Asm. Bill Quirk

This measure would proclaim January 13, 2020, as Korean American Day.

This measure would honor the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Existing law, as part of the hazardous waste control law, requires a facility handling hazardous waste to apply for and obtain a hazardous waste facilities permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law requires that a hazardous waste facilities permit be for a fixed term not to exceed 10 years for certain facilities. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a facility intending to extend the facility's permit to submit a complete Part A application for a permit renewal before the fixed term of the permit expires and, at any time following the submittal of the Part A application, to submit a complete Part B application, or any portion of that application, and other relevant information, if requested by the department. Existing law requires a person who applies for, or requests, a renewal of an existing hazardous waste facilities permit to enter into a written agreement with the department pursuant to which that person is required to reimburse the department for the costs incurred by the department in processing the renewal application. This bill would require the department to process a hazardous waste facilities permit renewal application in an expedited manner, as provided, if the department determines that certain conditions are met, including that operations at the hazardous waste facility have not changed since the approval of the permit in effect at the time the renewal application is submitted. The bill would require the department to cease processing a hazardous waste facilities application in an expedited manner if the hazardous waste facility no longer meets one or more of the specified conditions. The bill would provide that the expedited permit renewal process is not available for land disposal facilities. The bill also would repeal certain legislative findings and declarations relating to a 2016 act that affected charges for hazardous waste facilities permit applications.

Existing law authorizes a party responsible for the release of waste requiring remedial action to request a local officer, as defined, to supervise the remedial action. Existing law authorizes the local officer to enter into a remedial action agreement with the responsible party to supervise the remedial action, as specified, and governs the duties of the local officer and the terms of the agreement. Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board to exercise certain powers relating to water rights, water quality, and safe and reliable drinking water. Existing law also establishes the Department of Toxic Substances Control to enforce hazardous waste control laws. This bill would require the board, in cooperation with the department, to develop and implement a certification program for local officers who enter into remedial action agreements. The bill would establish the criteria for certification, and procedures for the review and revocation of that certification. On and after July 1, 2020, the bill would authorize only a local officer who is certified by the board pursuant to that program, or by the department, as specified, to enter into a remedial action agreement. The bill would also require a local officer administering a remedial action agreement to conduct a public notification process under a specified circumstance and would require the agreement to include specified additional terms.

Under existing law, the Medical Practice Act, it is unprofessional conduct for a physician and surgeon to fail to comply with prescribed informed consent requirements relating to various medical procedures, including sterilization procedures, the removal of sperm or ova from a patient under specified circumstances, and the treatment of breast cancer. Any violation of the law relating to enforcement of the Medical Practice Act is a misdemeanor, as specified. This bill would prohibit a treatment or intervention on the sex characteristics of a person born with variations in their physical sex characteristics who is under 6 years of age unless the treatment or intervention is medically necessary. The bill, on or before December 1, 2021, would require the Medical Board of California, in consultation with specified persons and entities, to adopt regulations to determine which treatments and interventions on the sex characteristics of a person born with variations in their physical sex characteristics who is under 6 years of age are medically necessary, as specified. Any violation of these provisions would be subject to disciplinary action by the board, but not criminal prosecution.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the PUC to adopt policies and programs that promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane. Existing law requires the PUC to adopt, by rule or order, standards for biomethane that specify the concentrations of constituents of concern that are reasonably necessary to protect public health and ensure pipeline integrity and safety, and that specify requirements for monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping. Existing law requires a gas corporation to comply with those standards and requirements and requires that gas corporation tariffs condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable customer meeting those standards and requirements. Existing law requests the California Council on Science and Technology to undertake and complete a study analyzing the regional and gas-corporation-specific issues relating to minimum heating value and maximum siloxane specifications adopted by the PUC for biomethane before it can be injected into common carrier gas pipelines. If the California Council on Science and Technology agrees to undertake and complete the study, existing law requires the PUC, within 6 months of its completion, to reevaluate requirements and standards adopted for injection of biomethane into common carrier pipelines and, if appropriate, change those requirements and standards or adopt new requirements and standards, giving due deference to the conclusions and recommendations made in the study. This bill would request the California Council on Science and Technology, in consultation with the PUC, the State Air Resources Board (state board) , and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to undertake and, within 12 months of entering into the contract, to complete a study analyzing the potential impacts of increased hydrogen concentration in the natural gas supply on the California natural gas system, to include specified information. If the California Council on Science and Technology agrees to undertake and complete the study, the bill would require the council, upon completion of the study, to transmit it to the PUC, the state board, and the Energy Commission for their consideration. The bill would require each gas corporation operating common carrier pipelines to proportionately contribute to the expenses to undertake the study, with the cost recoverable in rates. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.

