The California Constitution provides that the electors may propose statutes or amendments to the state constitution through the initiative process by presenting to the Secretary of State a petition that sets forth the text of the proposed statute or amendment to the Constitution and is certified to have been signed by a certain number of electors. This measure would require the Legislative Analyst to review an initiative measure not later than 15 days after its qualification for the ballot, and report the results of the review to the Secretary of State. This measure would prohibit an initiative measure that the Legislative Analyst determines would result in a net increase in state or local government costs exceeding $5,000,000, other than costs attributable to the issuance, sale, or repayment of bonds, from being submitted to the electors or having any effect unless the Legislative Analyst determines that the initiative measure provides for additional revenues in an amount that meets or exceeds the net increase in costs. This requirement would provide for an annual adjustment to the amount of that cost threshold, and would not apply to, or have any effect on, an initiative measure that reduces tax revenues or fees.
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Under existing law, any person who is convicted of pimping or procuring a minor under the age of 16 for prostitution may be ordered by a court to pay an additional fine not to exceed $5,000 to be deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be available for appropriation to fund child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse victim counseling centers and prevention programs, as provided. This bill would enact the Abolition of Child Commerce, Exploitation, and Sexual Slavery Act of 2011, and would require that a person who is convicted of seeking to procure or procuring the sexual services of a prostitute, if the prostitute is under 18 years of age, be ordered to pay an additional fine not to exceed $25,000 to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature to fund programs and services for commercially sexually exploited minors in the counties where the underlying offenses are committed.
This measure would recognize May 2011 as Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month.
Existing law requires the state to have the primary financial responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires in areas that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has determined are state responsibility areas. This bill would require the board, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. The board would be required to adjust the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods. The bill would require the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed. The bill would require, within 30 days of the effective date of its provisions, and each January 1 thereafter, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to transmit to the State Board of Equalization the appropriate names and addresses of persons who are liable for the fire prevention fee and the amount of the fire prevention fee to be assessed by the State Board of Equalization. The bill would require the State Board of Equalization to collect the fee commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, if there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund to finance the costs of specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year, the bill would prohibit the State Board of Equalization from collecting the fee for that fiscal year. The bill would establish the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and would require the fire prevention fees collected, except that portion retained by the State Board of Equalization, to be deposited into the fund and to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for certain specified fire prevention activities, which would benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are subject to the fire prevention fee, including, but not limited to, covering startup costs, and for the costs of administration, as specified. The State Board of Equalization would be required to retain and expend, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the funds necessary to pay refunds and for its expenses incurred in collection. This bill would require the board, on and after January 1, 2013, to submit an annual written report to the Legislature on specified topics. This bill would permit a person from whom a fire prevention fee is determined to be due to use an appeals process and, if applicable, a refund process that would be established by the bill. The bill would appropriate $1,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for administrative costs to implement its provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) The Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law, until February 20, 2009, authorized a claimant, as defined, to file a claim with the Controller to postpone the payment of ad valorem property taxes, where household income, as defined, did not exceed specified amounts. Existing law authorized the Controller, upon approval of the claim, to either make payment directly to specified entities, or to issue the claimant a certificate of eligibility that constituted a written promise of the state to pay the amount specified on the certificate, as provided. Existing law required these payments to be made out of specified funds appropriated to the Controller, as specified, and also required repaid property tax postponement payments to be paid into an impound account and transferred, as specified, to the General Fund. Existing law, on and after February 20, 2009, prohibits a person from filing a claim for postponement, and prohibits the Controller from accepting applications for postponement, under the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law. This bill would repeal the prohibition against a person filing a claim for postponement and the Controller from accepting applications for postponement under the program as of July 1, 2012. This bill would create in the State Treasury a Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund. The bill would require that repaid property tax postponement payments be transferred from the impound account to, or be directly deposited into, the newly created fund. The bill would continuously appropriate these funds to the Controller for purposes of administering the property tax postponement program, as specified. (2) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
This measure would declare June 26, 2011, a Day in Support of Victims of Torture in California, and would urge the Office of Refugee Resettlement to direct torture treatment funding through the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 so as to reflect California's role as the nation's largest resettlement destination for torture survivors.
This measure declares that Sundays are "Eat Local, Buy California Grown Day," and encourages families, restaurants, and grocers to buy California-grown floriculture, fiber, and foods.
The Budget Acts of 2009 and 2010 appropriated specified amounts from the General Fund for specified programs. This bill would appropriate $25,676,000 in augmentation of specified appropriations in the Budget Act of 2009. The bill also would appropriate $1,189,775,000 from the General Fund in augmentation of specified appropriations in the Budget Act of 2010. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax 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, measured by sales price. That law defines a "retailer engaged in business in this state" to include retailers that engage in specified activities in this state and requires every retailer engaged in business in this state and making sales of tangible personal property for storage, use, or other consumption in this state to register with the State Board of Equalization and to collect the tax from the purchaser and remit it to the board. This bill would further define a retailer engaged in business in this state as a retailer that has substantial nexus with this state and a retailer upon whom federal law permits the state to impose a use tax collection duty. The bill would also include specified retailers as retailers engaged in business in this state and would eliminate an exclusion. This bill would include in the definition of a retailer engaged in business in this state any retailer entering into agreements under which a person or persons in this state, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refer potential purchasers, whether by an Internet-based link or an Internet Web site, or otherwise, to the retailer, provided the total cumulative sales price from all sales by the retailer to purchasers in this state that are referred pursuant to these agreements is in excess of $10,000 within the preceding 12 months, and provided further that the retailer has cumulative sales of tangible personal property to purchasers in this state of over $500,000, within the preceding 12 months, except as specified. This bill would also provide that a retailer entering into specified agreements to purchase advertising is not a retailer engaged in business in this state and would define a retailer to include an entity affiliated with a retailer under federal income tax law, as specified. This bill would further provide that these provisions would not apply if the retailer can demonstrate that the referrals would not satisfy specified United States constitutional requirements, as provided. This bill would also include as a retailer engaged in business in this state as a retailer that is a member of a commonly controlled group, as defined under the Corporation Tax Law, and a member of a combined reporting group, as defined, that includes another member of the retailer's commonly controlled group that, pursuant to an agreement with or in cooperation with the retailer, performs services in this state in connection with tangible personal property to be sold by the retailer. This bill would provide that the provisions of this bill are severable. This bill would appropriate $1,000 from the General Fund to the State Board of Equalization for administrative operations. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take immediate effect as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.