Under existing law, programs have been established pursuant to bond acts for, among other things, drought, water, parks, climate, coastal protection, and outdoor access for all. This bill would enact the Climate Resiliency, Fire Risk Reduction, Recycling, Groundwater and Drinking Water Supply, Clean Beaches, and Jobs Infrastructure Bond Act of 2020, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in an unspecified amount pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a climate resiliency, fire risk reduction, recycling, groundwater and drinking water supply, clean beaches, and jobs infrastructure program. The bill would require the bond act to be submitted to the voters at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election.
Sponsored bills
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.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, excludes from the gross income of a beneficiary of, or contributor to, a qualified tuition program, which includes a Golden State Scholarshare College Savings Trust, distributions or earnings under that program, as specified. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, would allow under that law a deduction against gross income in the amount equal to the monetary contribution made by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to the California qualified tuition program established pursuant to the Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act not to exceed either $5,000 or $10,000, as provided. The bill would require, with exceptions, in the case of any distribution in excess of qualified higher education expenses, as defined, the aggregate amount of the deduction allowed that reduced the qualified taxpayer's gross income in any taxable year to be added to the gross income of the qualified taxpayer in the taxable year of the distribution, as provided. The bill would require the Scholarshare Investment Board to report to the Legislature, on an annual basis, specified data related to this deduction and Scholarshare accounts and would require the Franchise Tax Board to provide certain information to the Scholarshare Investment Board upon request. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law requires the Secretary of State to provide every high school, community college, and California State University and University of California campus with voter registration forms. Existing law also expresses the intent of the Legislature that every eligible high school and college student receive a meaningful opportunity to apply to register to vote. This bill would create the High School Voter Education Pilot Program to be conducted in Yolo County. Under the pilot program, the Yolo County Elections Office and Yolo County Office of Education would be authorized to conduct mock student government elections on designated high school campuses, using, to the extent possible, the same standards, processes, and voting equipment used in the county for regularly-conducted elections. This bill would require the administering agencies to provide voter registration and preregistration opportunities for eligible students in conjunction with the program, and would require the administering agencies to report to the Legislature regarding the outcome of the program, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027. (2) Existing law directs the Secretary of State to adopt regulations requiring each county to design and implement voter outreach programs intended to identify qualified electors who are not registered voters, and to register those persons to vote, including regulations prescribing minimum requirements for those programs. Existing law further provides that if the Secretary of State finds that a county has not designed and implemented a program meeting prescribed minimum requirements, the Secretary of State is required to design a program for the county and report the violation to the Attorney General. This bill would require the Secretary of State, in adopting those regulations, to require each county to periodically update its programs. This bill would also require the Secretary of State to periodically update the Secretary's own regulations promulgated pursuant to this provision. By imposing a new statutory duty on each county, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to provide grants for voter outreach purposes. This bill would broaden the purposes of the voter outreach grant program described above, and it would permit the Secretary of State to provide grant funding pursuant to that provision. (3) 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 categories of peace officers with varying powers and authority to make arrests and carry firearms. Under existing law, in certain counties, a deputy sheriff, who is employed to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial assignments with responsibilities for maintaining the operations of county custodial facilities, is a peace officer whose authority extends to any place in the state only while engaged in the performance of the duties of the officer's employment and for the purpose of carrying out the primary function of employment relating to the officer's custodial assignments, or when performing other law enforcement duties directed by the officer's employing agency during a local state of emergency. This bill would include a deputy sheriff employed by the County of Del Norte, the County of Mono, or the County of San Mateo within that definition of peace officers.
(1) Existing law requires the last 2 full weeks in April and in September to be known as "high school voter education weeks," during which time persons authorized by the county elections official are allowed to register to vote pupils and school personnel on high school campuses. This bill would instead make January and September "high school voter education months." (2) Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to ensure voter education information is included in the American government and civics curriculum at the high school level, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to develop educational programming to provide designated voter education information to pupils in grade 12 in high schools maintained by a school district, county office of education, or charter school. The bill would require county elections officials to customize the educational programming to include information specific to that county's election system. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to implement the educational programming during a presentation or assembly at the high school campus. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to offer pupils the opportunity to register or preregister to vote during the presentation or assembly at the high school campus. The bill would specify methods through which the registration or preregistration could be accomplished. To the extent the bill would create new duties for county elections officials, school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.
