Asm. Buffy Wicks

(1) 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, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, would allow a credit against those taxes to a taxpayer that is transferred, and allocated, credits pursuant to the sale of property located in a qualified opportunity zone to a qualified developer, as defined, that has received a credit reservation from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, in specified amounts. The bill would limit the aggregate amount of credit that may be allocated by the committee to $100,000,000. The bill would require the credits to be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. (2) Existing law establishes a low-income housing tax credit program pursuant to which the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee provides procedures and requirements for the allocation, in modified conformity with federal law, of personal income and corporation tax credit amounts to qualified low-income housing projects that have been allocated, or qualify for, a federal low-income housing tax credit, and farmworker housing projects. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, would additionally authorize specified low-income housing projects located in qualified opportunity zones, as defined, to receive a low-income housing tax credit under a specified total credit amount of $200,000,000. (3) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit 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 additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's office to annually collaborate with the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee to review the effectiveness of these tax credits, as provided. (4) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 grants, commencing on January 1, 2020, a consumer various rights with regard to personal information relating to that consumer that is held by a business, including the right to request disclosure of, and have access to, the categories and specific pieces of information that a business collects about the consumer. The act grants a consumer a right to request a business to delete any personal information about the consumer collected by the business and requires a business to do so upon receipt of a verified request, except as specified. The act grants a consumer the right to opt-out of the sale of personal information. The act prohibits a business from discriminating because of the exercise of these rights, provided that this prohibition does not prevent a business from charging a different price or rate, or giving a different level of goods or services, if the difference is related to the value of the consumer's data, as specified. The act prescribes definitions for these purposes, including "business purpose," "personal information," and "sell." The act establishes a variety of exceptions to the obligations imposed on a business under these provisions. The act authorizes a consumer whose personal information, as specified, is subject to theft or disclosure resulting from a business's failure to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures to bring a civil action and prescribes various requirements in this regard. Existing law also authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil action for a violation of the act and grants a business an opportunity to cure a violation within 30 days of notice. Existing law imposes other responsibilities on the Attorney General in connection with the act, including the creation of regulations and providing guidance on how to comply with the act. This bill would revise and recast the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. Among other things, the bill would prohibit a business from sharing a consumer's personal information unless the consumer has authorized that sharing and would prescribe various business requirements in connection with this new "right to opt-in consent." The bill would generally prohibit any discrimination against a consumer based on the exercise of the right to opt-in or other rights, including charging different prices for goods or services. The bill would require a business that collects personal information to limit its use and retention of personal information to what is reasonably necessary to provide a service or conduct an activity, as specified, subject to certain exceptions. The bill would broaden the duties of businesses regarding requirements connected with disclosure, access, and deletion of consumer information. The bill would redefine "business purpose," "personal information," "sell," "research," and other terms. The bill would eliminate certain exceptions to the obligations imposed on a business in connection with its provisions. This bill would expand the enforcement provisions currently granted to the Attorney General to apply to county district attorneys and city attorneys, among others, and would eliminate the opportunity of a business to cure a violation within 30 days. The bill would provide that the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 would be operative January 1, 2021, and revise the preemption of local rules and regulations currently in effect as of that date to apply to provisions that are in conflict with the act. The bill would make a variety of other technical and conforming changes.

The Corporation Tax Law imposes taxes according to or measured by net income at a rate of 8.84%, or for financial institutions, at a rate of 10.84%, as specified. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, revise that rate for corporations with net income subject to taxes under that law of $10,000,000 or more to instead impose a tax rate from 10.84% to 14.84%, or for financial institutions, from 12.84% to 16.84%, based on the compensation ratio, as defined, of the corporation. The bill would increase those new applicable tax rates by a factor of 1.5 for those taxpayers that have a specified decrease in full-time employees employed in the United States as compared to an increase in contracted employees or foreign full-time employees, as described. The bill would deposit the revenues derived from this tax into the General Fund, as specified, and would require those revenues to be used to offset the fiscal impact of any child tax credit and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support the expansions or improvements to early childhood programs and other educational programs. The bill would make these tax rates inoperative for taxable years beginning on or after January 1 of any calendar year in which the federal corporation tax rate is 35% or more. 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. 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 an earned income tax credit against personal income tax and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit 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 for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2024, would allow to an eligible caregiver, defined to mean an individual eligible to claim an earned income tax credit but who is not required to have earned income and who may claim this credit using a taxpayer identification number or a social security number, who provides uncompensated care for a qualified dependent, as defined, a credit amount of no less than $1,200, as provided. The bill would limit the allowance of this credit to those taxable years in which the earned income tax credit is operative and when the earned income tax credit adjustment factor for a taxable year is not 0%. The bill would additionally require, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2024, for a taxpayer with an allowable credit in excess of tax liability, a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated account, to the taxpayer equal to the amount of the allowable credit that is in excess of tax liability, as provided. By authorizing additional payments from this account, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and makes the department responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, homeless youth emergency service pilot projects, and the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, to provide assistance to homeless persons. This bill would enact the Regional Homeless Management Planning Act, which would require the department, on or before December 31, 2020, to develop standards and definitions for a county to use in developing regional homeless action plans, as specified. The bill would require a county to complete and submit to the department a Regional Homeless Action Plan on or before January 1, 2022, and every 2 years thereafter, as specified. By increasing the duties of local officials, this 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.

Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program for Small Businesses, which is administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, to assist qualifying small businesses in financing the costs of complying with environmental mandates and the remediation of contamination on their properties. Under the program, the authority may enter into contracts with participating financial institutions and is required to establish a loss reserve account with participating financial institutions. Existing law authorizes a participating financial institution that experiences a default on a qualified loan enrolled in the Capital Access Loan Program to obtain reimbursement from the authority by submitting a claim for reimbursement for a specified amount of the loss covered by that loan, subject to certain procedures. Existing law also establishes other capital access loan programs that are administered by the authority, including the California Americans with Disabilities Small Business Capital Access Loan Program and the California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program. Under the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, administers specific programs relating to small business, either administered directly by the bank or under contract with small business financial development corporations. Existing law establishes within the bank the California Small Business Finance Center and authorizes the center to administer programs to assist businesses seeking new capital resources under the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, and establishes other related provisions. The act establishes the program manager as the manager of the California Small Business Finance Center, and requires each small business financial development corporation formed pursuant to the act to submit specified information to the program manager related to their activities. Existing law requires the program manager, no later than January 1 of each year, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report for the preceding fiscal year ending June 30 containing the financial product activity of each small business financial development corporation formed. Existing law establishes the Small Business Expansion Fund in the State Treasury, and continuously appropriates specified moneys into the fund for purposes related to the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. This bill would create the Loan Loss Reserve Account in the California Small Business Expansion Fund to be under the administrative and management control of the California Small Business Finance Center within the bank, and would continuously appropriate all moneys deposited into the account to the center for purposes of the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require that the account be established and maintained by the bank for the benefit of qualified financial companies or financial institutions participating as a lender in the loan loss reserve program or another program authorized pursuant to Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. The bill would authorize the program to hold funds in the loan loss reserve account in a financial institution or company that establishes a trust fund, as specified. The bill would prescribe a process for the transfer of specified moneys held by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to the Capital Access Reserve Fund. The bill would require the bank to create holding accounts and loss reserve accounts and would prescribe the purposes for which they may be used. The bill would provide that the state or the bank are not liable or obligated in any way beyond the money that is allocated and deposited into the Loan Loss Reserve Account or the trust fund account, as specified. The bill would create the California Loan Loss Reserve Program for Small Business, a loan loss reserve and credit enhancement program, within the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. The bill would provide for the transfer of the loss reserve loan portfolio of the California Capital Access Loan Program, administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, to the California Small Business Finance Center for purposes of the California Loan Loss Reserve Program for Small Business, pursuant to a specified process. The bill would authorize the bank to contract with a qualified financial company or financial institution to participate as a lender in the program, and would state a specified priority for loans to be enrolled. The bill would require the bank to develop directives and requirements to implement the program. The bill would provide for the maintenance of regulations adopted by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority in connection with the management and control of loan loss reserve funds, as specified. The bill would prescribe a process pursuant to which a financial company or institution participating as a lender may withdraw from the program. The bill would also provide for the transfer of the collateral support loan portfolio of the California Capital Access Loan Program, administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, to the bank pursuant to a specified process. The bill would make conforming and technical changes. The bill would modify the requirements of the annual report described above by requiring the program manager to include in its annual report the financial product activity of each financial institution or company that participates in the loan loss reserve program specified information, and would require the program manager, for one year following the creation of the loan loss reserve program, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a semi-annual progress report relating to the transfer of the loan loss reserve program from the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to the California Small Business Finance Center at the bank. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California Constitution, 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. Under existing property tax law, property that meets these requirements that is used exclusively for rental housing and related facilities is entitled to a partial exemption, equal to 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, in any year that any of certain criteria apply. This bill, on and after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, would provide a similar exemption for qualified property, as defined, that meets the requirements of the welfare exemption and that is used exclusively for rental housing and related facilities, equal to that percentage of the value of the property that is equal to the percentage that the number of units serving moderate-income households, as defined, represents of the total number of residential units. The bill would require the owner of the property to certify specified information under penalty of perjury. By imposing new duties upon local government officials with respect to the exemption provided by this bill, and by expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst to, on an annual basis beginning January 1, 2021, and until January 1, 2026, collaborate with the State Board of Equalization to review the effectiveness of the exemption, as provided, and to submit a report of their review to the Legislature. The bill would require, for these purposes, the State Board of Equalization to make information available to the Legislative Analyst upon request and each county assessor to make information available to the State Board of Equalization upon request. 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.

