Budget & Taxes (Fees & Licensing)

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.

(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, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. Existing law establishes the Gambling Control Fund within the State Treasury for the receipt and deposit of fees and revenue collected pursuant to the act. Under the act, specified licensing fees are required to be paid for the issuance or renewal of a state gambling license, as specified. Existing law requires that all fees and revenue collected pursuant to the act, except all fines and penalties, be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditure exclusively for the support of the department and the commission in carrying out their duties and responsibilities under the act. This bill would require the commission or the department, upon the adoption or amendment of a fee that is deposited into the Gambling Control Fund, to post on its public internet website a detailed statement of the need for, purpose of, and authorized use of the fee, including the general activities the fee is intended to support, along with reference to publicly available rulemaking materials. The bill would state that these provisions do not apply to a fee adopted or amended prior to January 1, 2027.

Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program and requires the Public Utilities Commission to administer a surcharge to collect revenues of up to $100,000,000 per year until January 1, 2025, subject to an annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, to allow providers of equipment and service pursuant to the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program to recover their costs as they are incurred. Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund for the program described above. This bill would extend the requirement on the commission to collect the surcharge described above until December 31, 2034, subject to annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, and would require the commission to transfer moneys it collects from the surcharge to the Controller for deposit into the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund. Existing law requires the commission to annually review the surcharge level and the balances in the fund identified above. Existing law authorized, until January 1, 2025, the commission to make necessary adjustments to the surcharge to ensure that the programs supported by the surcharge are adequately funded and that the fund balances are not excessive, as defined. This bill would repeal that requirement and, instead, would authorize the commission to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding appropriations under the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Existing law establishes the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program to provide one-time grants for the construction of student housing, or for the acquisition and renovation of commercial properties into student housing for the purpose of providing affordable, low-cost housing options for students enrolled in public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the University of California to fund project grants using revenue bond funding issued by the University of California for certain projects. This bill would require the University of California to fund construction grants for 2 specified student housing projects using revenue bond funding issued by the University of California. (2) Existing law establishes the California Kids Investment and Development Savings (KIDS) Program, under the administration of the Scholarshare Investment Board, for the purposes of expanding access to higher education through savings, as provided. Existing law requires the governing body of a school district, county office of education, or charter school to confirm that a grade 12 pupil who has not opted out, as specified, completes and submits a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or, if the pupil is exempt from paying nonresident tuition under existing law, completes and submits a form for purposes of the California Dream Act, as provided. Commencing with the 2025–26 school year, this bill would require the governing body of a local educational agency to provide each pupil and the pupil's parent or legal guardian with information about the KIDS Program and the pupil's potential eligibility for that benefit, as provided. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years, requires the Scholarshare Investment Board to partner with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Riverside County Office of Education to explore ways to increase participation in the KIDS Program. Existing law requires the board, on or before September 30, 2025, and in collaboration with those local educational agencies, to report certain information to the Department of Finance and the Legislature related to those partnerships. This bill, for the 2025–26 to 2029–30 fiscal years, inclusive, would require the board to partner with the Riverside County Office of Education and the San Diego Unified School District to explore ways to increase participation in the KIDS Program. The bill would require the board, on or before September 30, 2029, in collaboration with those local educational agencies, to submit an additional report with the same information related to those partnerships to the Department of Finance and the Legislature. (3) Existing law requires the California State University, and requests the University of California, to establish a model uniform set of academic standards for high school courses for admission recognition, as specified, and to develop and implement, by January 1, 2006, a process for high schools to obtain approval of their courses meeting California State University and University of California admissions requirements, as provided. This bill would instead require the California State University, and request the University of California, to begin working on establishing the above-described model uniform set of academic standards on or after October 1, 2025, and would require the model uniform set of academic standards to also be established for college-level coursework taken for credit at a California public college or university by a pupil simultaneously enrolled in high school, as provided. The bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to post on its internet website the model uniform set of academic standards for college-level coursework taken for credit at a California public college or university, as provided. (4) The Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program establishes the Cal Grant A and 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, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Under existing law, an otherwise qualifying institution with a 3-year cohort default rate that is equal to or greater than 15.5% is ineligible for initial and renewal Cal Grant awards at the institution, as specified, with certain exceptions. Existing law requires the commission to certify by November 1 of each year a qualifying institution's latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of Education, except for the 2024–25 academic year existing law requires the commission to use the 3-year cohort default rate certified in 2020 for an otherwise qualifying institution. This bill would require the commission to also use the 3-year cohort default rate certified in 2020 to certify an otherwise qualifying institution for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 academic years. Existing law requires each participating institution, as a condition for its voluntary participation in the Cal Grant Program, to annually report to the commission specified information regarding its undergraduate programs. Existing law requires the commission to provide on its internet website the information submitted by a Cal Grant participating institution pursuant to the reporting requirement described above and other information and links that are useful to students and parents who are in the process of selecting a college or university. This bill would authorize the