case these provisions would be repealed on January 1 of the following year.
The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, require school districts maintaining an elementary or secondary school to adopt a school accountability report card for each school. The act also requires, by statute, the governing boards of school districts maintaining an elementary or secondary school to annually issue a school accountability report card that includes certain information for each school in the school district, publicize those reports, and notify parents and guardians of pupils that a hard copy of those reports is available upon request, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the State Board of Education, to develop and maintain the California School Dashboard, a web-based system for publicly reporting performance data on the state and local indicators included in evaluation rubrics. This bill would require the department, on or before August 31, 2027, to provide a report to the Legislature that identifies duplication between the data contained in the school accountability report card and other publicly available data sources, as provided. Existing law requires a local educational agency to develop annually a summary document known as the local control funding formula budget overview for parents. Existing law requires, before the governing board or body of a local educational agency considers the adoption of a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) or an annual update to the LCAP, certain things to occur, including that the superintendent of the school district, the county superintendent of schools, or the charter school present a report on the annual update to the LCAP and the local control funding formula budget overview for parents on or before February 28 of each year at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board or body of the local educational agency, as specified. This bill would eliminate the February 28 deadline for the presentation of the above-described report on the annual update to the LCAP and the local control funding formula budget overview. Under existing law, each school district and county office of education is responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in consultation with certain local entities. Existing law requires each school to annually review and update its comprehensive school safety plan, and to report each July on the status of its school safety plan, including a description of its key elements in the annual school accountability report card, as provided. This bill would repeal the requirement that each school annually report on the status of its school safety plan. Existing law requires the department to exercise general supervision over the courses of physical education in the elementary and secondary schools of the state, advise officials, school boards, and teachers in the development and improvement of their physical education and activity programs, and investigate the work in physical education in the public schools. Existing law requires the department to ensure that the data collected through the categorical program monitoring indicates the extent to which each school within the jurisdiction of a school district or county office of education provides, among other things, for inclusion of the results of physical testing of pupils in the school accountability report card, as provided. This bill would repeal the above-described requirement that the results of physical testing of pupils be included in the school accountability report card. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district maintaining any of grades 5, 7, or 9, during the month of February, March, April, or May, to administer to each pupil in those grades the physical performance test designated by the state board and report the aggregate results of this physical performance testing in its annual school accountability report card. This bill would repeal this reporting requirement.
