The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law, including for a qualified renter, defined as an individual who rented and occupied premises in this state which constituted his or her principal place of residence during at least 50% of the taxable year, in a specified amount based on adjusted gross income, as provided. This bill would allow, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2019, a credit in an amount equal to the increase in rent of a qualified residence in specified counties for the taxable year compared to the previous taxable year that is paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer, which is defined as a senior citizen meeting a certain low-income requirements. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
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The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, under both laws, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2021, or an earlier date in the event of a specified occurrence, would allow a credit to a taxpayer participating in a lawn replacement rebate program, as defined, in an amount equal to 25% of the costs paid or incurred by the taxpayer to replace conventional lawn on the qualified taxpayer's property during that taxable year, not to exceed $1,500, as specified. The bill would make findings and declarations in this regard. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law makes it unlawful for any business making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer in this state to, among other things, fail to present the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner. This bill would require the cancellation policy of a personal, nonessential services contract, as defined, in any automatically renewed contract under these provisions to include the right of the consumer to cancel for any reason upon 30 days' written notice to the business and also include a statement describing the procedure to cancel the contact. The bill would permit the company to charge a cancellation fee, not to exceed 3 months' charges, for a cancellation within the contract term.
Existing law provides specified requirements in awarding certain public contracts. This bill would authorize the Governor to sign agreements required by the United States Olympic Committee as part of the bid process for the City of Los Angeles or the City and County of San Francisco to become the United States applicant city and candidate city for the 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations that, among other things, the endorsing municipality, as defined, has developed a self-sufficient bid for financing the games. This bill would authorize the Governor to enter into an agreement for the state to be jointly liable, not to exceed a specified amount, with the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) , as specified, for obligations of the OCOG, and for any financial deficit relating to the games, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law creates the California Transportation Commission, with specified powers and duties relating to allocation of transportation capital funds through the state transportation improvement program process and various other responsibilities. Existing law provides for a commission of 13 members, composed of 9 members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, one member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, one member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and, as ex officio nonvoting members, one Member of the Assembly and one Member of the Senate. This bill would expand the commission to 15 members, with one additional Member of the Assembly and one additional Member of the Senate as ex officio nonvoting members. Existing law provides various sources of funding for transportation purposes, including the state highway system and local street and road systems. These funding sources include, among others, fuel excise taxes, vehicle weight fees, local transactions and use taxes, and federal funds. This bill would state findings and declarations and the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to find a funding stream to supplement the fuel excise tax for transportation infrastructure projects in California.
Existing law, with certain exceptions, establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek, and requires payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement of labor laws, including wage claims. Existing federal law provides for the allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states, with California's version of this program known as the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Under the CalWORKs program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, and is prohibited from applying sanctions upon a recipient of CalWORKs for a failure or refusal to comply with program requirements for reasons related to employment, an offer of employment, an activity, or other training for employment for specified reasons, including, but not limited to, that the employment, offer of employment, or work activity does not provide workers' compensation insurance. Existing law establishes a statewide program to enable eligible low-income persons to receive food stamps under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, and requires counties to implement the program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to work hour scheduling for employees of food and general retail establishments. The bill would require a food and general retail establishment, as defined, to provide its employees with at least 2 weeks' notice of their schedules. The bill would require a food and general retail establishment to pay those employees additional pay, as specified, for each previously scheduled shift that the food and general retail establishment moves to another date or time or cancels and each previously unscheduled shift that the food and general retail establishment requires an employee to work, and would also require a food and general retail establishment to pay those employees a specified amount for each on-call shift for which the employee is required to be available but is not called in to work. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply in certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, when operations cannot begin or continue due to causes not within the food and general retail establishment's control. The bill would also require a food and general retail establishment to allow an employee to, upon request, be absent from work without pay for up to 8 hours twice a year to attend any required appointments at the county human services agency, provided that the employee gives reasonable advance notice to the employer of his or her intention to take time off, unless advance notice is not feasible. The bill would prohibit an employer from taking any action against an employee when an unscheduled absence occurs due to a required appointment at the county human services agency if that employee provides specified documentation from the county human services agency. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to promulgate all regulations and rules of practice and procedure necessary to carry out these provisions. The bill would also prohibit sanctions from being applied upon a recipient of CalWORKs for failure or refusal to comply with CalWORKs program requirements if the employment or offer of employment fails to comply with these provisions. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
This measure would proclaim January 26, 2016, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.
Existing law generally requires local agencies to provide each newly hired police officer and deputy sheriff with a pistol and other specified equipment. This bill would require the Board of State and Community Corrections to develop a grant program to make funds available to local law enforcement entities to purchase body-worn cameras and related data storage and equipment, and to hire personnel necessary to operate a local body-worn camera program. The bill would create the Body-worn Camera Fund, that would continuously appropriate funds to the board for those purposes. Existing law creates the State Penalty Fund into which moneys collected by the courts from the imposition of fines, forfeitures, or penalties on criminal offenses are deposited. Once a month, certain percentages of money in that fund are transferred into other funds, including, among others, the Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund. This bill would delete the transfer requirement for the Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund and instead require a transfer to the Body-worn Camera Fund. By transferring general fund moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
This measure would proclaim the month of January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, encourage all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders, and encourage Members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, establishes the California State Board of Pharmacy and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the licensing and regulation of pharmacists. Existing law makes a knowing violation of these provisions a crime. Existing law requires every prescription, as defined, to include a legible, clear notice of the condition or purpose for which the drug is prescribed, if requested by the patient. Existing law prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing any prescription unless it is in a specified container that is correctly labeled to include, among other information, the condition or purpose for which the drug was prescribed, if the condition or purpose is indicated on the prescription. This bill would instead require that every prescription include a legible, clear notice of the condition or purpose for which the drug is prescribed, and would authorize the prescriber or patient to request that this information not be included in the prescription container label. This bill would, similarly, require that every prescription container be correctly labeled to include that information, unless omission of that information has been requested by the prescriber or patient. By establishing these additional requirements, the knowing violation of which would be a crime, 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.