(1) The Personal Income Tax Law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows 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. The law provides that the amount of the credit is calculated as a percentage of the eligible individual's earned income and is phased out above a specified amount as income increases. The law deems, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2019, the California Consumer Price Index as the greater of 3.1% or the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index for the recomputation of specified earned income amounts, phaseout amounts, and the amount of disqualified income that would disallow this credit. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2020, would deem the California Consumer Price Index as the greater of 3.5% or the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index for the recomputation of those specified amounts. The bill, for taxable years on and after January 1, 2019, would revise the calculation factors to increase the credit amount for specified taxpayers. The bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and until and including the taxable year in which the minimum wage is set at $15 per hour, would require specified, revised calculation factors to be recomputed annually in the same manner as the recomputation of income tax brackets for eligible individuals, but would require the Franchise Tax Board to recalculate the revised phaseout percentage in a manner that any eligible individual with an earned income of $30,000 per year would get credit equal to $0. This bill would allow a refundable young child tax credit against the taxes imposed under the Personal Income Tax Law, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, in an amount equal to $1,176 multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, not to exceed $1,000 per each qualified taxpayer per taxable year. The bill would require amounts of this credit in excess of the qualified taxpayer's tax liability to be paid to the qualified taxpayer from the Tax Relief and Refund Account. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account and provides that payments required to be made to taxpayers or other persons from the Personal Income Tax Fund are to be paid from that account, including any amount to be paid as an earned income tax credit in excess of any tax liabilities. By increasing the amount of the California Earned Income Tax Credit and allowing a refundable young child tax credit to be paid with funds from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, and thus, authorizing new payments from that account for additional amounts in excess of personal income tax liabilities, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing federal law, the Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE Act) , for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, encourages and assists individuals and families to save private funds for the purpose of supporting persons 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 federal law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, increases the amount of contributions allowed to an ABLE account, adds special rules for the increased contribution limit, and exempts from taxation distributions from a qualified tuition program, as defined, rolled into an ABLE account for taxable years beginning on or after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026. Existing federal law, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 expanded the definitions of "qualified higher educational expenses" and "qualified ABLE program." 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 prior to the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. Existing law creates the California ABLE Act Board and requires the board to provide an annual listing of distributions to individuals that have an interest in an ABLE account to the Franchise Tax Board, as provided. This bill would conform state tax law to those changes relating to qualified ABLE accounts made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. The bill would make a legislative finding and declaration that providing ABLE account beneficiaries the ability to contribute their own earnings to the ABLE account up to the federal poverty level and allowing Section 529 plan accounts to roll over to ABLE accounts eliminates differences in the qualification criteria for ABLE accounts under federal tax law and California tax law, and thus serves a public purpose and does not constitute a prohibited gift of public funds. (3) The Personal Income Tax Law provides an exclusion from gross income for the amount of student loan indebtedness repaid or canceled pursuant to a specified federal law. This bill would exclude from an individual's gross income the amount of student loan indebtedness discharged on or after December 31, 2011 due to the death or disability of the student, as provided. (4) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allow various deductions from gross income in computing adjusted gross income under those laws, including a deduction, as trade or business expense, of the premiums paid pursuant to an assessment by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This bill would conform to the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, by disallowing or limiting the amount specified taxpayers may deduct for these premiums depending on the amount of total consolidated assets, as defined, of the taxpayer. (5) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allow a deduction from gross income in computing adjusted gross income of ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business. Existing law prohibits a deduction from being allowed with respect to any covered employee of a publicly held corporation if the amount of applicable employee remuneration exceeds $1,000,000. This bill would conform to the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, by revising the definitions of covered employee and publicly held corporation to limit the amount those specified taxpayers may deduct for ordinary and necessary expenses. The bill would also disallow the performance-based compensation and commission exceptions with respect to the deduction limitation relating to covered employees. (6) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow net operating losses attributable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013, to be carrybacks to each of the preceding 2 taxable years, as provided. This bill would disallow the use of net operating loss carrybacks by individual and corporate taxpayers. (7) The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act allows a small business to use the cash method of accounting if its average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year do not exceed $25,000,000. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allows a small business to use the cash method of accounting if its average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year do not exceed $5,000,000. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would conform the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law to the increase to $25,000,000 made by the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the allowable amount of annual gross receipts of a small business allowed to use the cash method of accounting. The bill would allow a taxpayer to elect to have this conformity apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2019. (8) The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act exempts a corporation engaged in farming that has average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year not exceeding $25,000,000 from computing its taxable income by using the accrual method of accounting. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law exempt a corporation engaged in farming that has average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year not exceeding $5,000,000 from computing taxable income by using the accrual method of accounting. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would conform the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law to the increase to $25,000,000 made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the amount of average annual gross receipts of a farming corporation that is exempt from using the accrual method of accounting. The bill would allow a taxpayer to elect to have this conformity apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2019. The bill would also make conforming changes related to suspense allowances, as provided. (9) The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act exempts a taxpayer with average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year of $25,000,000 or less from the provisions that preclude the deduction of certain direct and indirect costs and determine whether those property costs are inventory costs or are capitalized. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law exempts a taxpayer with average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year of $10,000,000 or less from the provisions that preclude the deduction of certain direct and indirect costs and determine whether those property costs are inventory costs or are capitalized. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would conform the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law to the increase to $25,000,000 made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the amount of average annual gross receipts of a taxpayer exempt from those provisions precluding the deductibility of certain property costs and determining whether those costs are inventory costs or are capitalized. The bill would allow a taxpayer to elect to have this conformity apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2019. (10) The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act exempts a small business with average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year not exceeding $25,000,000 from the provisions that require a taxpayer to take inventories to clearly determine their income. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law conforms to the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to the requirement that a taxpayer take inventories to clearly determine their income, but does not allow an exemption. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would conform the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law to the exemption in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of a small business with average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year not exceeding $25,000,000 from the provisions that require a taxpayer to take inventories to clearly determine their income. The bill would allow a taxpayer to elect to have this conformity apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2019. (11) The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act exempts construction contracts entered into by a taxpayer with average annual gross receipts not exceeding $25,000,000 from the requirement that the taxable income from a long-term contract be determined by the percentage of completion method. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law exempts construction contracts entered into by a taxpayer with average annual gross receipts for the 3 taxable years ending with the prior taxable year not exceeding $10,000,000 from the requirement that the taxable income from a long-term contract be determined by the percentage of completion method. This bill would conform the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law to the exemption in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of construction contracts entered into by a taxpayer with average annual gross receipts not exceeding $25,000,000 from the requirement that the taxable income from a long-term contract be determined by the percentage of completion method. This conformity would apply to contracts entered into on or after the effective date of this act, as provided, and would allow, where applicable, a taxpayer to elect to have the conformity apply to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2018, and before the effective date of this act. (12) The Personal Income Tax Law generally allows a noncorporate taxpayer to deduct business losses from a pass through entity, like an "S" corporation. Under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026, excess business losses, as defined, of a noncorporate taxpayer are not allowed as a deduction and instead those losses must be carried forward and treated as a net operating loss in subsequent taxable years, as provided. This bill, for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2018, would provide modified conformity to the above-described limitation, including not conforming to the federal sunset date. (13) The Personal Income Tax Law conforms as of a specified date to federal income tax laws, January 1, 2015, and therefore allows for the termination of a partnership by the sale or exchange of 50% or more of the interest in a partnership within a 12-month period. The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed that provision of federal income tax law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018. This bill would conform to federal income tax law with regard to the termination of partnerships described above and would additionally allow a partnership to elect to have this conformity apply to partnership taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2019. This bill would make findings as to the public purpose served by the bill in this regard. (14) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, exclude the recognition of any gain or loss on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment, if that property is exchanged solely for property of a like kind that is to be held either for productive use in a trade or business or for investment, unless an exception applies. This bill would conform to federal income tax law, as amended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, by limiting that exclusion to the recognition of any gain or loss on the exchange of real property, except as otherwise provided. (15) The Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax laws, and when a taxpayer does not elect otherwise for purposes of state income tax law, allows a purchasing corporation to make an election that its qualified stock purchase, as defined, from a target corporation may be treated as an asset acquisition resulting in a step up in the basis of the stock. This bill would provide that if the above-described election for federal income tax purposes has been made or deemed to have been made, or not made or not deemed to have been made, by a taxpayer, a separate state election shall not be allowed. (16) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Planning and Zoning Law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards. Existing law requires the objective planning standards to include, among other things, that the development be located in a jurisdiction for which the department determines that the number of units that have been issued building permits is less than the local agency's share of the regional housing needs, by income category, for the applicable reporting period. This bill would, until January 1, 2035, provide specified financial incentives that ensure financial feasibility to a development proponent of a residential housing development in the 9-county San Francisco Bay area region that dedicates at least 20% of the development's housing units to households making no more than 150% of the area median income. The incentives provided to those developments include an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act, a density bonus of 35%, a waiver of local parking requirements, and a waiver of physical building requirements imposed on development by the local agency, such as green building standards. 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. This bill would require a development proponent to submit a request to the local agency on a project proforma that documents the necessity of the requested incentives to make the development financially feasible. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a list of market conditions to be included in the project proforma and to be considered by the local agency and a methodology for the local agency to evaluate and determine whether the requested financial incentives are necessary to ensure that the development is financially feasible. The bill would require the department to develop a process for a local agency to contract with a qualified development expert to review a project proforma. The bill would require local agencies to report all housing units created pursuant to these provisions to the department, and would require the department to adopt guidelines for local agencies to increase the concessions and incentives as needed to assure the financial feasibility and accelerated production of housing units. This bill would require a development subject to these provisions to be subject to a 12-month discretionary review period that may consist of no more than 2 public hearings. The 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 these incentives. The bill would allow a local agency to impose conditions of approval on a development if specified conditions are met. This bill would apply only to a residential development project on a site that is zoned for residential development, located in an urban area, as defined, and not located within a historic district, coastal zone, very high fire hazard severity zone, or flood plain. The bill would not apply to developments that would require the demolition of specified types of affordable housing. The bill would require a development subject to these provisions to comply with specified prevailing wage and skilled and trained workforce requirements. This bill would include findings that the changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities within the San Francisco Bay area, including charter cities. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Francisco Bay Area. By requiring local agencies to provide specified financial incentives to eligible housing developments, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.