systemwide central office of a public postsecondary educational institution acting on behalf of the participating institution to annually report to the commission the information regarding the institution's undergraduate programs, as provided. The bill would modify the data required to be reported to the commission, establish an alternative method for reporting that data, and require the data reported to the commission to be reported in a manner that complies with applicable federal and state laws to protect individual privacy, as specified. (5) Existing law establishes the Golden State Teacher Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. For applications received under the program on July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, inclusive, existing law requires the commission to provide one-time grants of up to $10,000 to each student enrolled in a professional preparation program leading to a preliminary teaching credential or a pupil personnel services credential if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 2 years within 4 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program, as specified. The bill would extend the availability of those grant program funds to applications received under the program on July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive. By expanding the time in which applications can be received under the program, which is funded by an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (6) Existing law establishes the Hire UP Pilot Program and authorizes, subject to an appropriation, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to enter into agreements with up to 10 community college districts to provide funding for stipends to formerly incarcerated individuals, CalWORKs recipients, and former foster youth. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to submit an annual report on or before March 1 to the Legislature on the pilot program's implementation, as provided. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2029. This bill would instead make these provisions inoperative on March 15, 2029, and repeal them on January 1, 2030. The bill would require the chancellor to submit an additional report on the pilot program's implementation on March 1, 2029. Existing law establishes the Native American Student Support and Success Program under the administration of the chancellor's office to provide various services for Native American students. Existing law authorizes the chancellor's office to enter into agreements with up to 20 community colleges to provide grants to those participating colleges for the purpose of developing local Native American student support and success programs and delivering matriculation services for Native American students, as provided. Existing law requires the chancellor's office to develop and submit an annual report on before September 1 to the Governor and the Legislature based on certain data and information relating to grants provided under the program, as reported by participating community colleges, and information on the use of program funds. This bill would instead require the chancellor's office to develop and submit those reports triennially until September 1, 2030, as specified. (7) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to adopt regulations providing for the payment of apportionments to community college districts on a specified schedule. This bill, notwithstanding the provision referenced above, would adjust the payment of apportionments to community college districts for the 2025–26 fiscal year to defer $408,363,000 of those payments to the 2026–27 fiscal year in accordance with a designated schedule. The bill would appropriate that amount to the board of governors for apportionments to community college districts for expenditure in the 2026–27 fiscal year, as specified. (8) Existing law authorizes the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish the Rising Scholars Network to enter into agreements with up to 65 community colleges to provide additional funds for services in support of postsecondary education for justice-involved students, as defined. This bill would authorize the chancellor's office to enter into agreements with all community colleges, rather than up to 65 community colleges. (9) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. Existing law required the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature. Existing law establishes the California Cradle-to-Career Data System to be a source for actionable data and research on education, economic, and health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and to provide for expanded access to tools and services that support the navigation of the education-to-employment pipeline. Existing law establishes a governing board to govern the data system and the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data as the managing entity required to implement and manage the data system. This bill would establish the California Career Passport Program to be administered by the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, in partnership with the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for the purpose of developing a Career Passport that provides individuals with a secure digital tool that displays their preparation for employment, academic records, and credit for prior learning, as specified. The bill would require the program to accomplish specified goals, including providing individuals access to their aggregated information for use in applying for employment and in training at no or low cost to them, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office to convene agency and employer representatives to identify technical and policy considerations for building the secure digital tool, and to engage with business and industry leaders collaboratively to ensure Career Passports are useful to, and used by, California's employers, as specified. This bill would appropriate $25,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the development of the program, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office to develop and report to the Department of Finance and the fiscal committees of the Legislature a timeline establishing target dates for key deliverables for the program, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office to collect data on development metrics for the Career Passport, and submit a preliminary report on that data and a final report on student and employer use data to the Department of Finance and all relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, as specified. (10) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary institutions in the state. The act is administered by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act establishes the Student Tuition Recovery Fund as a continuously appropriated fund to relieve or mitigate economic loss suffered by a student while enrolled in an institution who, at the time of the student's enrollment, was a California resident or was enrolled in a California residency program, prepaid tuition, and suffered economic loss, as defined. The act establishes the Office of Student Assistance and Relief within the bureau to, among other things, assist students with submitting Student Tuition Recovery Fund claims to the bureau. This bill would authorize the bureau to use moneys in the Student Tuition Recovery Fund to cover the costs of Student Tuition Recovery Fund claim administration and positions of the Office of Student Assistance and Relief. By expanding the purposes for which moneys from a continuously appropriated fund may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation. (11) Existing law imposes a filing fee of $605 to file a notice of appeal in a civil case. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, required that $65 of this fee be deposited into the former California State Law Library Special Account for the support of the California State Law Library. This bill would reestablish the California State Law Library Special Account and would require, until July 1, 2030, $65 of each notice of appeal fee to be deposited into the California State Law Library Special Account for the support of the California State Law Library upon appropriation. The bill would specify that this requirement is intended to apply retroactively to January 1, 2025. (12) The Budget Act of 2023 made appropriations for local assistance to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for the 2023–24 fiscal year, including $3,037,990,000 for apportionments. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2023 by reducing the appropriation made to the board of governors for apportionments by $67,001,000. (13) The Budget Act of 2024 made appropriations for local assistance to the board of governors for the 2024–25 fiscal year, including $3,904,892,000 for apportionments. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2024 by increasing the appropriation made to the board of governors for apportionments by $10,822,000. (14) The Budget Act of 2024, among other things, reappropriates $12,000,000 to the board of governors to support the development of e-Transcript California, as provided. This bill would appropriate $6,558,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the development of e-Transcript California pursuant to that provision. (15) This bill would appropriate $5,100,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to provide grants through a community college district to California community-based organizations for financial aid outreach and application assistance supporting current and prospective community college students, as provided. (16) This bill would appropriate $20,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support emergency financial assistance grants to students attending a community college, as specified. (17) Existing law requires the California Community Colleges to designate on each of its campuses a Dreamer Resource Liaison to assist students in meeting certain requirements to be exempt from paying nonresident tuition by streamlining access to all available financial aid and academic opportunities for those students. This bill would appropriate $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support Dreamer Resource Liaisons in assisting students, as described above. (18) The Budget Act of 2022, among other things, appropriates $10,000,000 to the board of governors to support the California Healthy School Food Pathway program, as provided. This bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of Governors to support the California Healthy School Food Pathway program. (19) This bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for transfer to a community college for allocation to the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Council to conduct Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic Preapprenticeship Training Academies. (20) This bill would appropriate $125,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for allocation on a one-time basis to Santa Rosa Junior College for the construction of a fire academy tower. (21) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. Existing law required the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature. This bill would appropriate up to $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the Credit for Prior Learning Initiative, a systemwide initiative to award degree-applicable or certificate-applicable credit for prior learning opportunities at each campus, as provided. (22) This bill would appropriate $60,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to establish the Student Support Block Grant. The bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to allocate the funds to community colleges pursuant to a specified formula. The bill would authorize community college districts to use the allocated funds for certain purposes, including, among other purposes, for assistance to students with food, housing, transportation, and other basic needs. (23) This bill would appropriate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for allocation to community colleges that are members of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium to assist with workforce recovery efforts and career technical education workforce development associated with the Los Angeles regions' recovery from the Palisades and Eaton fires. (24) 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. (25) The funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, as specified. (26) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program and required the Public Utilities Commission to administer a surcharge to collect revenues of up to $100,000,000 per year until January 1, 2025, subject to an annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, to allow providers of equipment and service pursuant to the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program to recover their costs as they are incurred. Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund for the program described above. This bill would extend the requirement on the commission to collect the surcharge described above until December 31, 2034, subject to annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, and would require the commission to transfer moneys it collects from the surcharge to the Controller for deposit into the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund. Existing law requires the commission to annually review the surcharge level and the balances in the fund identified above. Existing law authorized, until January 1, 2025, the commission to make necessary adjustments to the surcharge to ensure that the programs supported by the surcharge are adequately funded and that the fund balances are not excessive, as defined. This bill would repeal that requirement and, instead, would authorize the commission to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding appropriations under the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including emergency or nonemergency medical or nonmedical transportation services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under this bill, commencing on July 1, 2027, and subject to an appropriation, Medi-Cal fee-for-service reimbursement for nonemergency ambulance transportation services, as defined, would be in an amount equal to 80% of the amount set forth in the federal Medicare ambulance fee schedule for the corresponding level of service, adjusted by the Geographic Practice Cost Index, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish a Medi-Cal managed care directed payment program for nonemergency ambulance transportation services, with the reimbursement rates set in an amount equal to at least the amount set forth under fee-for-service reimbursement. The bill would require the department to maximize federal financial participation in implementing the above-described provisions to the extent allowable. To the extent that federal financial participation is unavailable, the bill would require the department to implement the provisions using state funds, as specified. Under the bill, whenever the medical necessity of nonemergency ambulance transportation services needs to be certified for purposes of Medi-Cal coverage, either a physician or a nonphysician authorized under certain federal regulations would be permitted to complete that certification, as specified. The bill would require the department to revise and update the Medi-Cal provider manual or any guidance, as applicable, to implement this provision. Existing Medi-Cal regulations require that records of medical transportation providers include, among other information, odometer readings at each pickup and delivery location. Under this bill, for purposes of documenting mileage in their records under the Medi-Cal program, medical transportation providers would be authorized to utilize vehicle Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking, digital mapping software or applications, or another reasonable mechanism identified by the department, as specified, in addition to the above-described odometer readings. The bill would require the department to revise and update any corresponding regulations, including the above-described provision.