Asm. Jeff Gonzalez

The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes on taxable income, as provided. Under existing law, every employer who pays wages to a resident employee for services performed either within or without this state, or to a nonresident employee for services performed in this state, is required to deduct and withhold from those wages, except as provided, for each payroll, a tax computed in an amount substantially equivalent to the amount reasonably estimated to be due under the Personal Income Tax Law. Under existing law, every employer required to withhold those taxes is required to, for each calendar quarter, file a withholding report, a quarterly return, and a report of wages in a form prescribed by the Employment Development Department, and pay over the taxes required to be withheld. This bill would authorize an employer to claim a credit in an amount equal to the amount of overtime wages, as defined, paid during that quarter to specified agricultural employees covered by a certain wage order. The bill would require the credit to be claimed on the employer's report of contributions, quarterly return, and report of wages, or in an electronic funds transfer, as specified. The bill would prohibit the total amount claimed in any given quarter from exceeding the amount that would have been remitted for that quarter to the Employment Development Department for employee withholdings.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the Director of Health Care Services to establish administrative appeal processes to review grievances or complaints arising from the findings of an audit or examination. Under existing law, if recovery of a disallowed payment has been made by the department, a provider who prevails in an appeal of that payment is entitled to interest at the rate equal to the monthly average received on investments in the Surplus Money Investment Fund, or simple interest at the rate of 7% per annum, whichever is higher. Under existing law, with exceptions, interest at that same rate is assessed against any unrecovered overpayment due to the department. In the case of an assessment against any unrecovered overpayment due to the department, this bill would require the department to waive the interest, as part of a repayment agreement entered into with the provider, if the latest date of service for a retroactive payment adjustment or audit period end date for the unrecovered overpayment occurred 4 or more years before the issuance of the first statement of account status or demand for repayment, and the department determines that certain factors apply. Under the bill, those factors would include, among others, the impact of the repayment amounts on the fiscal solvency of the provider, and whether the overpayment was caused by a policy change or departmental error that was not caused by the billing provider. The bill would preserve the rights of the department to seek all remedies available at law if a provider defaults on a repayment plan. This bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions, in whole or in part, by means of information notices, all-county letters, or other similar instructions without taking regulatory action.

Existing law establishes various commissions within state government, including the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, which is required to act as an information center on issues that affect the lives of women and girls. Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim various days as holidays and days of remembrance. This bill would, until January 1, 2029, establish the California Commission on the United States Semiquincentennial, with membership as prescribed, to plan and coordinate commemorations and observances of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. The bill would charge the commission with various responsibilities in this regard, including developing and promoting educational programs, community events, and public exhibits commemorating the semiquincentennial. The bill would require that the commission operate as an independent advisory body supported entirely by private funding and in-kind contributions, and would establish the Semiquincentennial Fund, held by the Treasurer, to receive private contributions and federal grants, which the bill would make available for the commission's activities upon appropriation. The bill would prohibit the commission from transacting any business or exercising its powers until the Controller has certified that there are sufficient funds in the Semiquincentennial Fund available to support the commission's activities without requiring state financial resources. If the Controller determines that sufficient funds are not available by February 1, 2026, the bill would require that the commission be dissolved and that any remaining funds in the Semiquincentennial Fund be returned to contributors on a pro rata basis, as specified. By authorizing the expenditure of these funds for return to contributors under certain circumstances, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the records, files, and other memoranda of the commission, other than any private possessions, to be deposited and filed with the State Archives on or before December 31, 2028.

Existing law authorizes a community college district to enter into a College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnership with the governing board of a school district, a county office of education, or the governing body of a charter school with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer, improving high school graduation rates, or helping high school pupils achieve college and career readiness. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in collaboration with the dual enrollment advisory board, which the bill would establish, to develop a statewide dual enrollment framework to provide guidance for how dual enrollment programs should operate in the state to reach specified goals. The bill would require the dual enrollment advisory board membership to be composed of specified individuals, as provided. The bill would require the Superintendent and the advisory board, in developing the framework, to do certain things, including, among others, reviewing existing laws, policies, and efforts in California and other states on dual enrollment, course choice, pupil remediation, articulation and transfer, and transition courses, and providing a guide of best practices to accomplish specified dual enrollment-related policies. The bill would require the Superintendent to, by January 1, 2027, submit the framework to certain legislative committees, as provided.

