For purposes of state apportionments based on average daily attendance, as provided, if the average daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified emergency, including, among others, the imminence of a major safety hazard as determined by a local law enforcement agency, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the average daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school approximately the total average daily attendance that would have been credited to the school district, county office of education, or charter school had the emergency not occurred. This bill, for the above-described purposes, would additionally allow a local fire agency to make a determination of the imminence of a major safety hazard. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing property tax law, pursuant to constitutional authorization, provides for a "welfare exemption" for property used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable purposes and that is owned or operated by certain types of nonprofit entities, if certain qualifying criteria are met. That law provides a partial welfare exemption in the case of residential rental property used for lower income households, as specified, calculated as that percentage of the value of the property that is equal to the percentage that the number of units serving lower income households represents of the total number of residential units. This bill would provide a partial welfare exemption in the case of certain residential rental property used for low- and moderate-income households. The partial exemption would be equal to that percentage of the value of the property that is equal to the percentage that the number of units serving low- and moderate-income households, as defined, represents of the total number of residential units, as provided. The bill would require an owner to make specified certifications relating to the use of the property. By expanding the duties of local tax officials, and by expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. 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.
(1) The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to exempt from taxation, in whole or in part, property that is used exclusively for religious, hospital, or charitable purposes, and is owned or held in trust by a nonprofit entity. Pursuant to that authority, existing law provides for a welfare exemption under which property used exclusively for an exempt purpose and owned and operated by specified entities, including foundations, limited liability companies, or corporations meeting certain statutory requirements, is exempt from taxation. Chapter 2 of the Statutes of 2026 (AB 1485) provides that, for purposes of the exemption for property used exclusively for the preservation of specified natural resources or open-space lands, for the property tax lien dates for the 2026–27 fiscal year to the 2031–32 fiscal year, inclusive, property may be owned and operated by a federally recognized Indian tribe or a wholly owned subsidiary of a federally recognized Indian tribe meeting certain requirements. This bill would expand the above-described authorization, for purposes of the exemption for property used exclusively for the preservation of specified natural resources or open-space lands, to include property owned and operated by a nonprofit corporation chartered by a federally recognized tribe pursuant to tribal law or a specified provision of federal law, or a wholly owned tribal entity, as defined. (2) Existing law authorizes counties and cities and counties to impose a documentary transfer tax at a specified rate upon deeds, instruments, or other writings by which specified property is transferred. AB 1485 exempts from that tax, until January 1, 2031, the transfer of any deed, instrument, or other writing that makes effective a tribal land return transaction. AB 1485 defines a "tribal land return transaction" to mean a land return acquisition that transfers ownership of land to a federally recognized tribe or a wholly owned subsidiary of a federally recognized Indian tribe in fee simple and that includes specified restrictive covenants. This bill would, for these purposes, expand the definition of "tribal land return transaction" to include a land return acquisition that transfers ownership of land to a nonprofit corporation chartered by a federally recognized tribe pursuant to tribal law or a specified provision of federal law, or a wholly owned tribal entity, as defined. (3) 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. (4) 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. (5) 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.
