The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. The Sales and Use Tax Law, in lieu of specified credits allowed under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, allows a qualified taxpayer or affiliate to make an irrevocable election to apply that income tax credit amount against qualified sales and use taxes imposed on the qualified taxpayer in the reporting periods in the 5 years following the reporting period for which the claimant was required to file its most recent sales and use tax return, as specified. Existing law requires any 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 allow a credit against the personal income and corporate income taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2021, to a qualified small business employer that receives a tentative credit reservation, in an amount equal to $1,000 for each net increase in qualified employees, not to exceed one $100,000 for any qualified small business employer. The bill would authorize a qualified small business employer that received a tentative credit reservation to irrevocably elect to apply the credit against qualified sales and use taxes imposed on the qualified small business employer in reporting periods commencing on January 1, 2021, and until April 30, 2026, as specified. The bill would require a qualified small business employer to submit an application to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration for a tentative credit reservation under these provisions that includes, among other things, whether the qualified small business employer is making the irrevocable election, and would require the department to allocate the credit reservations on a first-come, first-served basis, not to cumulatively exceed $100,000,000. This bill would create the Small Business Hiring Credit Fund in the State Treasury for the sole purpose of applying the credits allowed by the bill against qualified sales and use taxes and would require any unused money remaining in the fund to be transferred to the General Fund by June 1, 2026. This bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
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Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Under the ABC test, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of the ABC test described above. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously adopted in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. Existing exemptions include persons providing professional services under specified circumstances, including certain services provided by still photographers, photojournalists, freelance writers, editors, and newspaper cartoonists. This bill would revise and recast these provisions. The bill would additionally exempt certain occupations in connection with creating, marketing, promoting, or distributing sound recordings or musical compositions. The bill would also exempt a musician or musical group for the purpose of a single-engagement live performance event, unless certain conditions apply, and would define related terms. The bill would also exempt an individual performance artist presenting material that is their original work and creative in character and the result of which depends primarily on the individual's invention, imagination, or talent, if certain conditions are satisfied. This bill would delete the existing professional services exemptions for services provided by still photographers, photojournalists, freelance writers, editors, and newspaper cartoonists. The bill would, instead, establish an exemption for services provided by a still photographer, photojournalist, videographer, or photo editor, as defined, who works under a written contract that specifies certain terms, subject to prescribed restrictions. The bill would establish an exemption for services provided to a digital content aggregator, as defined, by a still photographer, photojournalist, videographer, or photo editor. The bill would establish an exemption for services provided by a fine artist, freelance writer, translator, editor, content contributor, advisor, narrator, cartographer, producer, copy editor, illustrator, or newspaper cartoonist who works under a written contract that specifies certain terms, subject to prescribed restrictions. This bill would create additional exemptions for various professions and occupations. In this regard, the bill would exempt from the ABC test people who provide underwriting inspections and other services for the insurance industry, a manufactured housing salesperson, subject to certain obligations, people engaged by an international exchange visitor program, as specified, consulting services, animal services, and competition judges with specialized skills, as specified. The bill would also create exceptions for licensed landscape architects, specialized performers teaching master classes, registered professional foresters, real estate appraisers and home inspectors, and feedback aggregators. The bill would revise the conditions pursuant to which business service providers providing services pursuant to contract to another business are exempt. The bill would revise the criteria pursuant to which referral agencies and service providers providing services to clients through referral agencies are exempt and would revise applicable definitions. The bill would also create an exemption for business-to-business relationships between 2 or more sole proprietors, as specified. The bill would provide that a hiring entity need only satisfy all of the conditions of one of the exemption provisions to qualify for the exemption from the ABC Test. Existing law authorizes an action for injunctive relief to prevent misclassification of employees, to be prosecuted against a putative employer by the Attorney General or a city attorney. This bill would also authorize a district attorney to prosecute an action for injunctive relief. Existing provisions of tax law define "employee" for purposes of those provisions. This bill would make conforming changes to tax law regarding the determination of the status of a worker as either an employee or an independent contractor per the criteria described above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission and authorizes the commission to exercise ratemaking and rulemaking authority over all public utilities, as defined, subject to control by the Legislature. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to supervise and regulate every public utility, including electrical corporations, and to do all things that are necessary and convenient in the exercise of that power and jurisdiction. