The Corporation Tax Law imposes a tax according to or measured by net income, computed at a specified rate upon the basis of the net income for that taxable year, on every corporation, except as provided. Existing law, generally, also imposes a minimum franchise tax of $800, except as provided, on every corporation incorporated in this state, qualified to transact intrastate business in this state, or doing business in this state, and an annual tax in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax on every limited partnership, limited liability partnership, and limited liability company registered, qualified to transact business, or doing business in this state, as specified. Existing law requires every limited liability company subject to that annual tax to pay annually to this state a fee equal to specified amounts based upon total income from all sources reportable to this state. This bill would eliminate that annual fee, as provided, for a new limited liability company, as defined, that is a small business, as defined for its first 2 taxable years.
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Existing law authorizes a disabled person or disabled veteran displaying a special license plate or a distinguishing placard, as issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles or foreign jurisdiction, to park for unlimited periods in specified zones, including, but not limited to, any parking zone that is restricted to the length of time parking is permitted and to park in metered spaces without paying parking meter fees. This bill would authorize an employee of a state or county child protective services agency to park, for unlimited periods, an agency vehicle clearly marked "child protective services" in specified zones, including any metered parking space and curbs that indicate stopping only for the purpose of loading or unloading passengers or freight, while conducting agency business.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, allow a credit to a taxpayer in an amount equal to $500 multiplied by the number of applicable individuals, as defined, with respect to whom the taxpayer is an eligible caregiver during that taxable year. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange within the state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers. Existing law also requires the board to establish the navigator program, and to select and set performance standards and compensation for navigators. This bill would require the board to ensure that the performance standards selected for navigators are not so burdensome as to prevent a qualified entity from applying.
(1) Existing law establishes the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program, which requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to award a grant, for the purpose of purchasing or leasing agricultural career technical education equipment, to an applicant school district that operates an agricultural career technical education program and that meets specified requirements. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to annually adopt or update a local control and accountability plan that contains specified information. This bill would continuously appropriate the sum of $4,134,000 in each fiscal year beginning with the 2015–16 fiscal year from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of funding the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program. The bill would require the Superintendent to award a grant to a school district that, in addition to meeting the existing requirements, demonstrates how the expenditure of the grant funds will be consistent with its adopted local control and accountability plan. The bill would also express various findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to agricultural career technical education. (2) Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
Existing law requires a local educational agency to implement one of several specified interventions for a school not identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school that, after one full school year, is subject to corrective action and fails to meet specified criteria and has a specified percentage of parents and legal guardians of pupils sign a petition requesting the local educational agency to implement at least one of 5 specified interventions. Existing law requires a local educational agency to implement the intervention option requested by the petition unless the local educational agency makes a specified finding in a regularly scheduled public hearing. This bill would specify that if the intervention identified in the petition is the restart model, as specified, and the petitioners opt to solicit charter school or educational management organization proposals for the selection of a specific charter school or educational management organization operator, then all parents and legal guardians of pupils attending the school have the right to participate in the selection of the charter school or educational management organization operator, regardless of whether they signed the petition. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes by updating cross-references. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law provides for the conduct of statewide and local elections and sets forth provisions governing, among other things, election procedures, the declaration of results, and election contests. Existing law defines for these purposes the term "voting machine" to mean any device upon which a voter may register his or her vote, and which, by means of counters, embossing, or printouts, furnishes a total of the number of votes cast for each candidate or measure. Existing law requires that the Secretary of State certify or conditionally approve a direct recording electronic voting system only if the system includes an accessible voter verified paper audit trail. Existing law defines for these purposes the term "direct recording electronic voting system" as a voting system that records a vote electronically and does not require or permit the voter to record his or her vote directly onto a tangible ballot. This bill would modify and update the definition of "voting machine" to mean any electronic device into which a voter may enter his or her votes, and which, by means of electronic tabulation and generation of specified printouts and records, furnishes a total of the number of votes cast for each candidate or measure. The bill would make conforming changes and repeal obsolete provisions of existing law. The bill would substitute certain references to the term "voting system" with the term "direct recording electronic voting system." Existing law specifies the procedure to be followed for counting ballots in connection with the semifinal official canvass for an election. Existing law requires a precinct board to complete a certificate of performance and to post a results of votes cast form if votes are manually counted at the precinct, among other requirements. This bill would require a precinct board counting votes at the precinct by means of a voting machine to also complete a certificate of performance and to post a results of votes cast form, as specified. Existing law requires the precinct board, as soon as the polls are closed, to comply with specified requirements relating to the closing of the polls, including, but not limited to, the locking of voting machines and the reading and posting of the statement of return of votes cast for the precinct. Existing law also sets forth the procedures by which the proclamation of the result of the votes cast must be distinctly announced. This bill would modify and repeal certain precinct board requirements and procedures relating to the reading, posting, and inspection of the statement of return of votes cast for the precinct. By imposing new duties on local officials, the bill would create 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.