The electors of a county may propose an ordinance to the county board of supervisors by submitting an initiative petition containing signatures by registered voters in the county in an amount equal to 10% of the number of votes cast within the county for all candidates for Governor at the preceding gubernatorial election. If the county elections official certifies that an initiative petition has been signed by at least that number of voters, the county board of supervisors is required to either adopt the ordinance or submit it to the voters at the next statewide election occurring not less than 88 days later. This bill would require any Fresno County initiative petition that has been certified as sufficient by the Fresno County Registrar of Voters on or before July 8, 2026, to be submitted, without alteration, to the voters at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Fresno. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Community Care Expansion Program, under the administration of the State Department of Social Services. Under the program, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the department awards grants to qualified grantees to administer projects for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of property to be operated as residential adult and senior care facilities, or to promote the sustainability of existing licensed residential adult and senior care facilities through the provision of capitalized operating subsidy reserves. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with one or more entities to facilitate the grant awards. Existing law requires the contracting entity to act as a third-party administrator to provide operational services under the contract, including, but not limited to, developing an online application portal and processing invoices and making grant payments. This bill would require the department to develop the grant application for tribes in consultation with tribes in the event the program obtains additional funding available to tribes. The bill would require the department to include its existing tribal liaison or their designee in discussions throughout the grant process to ensure tribal sovereignty is honored. The bill would also require that, if additional funds are appropriated, an agreement between the department and a tribe align with federal tribal housing grant agreements to the extent practicable and consistent with the program. Existing law requires, subject to an appropriation, the department to award grants to preserve or expand the capacity of residential adult and senior care facilities through the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of property and requires counties and tribes receiving funds for this purpose to provide matching funds or real property. This bill would exempt a tribe from providing real property if federal restrictions limit tribal property ownership.
The California Constitution specifies various requirements with respect to the levying of assessments and property-related fees and charges by a local agency. As part of those requirements, the California Constitution mandates that such fees or charges that are extended, imposed, or increased satisfy certain requirements, including, but not limited to, that the amount of the fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership not exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel. Existing law, known as the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act (act) , prescribes specific procedures and parameters for local jurisdictions to comply with these requirements and, among other things, authorizes an agency providing water, wastewater, sewer, or refuse collection services to adopt a schedule of fees or charges authorizing automatic adjustments that pass through increases in wholesale charges for water, sewage treatment, or wastewater treatment or adjustments for inflation under certain circumstances. This bill would authorize a local government to demonstrate the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel by any method that reasonably allocates the ascertainable cost of providing service to all parcels, if substantiated as provided. The bill would, however, provide that for water or sewer service fee or charge impositions, a local government is not required to provide an exact measure of the cost of the service at each parcel and may instead impose uniform or tiered rates to parcel or customer classes that are defined based on common characteristics indicative of likely water or sewer use. The bill would provide that the proportional cost of service within each tier of water service may be substantiated by using any reasonable basis for allocating costs attributed to the tier, as described, and would provide a local government discretion to determine the costs allocated to each tier as long as the rate for each tier does not exceed the proportional cost of service reasonably allocated to parcels subject to that tier. The bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to fees for water connections or sewer connections, or capacity charges, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing, as specified, pursuant to which the department provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development of specified types of housing projects. Existing law sets forth various general powers of the department in implementing these programs, including authorizing the department to enter into long-term contracts or agreements of up to 30 years for the purpose of servicing loans or grants or enforcing regulatory agreements or other security documents. This bill would permit the department to waive payment of residual receipts or minimum annual loan payments used to cover the cost of project monitoring required under a department regulatory agreement, based on the assessment by the department's actual cost in combination with a project's ability to pay.
Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals using federal, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes the CalWORKs Recipients Education Program (program) in the California Community Colleges under which community college districts are required to provide educational services and special services to recipients of aid under CalWORKs who are attending a community college, to the extent funding is provided in the annual Budget Act. Existing law requires special services for CalWORKs recipients to assist CalWORKs recipient students and those students transitioning off of CalWORKs in achieving long-term self-sufficiency through coordinated student services offered at a community college. Existing law authorizes those special services to include workstudy. Existing law prohibits program payments to an employer for workstudy from exceeding 75% of the wage for the workstudy positions and requires an employer to pay at least 25% of the wage for the workstudy positions. This bill would add direct aid designed to meet basic needs and services, as described, as a special service for which program funds may be used. The bill would also require special services for CalWORKs recipients to assist CalWORKs recipient students and those students transitioning off of CalWORKs in achieving economic mobility through coordinated student services offered at a community college. The bill would authorize programs to waive the requirement that an employer pay at least 25% of the wage for workstudy positions if the number of on-campus and off-campus workstudy positions will not decrease. By expanding program services, 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.