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law authorizes the commission, in a proceeding on an application by an electrical corporation to recover costs and expenses arising from a catastrophic wildfire occurring on or after January 1, 2019, to allow cost recovery if the costs and expenses are just and reasonable, after consideration of the conduct of the utility, including consideration of specified factors. Existing law establishes the Wildfire Fund to pay eligible claims arising from a covered wildfire, as provided. Existing law requires the commission to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to consider using its existing authority to require certain electrical corporations to collect a nonbypassable charge from its ratepayers to support the Wildfire Fund, and requires the commission to direct those electrical corporations to collect that charge if the commission determines that the imposition of the charge is just and reasonable and that it is an appropriate exercise of its authority, as specified. This bill would enact the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Act of 2020 and would require the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the commission, to adopt an interim expenditure plan and an expenditure plan that are focused on reducing wildfire risk on the ground and in communities through activities such as defensible space implementation, home hardening, improved public safety, including expenditures to add trained emergency medical technicians to the workforce, and other authorized activities, as well as to prepare residents for wildfires through public education and outreach, as provided. The bill would establish the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require moneys in the fund be used for the implementation of those plans. The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, upon the adoption of the interim plan, to notify the State Controller of the adoption. The bill would require, within 30 days of the notification, the transfer of $500,000,000 from the Surplus Money Investment Fund to the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund, and would appropriate the money to the Natural Resources Agency for the implementation of the interim expenditure plan. The bill would provide for the repayment of the moneys transferred from the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund to the Surplus Money Investment Fund, as provided. The bill would require the commission to require large electrical corporations, as defined, to collect, on and after a specified time, a nonbypassable charge from their ratepayers, as provided, to finance the bonds issued for the support of the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund, as described below. Existing law, until January 1, 2003, authorizes the Department of Water Resources to enter into contracts for the purchase of electric power. Existing law authorizes the department to sell power to retail end use customers and local publicly owned electric utilities under certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes the department to issue revenue bonds and entitles the department to recover, as a revenue requirement, amounts necessary to enable it to finance the bonds and purchase electric power pursuant to these provisions. Existing law authorizes the department to issue Wildfire Fund bonds on and after either the date on which the department legally defeases all of its remaining bonds under the provisions described above or the date on which it pays those obligations in full at maturity, whichever is earlier, to support the Wildfire Fund. Existing law entitles the department to recover, as a revenue requirement, amounts necessary to enable it to finance the bonds in support of the Wildfire Fund. Existing law requires those bond proceeds and revenues received by the department to be deposited in the Department of Water Resources Charge Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates the moneys in the Department of Water Resources Charge Fund to the department for specified purposes, including transfers to the Wildfire Fund and repayment of the bonds issued in support of the Wildfire Fund. This bill would authorize the department to issue bonds, in an aggregate amount of up to $3,000,000,000, the repayment of which, including interest, commences on the date on which the department has paid in full, at maturity, or legally defeases any outstanding bonds issued for the support of the Wildfire Fund or on January 1, 2036, whichever is later, to support the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund. The bill would entitle the department to recover, as a revenue requirement, amounts necessary to enable it to finance the bonds in support of the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund. The bill would require those bond proceeds and revenues received by the department to be deposited in the Department of Water Resources Charge Fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the Department of Water Resources Charge Fund to the department for specified purposes, including transfers to the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund and repayment of the bonds issued for the support of the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund. 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 certain of the above provisions would be codified in the act and would require action by the commission, a violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3289 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by SB 350 to be operative only if this bill and SB 350 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Education in state government, and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state's public school system. This bill would authorize local educational agencies to report to the department their pupils' estimated needs for computing devices and internet connectivity adequate for at-home learning. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, to compile that information and to annually post that compiled information on the department's internet website. (2) Existing law expressly authorizes a county service area to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, and operate broadband internet access services, and requires a county service area that does so to take certain actions regarding the accessing of content on the internet by end users of that service. This bill would similarly authorize the board of supervisors of a county to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, or operate broadband internet access service, and any other communications service necessary to obtain federal or state support for the acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance, or operation of broadband internet access service, and would require a board that does so to take certain actions regarding the accessing of content on the internet by end users of that service. (3) Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, known as "GO-Biz," within the Governor's office to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. This bill would require the office, on or before June 30, 2021, to develop recommendations and a model for streamlined local land use approval and construction permit processes for projects related to broadband infrastructure deployment and connectivity and to adopt, and post on its internet website, the recommendations and model, as specified. (4) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies. Existing law requires the commission, in approving CASF infrastructure projects, to give preference to projects in areas where only dial-up internet service is available or where no internet service is available. Existing law authorizes the commission to impose a surcharge to collect $330,000,000 for deposit into the CASF beginning January 1, 2018, and continuing through the 2022 calendar year. Existing law establishes 4 accounts, the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account, the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account, the Broadband Public Housing Account, and the Broadband Adoption Account within the CASF and specifies the amount of moneys to be deposited into each account, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law specifies, among other things, eligibility criteria for grants awarded from each of those accounts. Existing law requires moneys in the Broadband Public Housing Account that have not been awarded by December 31, 2020, be transferred back to the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account. This bill would require that the CASF program promote remote learning and telehealth, in addition to economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies. The bill would require the commission, in approving CASF infrastructure projects, to instead prioritize projects that reach the greatest number of unserved and underserved households, as defined, and to further prioritize projects based on other specified attributes. The bill would revise, among other things, the eligibility criteria for grants awarded from each account in the CASF, as specified. The bill would repeal the requirement that moneys in the Broadband Public Housing Account not awarded by December 31, 2020, be transferred back to the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account. The bill would establish the State Agency Direct Allocation Account in the CASF for specified purposes relating to the deployment of broadband infrastructure. The bill would require the commission to improve the efficiency of the administration of the CASF program to ensure for the most cost-effective and timely achievement of the goal of the program. The bill would authorize the commission to convene a peer review panel to review grant applications submitted under the CASF program. This bill would require the commission to engage all relevant state agencies to facilitate planning and accelerate deployment of broadband infrastructure through both projects funded pursuant to the CASF program and other infrastructure construction projects that can incorporate high-speed broadband. This bill would authorize the commission to require each internet service provider, as defined, to report specified information regarding each affordable internet service plan advertised by the provider. (5) 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 a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act, prohibits a person from selling or otherwise furnishing tobacco products, as defined, to a person under 21 years of age. Existing law also prohibits the use of tobacco products in county offices of education, on charter school or school district property, or near a playground or youth sports event, as specified. This bill would prohibit a tobacco retailer, or any of the tobacco retailer's agents or employees, from selling, offering for sale, or possessing with the intent to sell or offer for sale, a flavored tobacco product or a tobacco product flavor enhancer, as those terms are defined, except as specified. The bill would make a violation of this prohibition an infraction punishable by a fine of $250 for each violation. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that these provisions do not preempt or prohibit the adoption and implementation of local ordinances that impose greater restrictions on the access to tobacco products than the restrictions imposed by the bill, as specified. The bill would state that its provisions are severable. By creating a new crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(1) The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer childcare and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. The act requires that families meet specified requirements to be eligible for federal- and state-subsidized childcare and development services. This bill would extend eligibility to a family in which a member of that family has been certified as fully eligible to receive CalFresh or Medi-Cal benefits. The bill would require a parent to provide documentation of current enrollment in CalFresh or Medi-Cal, unless the contractor providing childcare and development services has, and elects to use, other means of obtaining verification of that enrollment. The bill would authorize a family to submit a self-certification of income that is signed by the parent for the purpose of prioritizing enrollment and calculating family fees. (2) Existing law requires the department to arrange intraagency adjustments between California state preschool contracts and general childcare contracts for the same agency and funding allocation, and to establish timelines for intraagency contract fund transfers. This bill would additionally require the department to allow and arrange for interagency adjustments between those contracts for the same agency or different agencies and the same funding allocation, and to establish timelines for those interagency contract fund transfers. (3) Existing law requires the Superintendent to implement a plan establishing assigned reimbursement rates, per unit of average daily enrollment, to be paid by the state to provider agencies for the provision of childcare and development services. Existing law provides for an adjustment factor to be applied to units of average daily enrollment if a provider agency serves children who meet specified criteria. Existing law sets the adjustment factor based on the age of the child served, among other criteria. This bill would require those adjustment factors to continue to apply irrespective of whether a child is served in a commingled classroom that serves children from 0 to 12 years of age. The bill, during the 2020–21 fiscal year, would authorize a contractor providing childcare and development services under the act to provide those services to children from 0 to 12 years of age in classrooms with children of varying ages. (4) Existing law requires the Superintendent to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool and childcare and development services, as specified, and requires family fees to be assessed at initial enrollment and reassessed at the update of certification or recertification. Existing law encourages child development contractors to develop and maintain a reserve within the child development fund in the county treasury, derived from earned but unexpended funds. Existing law authorizes reserve funds to be expended for specified purposes. Existing law requires that 10% of specified reserve funds to be used solely for the purpose of professional development for California state preschool program instructional staff. This bill would authorize a contractor to waive family fees for families who are enrolled but who receive services only through distance learning. The bill would provide that the cost of waiving family fees under the above-described provision is an allowable use of contract funds received for providing childcare and development services, and would authorize a contractor to use reserve funds to cover the costs of a waiver. The bill would also delete the requirement that 10% of the specified reserve funds be used for that professional development purpose.
The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services in the office of the Governor and provides that the office is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law authorizes each county, including a city and county, to enter into an agreement to access the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility or other agency responsible for water service, waste and recycling services, or other property-related services for the sole purpose of enrolling county residents in a county-operated public emergency warning system. Existing law requires any county that enters into such an agreement to include procedures to enable any resident to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the resident's contact information. Existing law prohibits the use of the information gathered for any purpose other than for emergency notification. This bill would expand these provisions to authorize a city to enter into an agreement to access the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility, as specified. The bill would also expand the types of public utilities that can enter into these agreements by defining public utility to include, among others, a local publicly owned electric utility, mobile telephony services, a public water agency, and an agency responsible for solid waste or recycling services. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information of resident accountholders to, upon receipt of that information, notify residents that they have been entered into the public emergency warning system. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information to include procedures to enable any resident to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the contact information of the resident from a public utility. The bill would also authorize a governing body of a postsecondary institution that receives state funds, including funds for student financial assistance, to use its own enrollment, registration, and personnel records to access the contact information of students and employees for the sole purpose of enrolling students and employees in a university- or college-operated public emergency warning system. The bill would require the governing body of a postsecondary institution that receives state funds, including funds for student financial assistance, to notify students and employees that they have been entered into the public emergency warning system and include procedures to enable them to opt out of the warning system. Existing law requires a county, upon the next update to its emergency plan, to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan by addressing, at a minimum, how the access and functional needs population is served by emergency communications, emergency evacuation for individuals who are dependent on public transportation, and accessible emergency sheltering. Existing law permits an authorized employee of a county social services department to disclose the name and residential address of elderly or disabled clients to police, fire, or paramedical personnel, or other designated emergency services personnel, in the event of a public safety emergency that necessitates the possible evacuation of the area in which those elderly or disabled clients reside. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services to seek any federal approval necessary to implement these provisions, and prohibits these provisions from being implemented unless the director executes a declaration stating that any required federal approval has been obtained, and only for the duration of that approval. Existing law defines "public safety emergency" for these purposes to include, but not be limited to, specified events that jeopardize the immediate physical safety of county residents. This bill would authorize a local government to enter into an agreement with a, or to use the records of its own, social services department to access the contact information of persons from the access and functional needs population, and the contact information of the designated emergency contacts of those persons, if any, for the sole purpose of enrolling those individuals, who are residents of that local government, in a city-operated, county-operated, or city-and-county-operated public emergency warning system, as specified. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information of resident accountholders or designated emergency contacts to, upon receipt of that information, notify residents and designated emergency contacts that they have been entered into the public emergency warning system. The bill would require a local government that enters into an agreement to access information to include procedures to enable any resident or designated emergency contact to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the contact information of the resident or designated emergency contact from a county social services department. Existing law permits an authorized employee of a county social services department to disclose the name and residential address of elderly or disabled clients to police, fire, or paramedical personnel, or other designated emergency services personnel, in the event of a public safety emergency that necessitates the possible evacuation of the area in which those elderly or disabled clients reside. Existing law specifies that public safety emergencies include, but are not limited to, events that jeopardize the immediate physical safety of county residents. This bill would additionally permit those individuals' telephone numbers and email addresses to be disclosed and would specifically identify a public safety power shutoff as a public safety emergency. The bill would require a county social services agency that intends to disclose information as described above to notify elderly or disabled individuals receiving services of that fact and give the individual the option to opt out of having that information disclosed. The bill would limit the use of the disclosed information to providing emergency services in the event of a public safety emergency described above.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in the state, and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law provides that no monetary liability and no cause of action arises against specified entities for certain conduct, including, except for specified damages, for a hospital for any action taken upon the recommendation of its medical staff, or against any other person or organization for any action taken, or restriction imposed, which is required to be reported, if that action or restriction is reported, as specified. This bill would require, during the COVID-19 pandemic, as defined, the governing board of a local educational agency, as defined, or its designee, to establish health and safety policies and procedures for operating programs and facilities in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state, and local requirements and COVID-19-related guidelines published by the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the governing boards of local educational agencies, or their designees, to ensure that reasonable efforts are undertaken to implement those policies and procedures. The bill would exempt a local educational agency, and its officers or employees, that meet these requirements from monetary liability and damages for injury relating to COVID-19 infection, transmission, or specified policies and procedures established pursuant to the bill, any condition in existence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, or any act or omission by the local educational agency, its officers, or its employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as provided, with specified exceptions. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, 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, 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 allows a person convicted of a criminal offense who has successfully completed the term of probation to, except as specifically exempted and under specified conditions and procedures, petition the court to withdraw their plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty or, if convicted after a plea of not guilty, petition the court to set aside the verdict of guilty and dismiss the accusatory pleading. Under existing law, a person granted relief pursuant to these provisions shall be released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense, except as specified. This bill would specify that the dismissal does not release the defendant from the terms and conditions of any criminal protective order that was issued by the court in connection with the case and that those orders remain in full effect until their expiration or until any further order by the court modifying or terminating the order, despite the dismissal of the underlying accusatory pleading.