Existing law governs the business of insurance and authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to provide oversight over the insurance industry including, life and disability insurance, health insurance, workers' compensation, and liability insurance. The commissioner is authorized to, among other things, conduct investigations and bring enforcement actions against insurers for violations of the laws governing the business of insurance. This bill would regulate pet insurance policies that are marketed, issued, amended, renewed, or delivered, whether or not in California, to a California resident, on or after July 1, 2015, regardless of the situs of the contract or master group policyholder, or the jurisdiction in which the contract was issued or delivered. The bill would define certain terms and specify certain disclosures a pet insurer is required to make to consumers. The bill would also require an insurer transacting pet insurance in this state to disclose, among other things, whether the policy excludes coverage because of a preexisting condition, a hereditary disorder, a congenital anomaly, or a chronic condition, and would require that pet insurance policies have a free look cancellation period of not less than 30 days, as provided. This bill would authorize the commissioner to hold a hearing to determine if an insurer is in violation of the provisions governing pet insurance and to assess a civil penalty, which is to be determined by the commissioner but not to exceed $5,000 for each violation, or $10,000 for a willful violation. The hearing would be required to be conducted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, except as specified, and a person found to be in violation may have the proceedings reviewed by means of any remedy pursuant to a specified statute or the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would authorize the commissioner to adopt reasonable rules and regulations, as necessary, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act in order to implement these requirements.
(1) Existing law, until 2020, requires an operator of a store, as defined, to establish an at-store recycling program that provides to customers the opportunity to return clean plastic carryout bags to that store. This bill, as of July 1, 2015, would prohibit stores that have a specified amount of sales in dollars or retail floor space from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer, with specified exceptions. The bill would also prohibit those stores from selling or distributing a recycled paper bag at the point of sale unless the store makes that bag available for purchase for not less than $0.10. The bill would also allow those stores, on or after July 1, 2015, to distribute compostable bags at the point of sale only in jurisdictions that meet specified requirements and at a cost of not less than $0.10. The bill would require these stores to meet other specified requirements on and after July 1, 2015, regarding providing reusable grocery bags to customers, including distributing those bags only at a cost of not less than $0.10. The bill would require all moneys collected pursuant to these provisions to be retained by the store and be used only for specified purposes. The bill, on and after July 1, 2016, would additionally impose these prohibitions and requirements on convenience food stores, foodmarts, and entities engaged in the sale of a limited line of goods, or goods intended to be consumed off premises, and that hold a specified license with regard to alcoholic beverages. The bill would allow a retail establishment to voluntarily comply with these requirements, if the retail establishment provides the department with irrevocable written notice. The bill would require the department to post on its Internet Web site, organized by county, the name and physical location of each retail establishment that has elected to comply with these requirements. The bill would require the operator of a store that has a specified amount of sales in dollars or retail floor space and a retail establishment that voluntarily complies with the requirements of this bill to comply with the existing at-store recycling program requirements. The bill would require, on and after July 1, 2015, a reusable grocery bag sold by certain stores to a customer at the point of sale to be made by a certified reusable grocery bag producer and to meet specified requirements with regard to the bag's durability, material, labeling, heavy metal content, and, with regard to reusable grocery bags made from plastic film on and after January 1, 2016, recycled material content. The bill would impose these requirements as of July 1, 2016, on the stores that are otherwise subject to the bill's requirements. The bill would prohibit a producer of reusable grocery bags made from plastic film from selling or distributing those bags on and after July 1, 2015, unless the producer is certified by a 3rd-party certification entity, as specified. The bill would require a reusable grocery bag producer to provide