(1) The Enterprise Zone Act provides for the designation and oversight by the Department of Housing and Community Development of various types of economic development areas throughout the state, including enterprise zones, targeted tax areas, local agency military base recovery areas (LAMBRAs) , and Manufacturing Enhancement Areas, collectively known as geographically targeted economic development areas, or G-TEDAs. Pursuant to these provisions, qualifying entities in those areas may receive certain tax and regulatory incentives. This bill would rename the act as the California Economic and Community Development Zone Act. This bill would delete the provisions governing Manufacturing Enhancement Areas and targeted tax areas, and make various revisions in the requirements for designating and administering enterprise zones and LAMBRAs, and G-TEDAs collectively. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize a taxpayer to claim certain tax incentives for activities conducted in an enterprise zone or a LAMBRA, including a credit for a specified percentage of wages paid during the taxable year to a qualified employee, as defined, who is employed by the taxpayer during the taxable year in an enterprise zone or a LAMBRA. This bill would, with respect to employees hired before January 1, 2011, increase specified requirements for an individual to be a qualified employee for purposes of the enterprise zone hiring credits, and make other specified changes relating to the requirements for a taxpayer to take advantage of the credits. This bill would, with respect to employees hired after January 1, 2011, revise the enterprise zone hiring credit, so that the credit would be available only for a qualified employee for each of the first 3 years of employment and modify the applicable percentage amounts. This bill would impose new requirements for a taxpayer claiming this credit, including a registration requirement made under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also limit the carryover period to 15 years. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, and before January 1, 2013, impose a specified 50% overall limitation on these credits, as provided. (3) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow a credit in an amount equal to the amount of sales or use tax paid in connection with qualified property that is purchased and placed in service during the taxable year by a taxpayer engaged in a trade or business in an enterprise zone, targeted tax area, or LAMBRA, and allow unused credits to be carried over indefinitely to subsequent taxable years. This bill would require the taxpayer to register, as specified, a business in an enterprise zone, targeted tax area, or a LAMBRA before the taxpayer can claim a credit, and would limit the carryover period to 15 years. This bill would also impose a specified 50% overall limitation on these credits as provided. (4) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow deductions in the amount of net interest received by a taxpayer in payment of a debt of a person or entity engaged in a trade or business in an enterprise zone. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, and before January 1, 2013, limit the amount of these deductions to 50% of the net interest received by a taxpayer in payment of debt, as specified. (5) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow specified credits for hiring employees in a targeted tax area and manufacturing enhancement area. This bill would limit the credits to qualified employees hired by a qualified taxpayer before January 1, 2011. (6) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow a deduction for a net operating loss of a person or entity engaged in business in an enterprise zone or a LAMBRA, and any unused net operating losses to be a net operating loss carryover to other years, as specified. This bill would allow a deduction for those net operating losses only for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2011, but would allow any unused net operating losses to continue to be carried to other years as provided. (7) 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. (8) 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 XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. (9) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law provides that every person who maliciously commits any act to deface, damage, or destroy any real or personal property not his or her own, in cases other than those specified by state law, is guilty of vandalism. Existing law provides that any person who knowingly commits any act of vandalism to a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, building owned and occupied by a religious educational institution, or other place primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are regularly conducted, or a cemetery is guilty of a crime. Existing law also provides that any person who willfully and maliciously injects into or throws upon, or otherwise defaces, damages, destroys, or contaminates, any structure with butyric acid, or any other similar noxious or caustic chemical or substance, is guilty of a public offense. Existing law requires a court, upon conviction of any person under those provisions for acts of vandalism consisting of defacing property with graffiti or other inscribed materials, when appropriate and feasible, in addition to any other punishment that the court may impose in the form of a fine or imprisonment, or both, to order the defendant to clean up, repair, or replace the damaged property himself or herself, or order the defendant, and his or her parents or guardians if the defendant is a minor, to keep the damaged property or another specified property in the community free of graffiti for up to one year. This bill would, in addition to the punishment imposed under the above provisions, require the court to impose a $30 graffiti abatement program fine for deposit into the Graffiti Abatement Program Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, that the moneys in the fund be allocated to city and county graffiti abatement programs in proportion to the number of convictions occurring in each city or county that has a graffiti abatement program. (2) Existing law requires the court, for every conviction of a person for a violation of offenses described in paragraph (1) , to suspend the person's driving privilege for not more than 2 years, except when the court finds that a personal or family hardship exists that requires the person to have a driver's license for his or her own, or a member of his or her family's, employment, school, or medically related purposes. Existing law also requires the court, if the person convicted does not yet have the privilege to drive, to order the Department of Motor Vehicles to delay issuing the privilege to drive for not less than one year nor more than 3 years subsequent to the time the person becomes legally eligible to drive. Existing law, if there is no further conviction for violating the provisions of paragraph (1) in a 12-month period after the conviction, authorizes the court, upon petition of the person affected, to modify the order imposing the delay of the privilege. This bill would delete the exceptions from these provisions and the court's discretion to modify the order imposing the delay of a person's driving privilege.
