Budget & Taxes

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally define "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, 2024, and before January 1, 2029, would provide an exclusion from gross income for any qualified taxpayer, as defined, for amounts received in settlement for costs and losses associated with the 2020 Bobcat Fire in the County of Los Angeles, as provided. 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 make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would allow a credit against the taxes imposed under that law to a qualified taxpayer, as defined, for the qualified expenses of in vitro fertilization, as defined, not to exceed $5,000 paid or incurred during 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 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 federal law, the Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE Act) , encourages and assists individuals and families to save private funds for the purpose of supporting eligible individuals with disabilities to maintain their health, independence, and quality of life by excluding from gross income distributions used for qualified disability expenses by a beneficiary of a qualified ABLE program established and maintained by a state, as specified. Existing law establishes in this state the Qualified ABLE Program, administered by the California ABLE Act Board, for purposes of implementing the federal ABLE Act. Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, conforms to the exclusions from gross income provided under federal income tax law provisions relating to the ABLE Act, as those exclusions read in the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various deductions from gross income in computing adjusted gross income under that law, including deductions for payments to individual retirement accounts, alimony payments, and interest on educational loans. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would allow a deduction under the Personal Income Tax Law in computing adjusted gross income in an amount equal to the amount contributed by specified taxpayers during the taxable year to a CalABLE account. 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 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. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would allow a credit against those taxes to a qualified taxpayer in an amount equal to 40% of the qualified wages paid or incurred to a qualified employee employed during the taxable year. The bill would define a qualified employee for this purpose to mean an individual that, among other things, has been convicted of a felony, as provided, and has a hiring date not more than one year after the date the individual was convicted or was released from prison. 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 income tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

(1) Existing law requires the Wildlife Conservation Board to establish and administer, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Riparian Habitat Conservation Program with the purpose and goal of protecting, preserving, and restoring riparian habitats throughout the state, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to authorize the department to award grants and loans for the purposes of the program to specified entities. This bill would authorize the board to authorize the department to make those awards to federally recognized tribes. (2) Existing law establishes the Inland Wetlands Conservation Program under the board with the purpose and goal of carrying out the programs of the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture. Existing law authorizes the board to make grants or loans for the purpose of wetland and associated upland habitat acquisition, restoration, or enhancement to specified entities. This bill would authorize the board to make those grants or loans to federally recognized tribes. (3) Existing law authorizes the department to enter into contracts or other agreements with nonprofit conservation groups or resource conservation districts for the management and operation of department-managed lands. This bill would authorize the department to also enter into those contracts or other agreements with federally recognized tribes.

Existing statutory law, enacted by Proposition 62, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 1986, statewide general election, prohibits a local government or district from imposing any transaction tax or sales tax on the sale of real property within the city, county, or district, except as provided. The California Constitution authorizes cities organized under a charter to make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, which supersede inconsistent general laws. Existing law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the imposition of a tax by a county or city, as provided, with respect to specified instruments that transfer specified interests in real property. This bill would require a legislative body of a city, as specified, before it adopts any transfer tax on the sale of real property, to develop and post on its internet website an analysis that examines, at a minimum, the effect of the proposed transfer tax on, among other things, the production of affordable housing, including affordable housing produced by market-rate housing projects. 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 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, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would allow a deduction from adjusted gross income for amounts contributed by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to a catastrophe savings account, in accordance with specified provisions. The bill would define "catastrophe savings account" to mean a regular savings account or money market account with a financial institution that, among other requirements, is established to pay for the qualified catastrophe expenses, as defined, of a qualified taxpayer establishing the account, as provided. The bill would subject a qualified taxpayer to a specified penalty if they use a distribution from a catastrophe savings account to cover an expense other than a qualified catastrophe expense. 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. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would provide an exclusion from gross income for interest earned by a catastrophe savings account until December 1, 2030. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure, as defined, to include tax credits, deductions, exclusions, or exemptions, 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 include findings and reporting requirements in compliance with this requirement. 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.

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 by authorizing exclusions from sales and use tax for certain projects, including those that promote California-based manufacturing, California-based jobs, advanced manufacturing, the reduction of greenhouse gases, or a reduction in air and water pollution or energy consumption. 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 one of those projects 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 to January 1, 2028, the authorization to provide financial assistance in the form of a sales and use tax exclusion for projects approved by the authority. The bill would add electrical generation facilities using nuclear fusion technology to the types of projects qualifying for this sales and use tax exclusion. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2026, for an applicant that, together with its parent corporation and subsidiaries, employs 500 or more employees, prohibit the authority from approving a project unless the applicant certifies that the applicant and its subcontractors will comply with certain labor requirements. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal tax law, provides an exemption from the taxes imposed by that law for specified organizations. Existing law references federal tax law to give priority to tax-exempt organizations, or to require tax-exempt status, for the purpose of certain grants and service contracts. This bill would provide that where specified federal tax law is referenced to determine eligibility for any state grant or service contract, or for the disbursement of state or local funds, it is deemed to also refer to the relevant provision of the Corporation Tax Law. Existing law designates the State Department of Social Services as the single agency with full power to supervise every phase of the administration of public social services, including services for refugees, immigrants, and asylees, except as specified. Existing law requires the department to allocate federal funds for refugee social services programs to eligible counties and, in certain circumstances, to qualified nonprofit organizations. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation, to provide grants to qualified nonprofit organizations through contracts to provide certain immigration-related legal services to persons residing in, or formerly residing in, the state. Existing law requires the department to administer a rapid response program to award grants or contracts to entities, including nonprofit organizations, that provide critical assistance to immigrants during times of need. Existing law, subject to an appropriation, establishes the Enhanced Services for Asylees and Vulnerable Noncitizens program to provide resettlement services for persons granted asylum by the United States Attorney General or the United States Secretary of Homeland Security or who are eligible to receive refugee cash assistance and services as victims of crime. Existing law requires a grant or contract awarded pursuant to that program to be executed only with a qualified nonprofit organization. Existing law defines "qualified nonprofit organization" or "nonprofit organization" for purposes of these provisions to include a nonprofit organization that, among other things, is exempt from federal income taxation, as specified. This bill would revise the definition of "qualified nonprofit organization" or "nonprofit organization" under the above-described provisions to additionally include a nonprofit organization that meets specified requirements to qualify for state tax-exempt status. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.