Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department, within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, to perform various functions and duties with respect to job creation and retention activities. Existing law requires the department to research the needs of veterans throughout the state and develop a profile of veterans' employment and training needs. Existing law requires the department to develop a statewide plan for the equitable distribution of employment funds for veterans' employment services. Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of each county to appoint a county veterans service officer to provide veteran-related services. This bill would require the Employment Development Department, upon request of the local county veterans service officer, to provide training to the county veterans service officer and his or her staff in providing assistance to veterans applying for unemployment insurance benefits. The bill would require the Employment Development Department to coordinate with county veterans service officers for purposes of becoming familiar with the services provided by county veterans service officers. The bill would further require the Employment Development Department to establish a system to refer veterans to county veterans service officers for purposes of determining eligibility for benefits.
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Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to charge a registration fee on every vehicle or trailer coach, as specified. Existing law also authorizes the imposition of certain additional fees and surcharges, including, among others, an additional fee, as specified, on all motor vehicles to fund local programs relating to vehicle theft crimes. This bill would require the DMV to clearly identify the registration fee as the base registration fee on any application for renewal of registration, and to aggregate any additional fees or surcharges added to the base registration fee as a separate and distinct line item on those applications. The bill would require the DMV to post on its Internet Web site a clear description of each additional fee or surcharge added to the base registration fee, including the statutory authority for that fee or surcharge. The bill would also require the DMV to provide with each application for renewal of registration the Internet Web site address where this information can be accessed.
The Personal Income Tax Law provides for modified conformity to specified provisions of federal income tax law relating to an exclusion of the amount of the discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness, as defined, from an individual's gross income if that debt is discharged after January 1, 2007, and before January 1, 2014, as provided. The federal income tax law allows this exclusion for qualified principal residence indebtedness that is discharged before January 1, 2017, or is subject to an arrangement that is entered into and evidenced in writing before January 1, 2017. This bill would extend this state tax exclusion to qualified principal residence indebtedness that is discharged before January 1, 2017, or subject to an arrangement that is entered into and evidenced in writing before January 1, 2017, and would also apply this exclusion retroactively to discharges of indebtedness that occurred on or after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2016. The bill would also provide that no penalties or interest with respect to the discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness during the 2014 and 2015 taxable years would be due, and would make legislative findings and declarations regarding the public purpose served by the bill.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, and provides various exemptions from the taxes imposed by those laws. Under existing law, a sale or purchase of tangible personal property pursuant to a layaway agreement or raincheck, or under certain conditions, is considered a sale or purchase only when both payment and delivery are complete. This bill would exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, qualified disaster preparedness products sold or purchased during the 1-day period beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the 2nd Saturday in October 2017, and ending at 12:00 midnight of that day, or for which a layaway agreement is entered into, a raincheck is issued, or other specified orders are placed, during this period, as specified. This bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2018. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes cities and counties to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes or transactions and use taxes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the Regents of the University of California, the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, the Trustees of the California State University, and the governing board of each community college district to collect fees from students attending those postsecondary education institutions. This provision is applicable to the Regents of the University of California only if the regents, by resolution, make it applicable. This bill would prohibit the regents, the trustees, and the governing board of each community college district from collecting any fees or tuition of any kind from a student in an undergraduate program who is the surviving dependent, as defined, of any individual killed in the terrorist attack in San Bernardino on December 2, 2015, if the dependent meets the financial need requirements of the Cal Grant A Program and either the dependent was a resident of California on December 2, 2015, or the individual killed in the attack was a resident of California on that date. The bill would require the governing board of each community college district to waive fee requirements for any student in an undergraduate program who is a surviving dependent. The bill would require the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board to identify all persons who are eligible for tuition and fee waivers pursuant to the bill, to notify these persons or their parents or guardians of that eligibility, and, if requested by the public segments of postsecondary education in the state, on a case-by-case basis, to confirm the eligibility of persons requesting the waiver of tuition and fees. The bill would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by resolution, make it applicable. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute 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 these statutory provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency overseen by the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and provides that the agency consists of, among other entities, the California Workforce Investment Board, the Employment Development Department, and the Employment Training Panel. The California Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. That act requires the establishment of a local workforce development board in each local workforce development area of the state to, among other things, carry out analyses of the economic conditions in the local region. This bill would enact the Removing Barriers to Employment Act, which would establish the Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The bill would require the initiative to be led by the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and authorizes the secretary to assign all or part of the administration of the initiative to one or more entities within the agency's oversight, or to authorize another state agency, under specified conditions, to administer a portion of the initiative. The bill would specify that the purpose of the initiative is to create a grant program to assist individuals who have multiple barriers to employment to receive the remedial education and work readiness skills that will help those individuals to successfully participate in training, apprenticeship, or employment opportunities that enhance skill development that will lead to self-sufficiency and economic stability, and would set forth the goals of the initiative. The bill would require the secretary to develop criteria for the selection of grant recipients, as specified, and would require the secretary, by January 1, 2018, and annually thereafter, to post a report on the agency's Internet Web site that provides a status report on the implementation of the initiative and aggregates information provided by grant recipients. The bill would authorize the secretary, when implementing the initiative, to fund a project that uses a model that was previously funded as a pilot project under certain programs if specified criteria are met. The bill would make the funding of the initiative subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose and would make implementation of the initiative contingent on the secretary notifying the Department of Finance that sufficient moneys have been appropriated.
Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention to implement various fire prevention programs intended to protect forest resources and prevent uncontrollable wildfires. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires that all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for greenhouse gas emissions reduction activities. This bill would provide that an amount not to exceed $200,000,000 from the fund shall be made available to the department, upon appropriation, for specified activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state caused by uncontrolled forest fires. The bill would authorize the department to use these funds to provide (1) payments to local governmental entities that carry out fire prevention activities; (2) incentives for actions by private parties to reduce the risk or intensity of wildfires or improve the resiliency of lands prone to wildfires; and (3) funding for the creation and implementation of partnerships between the department and the federal government to reduce the risk or intensity of wildfires or improve the resiliency of federal lands prone to wildfires. The bill would require the department to develop an accounting system to demonstrate that each project awarded funding will provide a long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and to prioritize and fund projects based on the extent to which a project will maximize certain cobenefits, as prescribed.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various exclusions from gross income, and allows various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by that law, including miscellaneous itemized deductions that are allowed only to the extent that the aggregate amount of those deductions exceeds 2% of adjusted gross income. This bill, upon appropriation of specified funds by the Legislature, on and after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2019, would allow a deduction, not to exceed specified amounts, of the amount a qualified taxpayer, as defined, contributed in any taxable year to a homeownership savings account and would exclude from gross income any income earned on the moneys contributed to a homeownership savings account. The bill would provide that a qualified taxpayer may withdraw amounts from a homeownership savings account to pay for qualified homeownership savings expenses defined as expenses paid or incurred in connection with the purchase of a principal residence, which is defined by reference to a federal law and includes a mobilehome. The bill would provide that any amount withdrawn from that account that is not used for these expenses would be included as income for that taxpayer. The bill would define various terms for its purposes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the court to impose as a condition of probation for a conviction for a first violation of driving under the influence, in a county where the board of supervisors has approved, and the State Department of Health Care Services has licensed, a driving-under-the-influence program, that the driver successfully complete the program in the driver's county of residence or employment, as designated by the court. Existing law provides that enrollment and participation in, and completion of, an approved program shall be subsequent to the date of the current violation. Existing law requires a county alcohol program administrator to coordinate court-established reporting requirements with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would require that enrollment in an approved program take place within 30 days of conviction, unless an extension of no longer than 30 days is granted by the court, as specified. The bill would also require the court, for first time offenders, to consider a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more, by weight, in combination with the presence of a Schedule I or II controlled substance, as defined, except for marijuana or a controlled substance prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist, as an aggravating factor that may justify enhancing the terms and conditions of probation, as specified. The bill would require the county alcohol program administrator to additionally coordinate court referral and tracking documents with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Department of Health Care Services. By imposing new duties on a county employee, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a court, as a condition of probation, to refer a person convicted for driving under the influence to a licensed program, as specified, even though the person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle is restricted, suspended, or revoked. Existing law requires a clerk of the court to indicate the duration of the treatment program the judge has ordered a person to participate in the abstract of the court record that is forwarded to the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would instead require a court to refer a person with a 2nd or subsequent driving-under-the-influence conviction to a licensed program as a condition of probation even if the person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle is restricted, suspended, or revoked. The bill would require the clerk of the court to also indicate the duration of the treatment program ordered on court referral and tracking documents. 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 generally sets out the requirements for the submission of written reports by public agencies to the Legislature, the Governor, the Controller, and state legislative and other executive entities. This bill would require a written report, as defined, submitted by any state agency or department to the Legislature, a Member of the Legislature, or any state legislative or executive body to include a signed statement by the head of the agency or department declaring that the factual contents of the written report are true, accurate, and complete to the best of his or her knowledge. This bill would also make any person who declares as true any material matter pursuant to these provisions that he or she knows to be false liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $20,000.