This measure would recognize September 2020 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and encourage the Legislature to appropriate funds for research, treatment, and monitoring of sickle cell disease, and for related education and outreach.
Existing law, including, but not limited to, property tax law, the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, the Corporation Tax Law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, the law governing the taxation of insurers, the Use Fuel Tax Law, and the Diesel Fuel Tax Law provide for tax expenditures, including exemptions, deductions, exclusions, and credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would establish in state government the California Tax Expenditure Review Board as an independent advisory body to comprehensively assess major tax expenditures, as defined, and make recommendations to the Legislature. The bill would require the board to be composed of 5 members, as specified, who would serve without compensation. This bill would request the University of California, through a new or existing research center, to perform a comprehensive assessment of the major tax expenditures and to present a comprehensive, peer-reviewed assessment to the board by July 1, 2021, at a public hearing of the board. The bill, to the extent that the University of California needs access to taxpayer data and information, would require the Franchise Tax Board or the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to ensure relevant taxpayer data is made available and ensure appropriate levels of data security and protections are in place for transferred and sensitive data. This bill would set forth the scope of the comprehensive assessment, which would include certain specified information, including a brief description of the beneficiaries of the tax expenditure, and would require the board to post the comprehensive assessment on its internet website after receipt. The bill would require the board to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding the major tax expenditures, and to provide a report to the Legislature that compiles all of its recommendations regarding those tax expenditures, after a vote of the members of the board, by January 1, 2022, as specified. The bill would also require the board to submit the report to the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance, the Assembly Committee on Budget, and the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, and post it on its internet website. The bill would require the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance and the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, after receipt of the report by the Legislature, to hold a joint public hearing on the report by August 15 of the second year of the legislative session.
Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenue to local jurisdictions in accordance with specified formulas and procedures, subject to certain modifications. Existing law requires an annual reallocation of property tax revenue from local agencies in each county to the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) in that county for allocation to specified educational entities. Existing law authorizes certain local agencies to form an enhanced infrastructure financing district, affordable housing authority, transit village development district, or community revitalization and investment authority for purposes of, among other things, infrastructure, affordable housing, and economic revitalization. This bill would establish in state government the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Program, which would be administered by the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee. The bill would authorize a city, county, city and county, joint powers agency, enhanced infrastructure financing district, affordable housing authority, community revitalization and investment authority, transit village development district, or a combination of those entities, to apply to the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee to participate in the program and would authorize the committee to approve or deny plans for projects meeting specific criteria. The bill would also authorize certain local agencies to establish an affordable housing and community development investment agency and authorize an agency to apply for funding under the program and issue bonds, as provided, to carry out a project under the program. The bill would require the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee to adopt guidelines for plans. Subject to the Legislature enacting a budget bill for the applicable fiscal year that specifies the amount for the committee to allocate pursuant to the program, the bill would require the committee to approve no more than $200,000,000 per year from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2026, and $250,000,000 per year from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2030, in transfers from a county's ERAF for applicants for plans approved pursuant to this program. This bill would provide that eligible projects include, among other things, the predevelopment, development, acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of workforce and affordable housing, certain transit-oriented development, and projects promoting strong neighborhoods. The bill would require the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee, upon approval of a plan and subject to specified conditions, to issue an order directing the county auditor to transfer an amount of ad valorem property tax revenue that is equal to the affordable housing and community development investment amount approved by the committee, except as provided, from the county's ERAF. The bill would require the county auditor to either deposit that amount into the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Fund, which this bill would create in the treasury of each county, or, if the applicant is a specified type of authority or special district to transfer to the city or county that created the authority or district an amount of property tax revenue equal to the amount approved by the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee for that authority or district. The bill would require the city or county that created the district to, upon receipt, transfer those funds to the authority or district in an amount equal to the affordable housing and community development investment amount for that authority or district. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize applicants to use approved amounts to incur debt or issue bonds or other financing to support an approved project. The bill also would require each applicant that has received funding to submit annual reports, as specified, and would require the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee to provide a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, if it approves funding under the program, that includes certain project information. Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution sets forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts for each fiscal year. This bill would require the Director of Finance to adjust the percentage of General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts and community college districts for these purposes in a manner that ensures that the transfers from a county's ERAF pursuant to the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Program have no net fiscal impact upon the total amount of the General Fund revenue and local property tax revenue allocated to school districts and community college districts pursuant to Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, as specified. 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.