proof of certification to the department. The bill would require the department to provide a system to receive proofs of certification online. The department would be required to publish on its Internet Web site a list of reusable grocery bag producers that have submitted the required certification and their reusable grocery bags. The bill would require the department to establish an administrative certification fee schedule, which would require a reusable grocery bag producer providing proof to the department of certification or recertification to pay a fee. The bill would require that all moneys submitted to the department pursuant to these fee provisions be deposited into the Reusable Grocery Bag Fund, which would be established by the bill, and continuously appropriated for purposes of implementing these proof of certification and Internet Web site provisions, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would also require a reusable grocery bag producer to submit applicable certified test results to the department. The bill would authorize a person to object to a certification of a reusable grocery bag producer by filing an action for review of that certification in the superior court of a county that has jurisdiction over the reusable grocery bag producer. The bill would require the court to determine if the reusable grocery bag producer is in compliance with the provisions of the bill and, based on the court's determination, would require the court to direct the department to either remove or retain the reusable grocery bag producer on its published Internet Web site list. The bill would allow a city, county, or city and county, or the state to impose civil penalties on a person or entity that knows or reasonably should have known it is in violation of the bill's requirements. The bill would require these civil penalties to be paid to the office of the city attorney, city prosecutor, district attorney, or Attorney General, whichever office brought the action, and would allow the penalties collected by the Attorney General to be expended by the Attorney General, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce the bill's provisions. The bill would declare that it occupies the whole field of the regulation of reusable grocery bags, single-use carryout bags, and recycled paper bags provided by a store and would prohibit a local public agency from enforcing or implementing an ordinance, resolution, regulation, or rule, or any amendment thereto, adopted on or after September 1, 2014, relating to those bags, against a store, except as provided. (2) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 creates the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Account and continuously appropriates the funds deposited in the subaccount to the department for making loans for the purposes of the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Program. Existing law makes the provisions regarding the loan program, the creation of the subaccount, and expenditures from the subaccount inoperative on July 1, 2021, and repeals them as of January 1, 2022. This bill would appropriate $2,000,000 from the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Account to the department for the purposes of providing loans for the creation and retention of jobs and economic activity in California for the manufacture and recycling of plastic reusable grocery bags that use recycled content. The bill would require a recipient of a loan to agree, as a condition of receiving the loan, to take specified actions. (3) The bill would require the department, no later than March 1, 2018, to provide a status report to the Legislature on the implementation of the bill's provisions.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries arising out of and in the course of his or her employment. Existing law requires that aggregate disability payments for a single injury occurring on or after certain dates be limited, as provided. Existing law provides that whenever any member of the Department of Justice falling within the state peace officer/firefighter class is disabled by injury arising out of and in the course of his or her duties, he or she shall become entitled, regardless of his or her period of service with the Department of Justice to a leave of absence while so disabled without loss of salary, in lieu of disability payments under this chapter, for a period not exceeding one year. Existing law also provides that certain peace officers, firefighters, and other specified state and local public employees are entitled to a leave of absence without loss of salary while disabled by injury or illness arising out of and in the course of employment. This bill would provide that the above-specified leaves of absence without loss of salary are payable in addition to the maximum aggregate disability payments for a single injury that is applicable to all workers. The bill would make these provisions applicable to all claims, regardless of the date of injury. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.