The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2022, would allow a tax credit under both laws in an amount equal to 30% of the qualified costs paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer for any seismic retrofit construction on a qualified building, as provided. The bill would require a taxpayer, in order to be eligible for the credit, to obtain 2 certifications from the appropriate jurisdiction with authority for building code enforcement of the area in which the building is located: one prior to seismic retrofit construction that certifies that the building is an at-risk property, and a second subsequent to construction that certifies that the completed construction is seismic retrofit construction, as defined, and specifies a dollar amount of qualified costs. The bill would further require the taxpayer to provide the second certification to and apply for allocation of the credit with the Franchise Tax Board, and would require the board to allocate credits on a first-come-first-served basis. The bill would provide that the credit would have an aggregate cap under both laws of $12,000,000 for each calendar year, as provided. Existing law requires a bill that would authorize a new credit against the tax imposed by the Personal Income Tax Law or the Corporation Tax Law to contain specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the new credit will achieve and detailed performance indicators and data collection requirements for determining whether the new credit achieves these goals, purposes, and objectives. This bill would make findings specifying the goals, purposes, and objectives of the above-described tax credits and detailing the performance indicators and data collection requirements for determining whether the credits meet these goals, purposes, and objectives. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires that every patient who has blood drawn at a primary care clinic, as defined, and who has consented to the test, be offered an HIV test that is consistent with the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for screening for HIV infection. Existing law specifies the manner in which the results of that test are provided. This bill would, additionally, apply those provisions to a patient who has been admitted as an inpatient to a general acute care hospital through the emergency department and has blood drawn after being admitted to the hospital. The bill would specify that the emergency department is not responsible for offering the HIV test. The bill would authorize a hospital to offer the HIV test at any time during the patient's admission. The bill would specify that these provisions do not prohibit a patient's health plan from applying any patient cost share or other limitation that is authorized by law and included in the contract between the plan and the patient.
(1) Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from their sales of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, and specify certain exemptions from the amount of tax imposed. This bill, until January 1, 2021, would exempt from these taxes the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, an energy or water efficient home appliance purchased by a public utility that is provided at no cost to a low-income participant in a federal, state, or ratepayer-funded energy or water efficiency program for use by that low-income participant in the energy efficiency program. The bill would define terms for its purposes. (2) The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes generally in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to state sales and use taxes are incorporated into these laws. Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code provides that the state will reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. (3) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its operative date would depend on its effective date.
Existing law provides various programs to expand access to persons with disabilities and promote compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program, which is administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority (authority) to assist small businesses to finance the costs of complying with environmental mandates and the remediation of contamination on their properties. This bill would establish the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program within the Capital Access Loan Program, to create a self-sustaining program to provide loans to assist small businesses in financing the costs of projects that alter or retrofit existing small business facilities, meeting specified criteria, to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. This bill would authorize the authority to administer the program, including adopting regulations, and controlling funds appropriated for the program, as specified. This bill would establish the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund, as a continuously appropriated fund, and require the authority to use the fund for all its purposes. This bill would also transfer $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund.