(1) Existing law authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that satisfies specified planning objective standards to be subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit. This bill would authorize a development proponent of a neighborhood multifamily project located on an eligible parcel to submit an application for a streamlined, ministerial approval process that is not subject to a conditional use permit. The bill would define a "neighborhood multifamily project" to mean a project to construct a multifamily structure on vacant land, or to convert an existing structure that does not require substantial exterior alteration into a multifamily structure, consisting of up to 4 residential dwelling units and that meets local height, setback, and lot coverage zoning requirements as they existed on July 1, 2019. The bill would also define "eligible parcel" to mean a parcel that meets specified requirements, including requirements relating to the location of the parcel and restricting the demolition of certain housing development that may already exist on the site. This bill would require a local agency to notify the development proponent in writing if the local agency determines that the development conflicts with any of the requirements provided for streamlined ministerial approval within 60 days of the submission of the development to the local agency. If the local agency does not notify the development proponent within this time period, the development would be deemed to comply with those requirements. The bill would limit the authority of a local agency to impose parking standards or requirements on a streamlined development approved pursuant to these provisions, as provided. The bill would provide that the approval of a project under these provisions expires automatically after 3 years, unless that project qualifies for a one-time, one-year extension of that approval. The bill would provide that approval pursuant to its provisions would remain valid for 3 years and remain valid thereafter, so long as vertical construction of the development has begun and is in progress, and would authorize a discretionary one-year extension, as provided. The bill would prohibit a local agency from adopting any requirement that applies to a project solely or partially on the basis that the project receives ministerial or streamlined approval pursuant to these provisions. This bill would allow a local agency to exempt a project from the streamlined ministerial approval process described above by finding that the project will cause a specific adverse impact to public health and safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the adverse impact. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. This bill would establish a streamlined ministerial approval process for neighborhood multifamily projects, thereby exempting these projects from the CEQA approval process. (2) Existing law, known as the density bonus law, requires, when an applicant proposes a housing development within the jurisdiction of a local government, that the city, county, or city and county provide the developer with a density bonus and other incentives or concessions for the production of lower income housing units or for the donation of land within the development if the developer, among other things, agrees to construct a specified percentage of units for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or qualifying residents. This bill, on or after January 1, 2023, would require a specified city, county, or city and county to grant upon request an equitable communities incentive when a development proponent seeks and agrees to construct a residential development, as defined, that satisfies specified criteria, including, among other things, that the residential development is either a job-rich housing project or a transit-rich housing project, as those terms are defined; the site does not contain, or has not contained, housing occupied by tenants or accommodations withdrawn from rent or lease in accordance with specified law within specified time periods; and the residential development complies with specified additional requirements under existing law. The bill would impose additional requirements on a residential development located within a county with a population equal to or less than 600,000. The bill would require that a residential development within a county with a population greater than 600,000 that is eligible for an equitable communities incentive receive, upon request, waivers from maximum controls on density; minimum automobile parking requirements greater than 0.5 parking spots per unit; and specified additional waivers if the residential development is located within a 12-mile or 14-mile radius of a major transit stop, as defined. For a residential development within a county with a population equal to or less than 600,000, the bill would instead require that the incentive provide waivers from maximum controls on density, subject to certain limitations; maximum height limitations less than or equal to one story, or 15 feet, above the highest allowable height for mixed use or residential use; certain requirements governing the size of the parcel and the area that the building may occupy; and minimum automobile parking requirements, as provided. The bill would require a local government to grant an equitable communities incentive unless it makes a specified finding regarding the effects of the incentive on any real property or historic district that is listed on a federal or state register of historical resources. The bill would authorize a local government to modify or expand the terms of an equitable communities incentive, provided that the equitable communities incentive is consistent with these provisions. The bill would delay implementation of these provisions in potentially sensitive communities, as defined, until July 1, 2023. The bill would further delay implementation of these provisions in sensitive communities, determined as provided, until January 1, 2026, unless the city or county in which the area is located votes to make these provisions applicable after a specified petition and public hearing process. On and after January 1, 2026, the bill would apply these provisions to a sensitive community unless the city or county adopts a community plan for the area that meets certain requirements. The bill would also exempt from these provisions a local government that has a local flexibility plan that has been reviewed and certified by the Department of Housing and Community Development, as specified. The bill, on or before July 1, 2021, would require the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, in consultation with the Department of Housing and Community Development, to develop and publish on its internet website rules, regulations, or guidelines for the submission and approval of a local flexibility plan, as specified. The bill, on or after July 1, 2021, would authorize a local government to submit a local flexibility plan for review and approval by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to those rules, regulations, or guidelines. The bill would include findings that the changes proposed by these provisions address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The Housing Accountability Act prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project that complies with applicable, objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria in effect at the time the application for the project is deemed complete unless the local agency makes specified written findings based on a preponderance of the evidence in the record. That law provides that the receipt of a density bonus is not a valid basis on which to find a proposed housing development is inconsistent, not in compliance, or not in conformity with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or other similar provision of that act. This bill would additionally provide that the receipt of an equitable communities incentive is not a valid basis on which to find a proposed housing development is inconsistent, not in compliance, or not in conformity with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or other similar provision of that act. (3) By adding to the duties of local planning officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

This measure would name the public street, circle, and plaza at 914 and 915 Capitol Mall in the City of Sacramento as the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Circle and Plaza. The measure would request the Department of General Services to determine the cost of erecting the appropriate signage commemorating this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources, to cover that cost to erect that signage.