The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. The act makes $135,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Office of Emergency Services for a wildfire mitigation grant program to provide, among other things, loans, direct assistance, and matching funds for projects that prevent wildfires, increase resilience, maintain existing wildfire risk reduction projects, reduce the risk of wildfires to communities, or increase home or community hardening. The act provides that eligible projects include, but are not limited to, grants to local agencies, state agencies, joint powers authorities, tribes, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, and nonprofit organizations for structure hardening of critical community infrastructure, wildfire smoke mitigation, evacuation centers, including community clean air centers, structure hardening projects that reduce the risk of wildfire for entire neighborhoods and communities, water delivery system improvements for fire suppression purposes for communities in very high or high fire hazard areas, wildfire buffers, and incentives to remove structures that significantly increase hazard risk. This bill would include in the list of eligible projects grants to the above-mentioned entities for improvements to public evacuation routes in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, mobile rigid dip tanks, as defined, to support firefighting efforts, prepositioned mobile rigid water storage, as defined, and improvements to the response and effectiveness of fire engines and helicopters. The bill would also include grants, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission, to local agencies, state agencies, special districts, joint powers authorities, tribes, and nonprofit organizations for backup electrical generators for water reservoirs.

The hazardous waste control laws require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to regulate the handling and management of hazardous waste and hazardous materials. Existing law requires a generator of hazardous waste to pay to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration a generation and handling fee for each generator site, and requires the Board of Environmental Safety to establish a schedule of rates for the fee, as provided. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. Existing law generally exempts geothermal waste that is generated from the exploration, development, or production of geothermal energy and that does not result from drilling for geothermal resources from the hazardous waste control laws. Existing law limits that exemption under various circumstances, including, among other circumstances, when the waste is no longer contained in a piping system, nonearthen trench, or other specified form of containment, or is left in a lined surface impoundment 18 months after the date the surface impoundment has last received waste. This bill would limit the generation and handling fee rate for geothermal waste that is not exempt from the hazardous waste control laws to no more than $10 per ton.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to conduct various programs related to disease prevention and health promotion, including a program for identifying, screening, and providing followup care related to exposure to diethylstilbestrol while pregnant, which can cause fetal abnormalities. Existing law states the intention of the Legislature to fund this program in subsequent fiscal years through the normal budgetary process. This bill would direct, upon appropriation of funds, as specified, the State Department of Public Health, by January 1, 2028, to develop and administer a program related to drug-induced movement disorder awareness, as specified. The bill would repeal the program on January 1, 2032. The bill would include related findings and declarations.

Existing law requires a pupil to complete designated coursework while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to receive a diploma of graduation from high school. The coursework requirements include, among others, the completion of one course in visual or performing arts, foreign language, or career technical education. Existing law eliminates the authorization for career technical education to count toward that graduation requirement on July 1, 2027, or upon the occurrence of a specified event relating to career technical education requirements of the University of California and the California State University, whichever occurs earlier, as specified. This bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, would delete the above-described authorization and instead would indefinitely require, commencing with pupils graduating in the 2031–32 school year, the completion of a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in career technical education, that is prohibited from being combined with any other course, as a high school graduation requirement. The bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, would require school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools with pupil in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to, commencing with the 2028–29 school year, offer a separate, stand-alone one-semester course in career technical education, that is prohibited from being combined with any other course. To the extent that the bill imposes new duties on school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, the 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.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines gross income as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, would provide an exclusion from gross income for amounts received from a settlement entity, as defined, by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to replace property that is located in a city or county in this state and that was damaged or destroyed by a disaster or accidental or human-caused event for which a state of emergency or local emergency, as defined, was proclaimed. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. 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 allow credits against the tax imposed by the Personal Income Tax Law for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, to a qualified taxpayer for qualified costs relating to qualified home hardening, as defined, and for qualified costs relating to qualified vegetation management, as defined, in specified amounts, not to exceed an aggregate amount of $50,000,000 per taxable year. This bill would require a qualified taxpayer to reserve a credit for qualified costs relating to qualified home hardening or qualified vegetation management to be eligible for the above-described credits and provide all necessary information for this purpose, as specified. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit and would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare a written report regarding the credits, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.