(1) Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires the meetings of the legislative body of a local agency to be conducted openly and publicly, with specified exceptions. Existing law requires that the legislative body of a local agency post an agenda, as specified, at least 72 hours before a regular meeting of that body, and prohibits the legislative body from acting on or discussing any item not appearing on the agenda, except as provided. Existing law requires that agendas of public meetings and any other writings, when distributed to all, or a majority of all, of the members of the legislative body of a local agency in connection with a matter subject to discussion or consideration at an open meeting of the body, are disclosable public records under the California Public Records Act. Existing law establishes a procedure for the disclosure of any writings that are distributed less than 72 hours prior to the meeting. This bill would require the legislative body of a local agency to post the agenda and specified staff generated reports that relate to items on the agenda on its Internet Web site, if any, as specified. The bill would require the legislative body of the local agency, if it does not have an Internet Web site, to disclose on the posted agenda a public location where the agency would make an applicable staff generated report available for copying and inspection by a member of the public for at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. The bill would prohibit the legislative body from acting on or discussing an item on the agenda for which a related staff generated report was not properly disclosed at least 72 hours prior to the meeting, except as provided. By expanding the duties of local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law establishes an alternative voluntary redevelopment program whereby a redevelopment agency would be authorized to continue to exist upon the enactment of an ordinance by the community to comply with specified provisions. A city or county that participates in the program is required to make remittances to the county auditor-controller for deposit in the Special District Allocation Fund, with remaining funds deposited in the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund. Existing law prescribes the amount a participating community is required to remit for the 2012–13 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter. This bill would modify the calculation of the remittance a participating community is required to make for the 2012–13 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter.
Existing law creates the Department of Transportation, within the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, under the administration of the Director of Transportation, who is required to organize the department, as specified, with the approval of the Governor and the Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. This bill would make a nonsubstantive, grammatical change to that provision.
The Community Redevelopment Law authorizes the establishment of redevelopment agencies in communities in order to address the effects of blight, as defined, in those communities and requires those agencies to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and approve a redevelopment plan for each project area. Existing law authorizes the legislative body to amend or modify the plan by ordinance upon the recommendation of the agency and establishes procedural requirements and restrictions related to amendment of the plan. This bill would authorize the planning commission or city council of the City of Watsonville to amend a specified preliminary plan and redevelopment plan, respectively, to add described territory, known as the Manabe-Bergstrom Site, currently referred to as the Manabe-Ow site. The bill would make a legislative declaration regarding the need for a special statute.
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs within state government and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, administration of veterans benefits programs. Existing law also establishes the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is charged with various duties, including reviewing applications and issuing drivers' licenses. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop and maintain a program for the issuance of identification cards establishing California residency to any eligible person, as defined, who is the spouse, domestic partner, or dependent child of a member or veteran of the armed services of the United States or the California National Guard, in accordance with specified requirements. Possession of a valid California residency identification card would be evidence that the person is a California resident for the purposes of entitlement to benefits at all state and local offices. The bill would require each office of the Department of Motor Vehicles to perform various duties with respect to distribution, collection, and processing of the application forms and issuing the identification cards. Among other responsibilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs would be responsible for developing protocols to be used by it and the Department of Motor Vehicles in administering the program. (2) Existing law includes various public social services programs to provide for protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services, by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Counties are responsible for administrating these programs, such as CalWORKs, Medi-Cal, and in-home supportive services. State funds are continuously appropriated to pay for a share of costs under the CalWORKs program. Existing federal law limits eligibility of aliens for federal public benefits to those who satisfy the definition of a qualified alien, with specified exceptions. Existing federal law similarly limits the provision of state or local public benefits, but authorizes a state to provide state and local public benefits, as defined, to an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States by enactment of a state law that affirmatively provides for that eligibility. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, would make the spouse or domestic partner, or a dependent natural or adopted child or stepchild, of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in this state who is, or was, on active duty at any time on or after January 1, 1991, eligible to apply for and receive defined state and local public social services benefits to the same extent as any other applicant or recipient, regardless of the individual's immigration status, as specified. This bill would make an appropriation by expanding eligibility for the CalWORKs program. In addition, the bill would increase the duties of counties administering public social services programs, thereby imposing 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 these statutory provisions.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified information in specified formatting. The act requires that each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk. This bill would instead require that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk if the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer has received payment to include the candidate or ballot measure in the slate mailer. The bill would also recast the language of the prescribed notice to voters that must be included on a slate mailer. The act also regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act places certain disclosure requirements on advertisements for or against any ballot measure, including that the advertisement disclose any person who has made cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more, as prescribed. The act places more specific disclosure requirements on broadcast or mass mailing advertisements that are paid for by independent expenditures that support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure. This bill would repeal provisions relating to disclosures for advertisements paid for by an independent expenditure and required disclosures of persons who have made cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more. This bill would, instead, impose specified disclosure requirements on radio, television, and video advertisements, and certain mass mailing and print advertisements that support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure or solicit contributions in support of those purposes. The bill would require advertisements that are authorized by a candidate or agent of the candidate to include a statement in which the candidate identifies himself or herself and states that he or she approves the message. The bill would require advertisements that are not authorized by a candidate or an agent of the candidate to disclose, in a prescribed format, the 3 largest identifiable contributors, as defined, of the committee that paid for the advertisement. The bill would require mass mailings or print advertisements that are paid for by certain persons who are not committees to disclose the name of that person as the funder of the mass mailing or print advertisement. The bill would also require that certain committees establish and maintain a committee disclosure Internet Web site, as defined, which discloses the top 5 identifiable contributors and provides a link to the Internet Web site maintained by the Secretary of State for campaign finance disclosures of the committee. The bill would require these advertisements to identify the address for the committee disclosure Internet Web site. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.