(1) Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate and enforce statutes and orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission that, among other things, specify the requirements for the payment of wages by employers. Existing law provides for criminal and civil penalties for violations of statutes and orders of the commission regarding payment of wages. This bill would, in addition, authorize the Labor Commissioner to investigate and, upon a request from the local entity, to enforce local laws regarding overtime hours or minimum wage provisions and to issue citations and penalties for violations, except when the local entity has already issued a citation for the same violation. The bill would prohibit a local entity from issuing a citation to the employer if the Labor Commissioner has already issued a citation to that employer for the same violation. This bill also would make related conforming changes. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires an employer to indemnify his or her employees for all that the employee necessarily expends or loses in direct consequence of the discharge of the employee's duties or as a result of obeying the employer's directions. Existing law provides an aggrieved employee with a private right of action to recover these expenditures. This bill would, additionally, authorize the Labor Commissioner to enforce these provisions by issuing citations and penalties to employers for violations of this requirement, as specified. 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.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act contains various provisions regulating the application for, the issuance of, the suspension of, and the conditions imposed upon, alcoholic beverage licenses by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Existing law provides for various annual fees for the issuance of alcoholic beverage licenses, depending upon the type of license issued. This bill, the Craft Distillers Act of 2015, would authorize the department to issue a craft distiller's license to manufacture distilled spirits, subject to specified conditions, including that the licensee manufacture no more than 100,000 gallons of distilled spirits per fiscal year, excluding brandy the craft distiller manufactures or has manufactured for them. The bill would allow the craft distiller's licensee to sell distilled spirits to specified consumers, to own interests in on-sale retail licenses, and to sell beer, wines, brandies, and distilled spirits to consumers for consumption on the premises of a bona fide eating place, as provided. The bill would impose an original fee and an annual renewal fee for the license, which would be deposited in the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act authorizes a licensed distilled spirits manufacturer to conduct tastings of distilled spirits produced or bottled by, or produced or bottled for, the licensee, on the licensed premises, under specified conditions, including that tasting not be given in the form of a cocktail or mixed drink. This bill would extend that authorization to a licensed craft distiller and would revise the tasting conditions by allowing a tasting to be given in the form of a cocktail or mixed drink. Existing law prohibits a distilled spirits manufacturer's or distilled spirits manufacturer's agent's license from being held by a person that holds any ownership or interest in any distilled spirits wholesaler's, rectifier's, or retailer's license, as specified. This bill would additionally prohibit a distilled spirits manufacturer's or distilled spirits manufacturer's agent's license from being held by a person that holds any ownership or interest in a craft distiller's license.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of that act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law imposes various requirements and restrictions on health care service plans and health insurers, including, among other things, requiring a health care service plan or health insurer that provides prescription drug benefits to utilize a specified uniform prior authorization form or electronic authorization process when requiring prior authorization for prescription drug benefits. This bill would authorize a request for an exception to a health care service plan's or health insurer's step therapy process for prescription drugs to be submitted in the same manner as a request for prior authorization for prescription drugs, and would require the plan or insurer to treat, and respond to, the request in the same manner as a request for prior authorization for prescription drugs. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to include a provision for step therapy exception requests in the uniform prior authorization form specified above. Because a willful violation of these requirements with respect to health care service plans 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.
Existing law authorizes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to impose, in addition to any other tax that it is authorized to impose, a transactions and use tax at a rate of 0.5% for the funding of specified transportation-related projects and programs, subject to various requirements, including the adoption of an expenditure plan and voter approval. Existing law authorizes the MTA to seek voter approval to extend the transactions and use tax pursuant to an amended ordinance, subject to various requirements, including adoption of an amended expenditure plan that, among other things, updates certain cost estimates and identifies expected completion dates for projects and programs under the previous expenditure plan, and also requires the amended expenditure plan to be included in an updated long range transportation plan, as specified. This bill would delete the above-referenced provisions relative to extension of the transactions and use tax and an amended ordinance and expenditure plan, The bill would instead authorize the MTA to impose an additional transportation transactions and use tax at a maximum rate of 0.5% as long as a specified existing 0.5% transactions and use tax is in effect, and at a maximum rate of 1% thereafter, as specified, for a period of time determined by the MTA, if certain conditions exist and subject to various requirements, including the adoption of an expenditure plan and voter approval, as specified. The Transactions and Use Tax Law limits to 2% the combined rate of all transactions and use taxes imposed in any county, with certain exceptions. This bill would exempt the transactions and use tax authorized by the bill from this limitation.
Existing law imposes a 40-foot limitation on the length of vehicles that may be operated on the highways, with specified exemptions. Existing law exempts from this limitation, among other things, an articulated bus or articulated trolley coach that does not exceed a length of 60 feet. This bill would authorize the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to operate articulated buses that do not exceed a length of 82 feet on the route designated as the Orange Line in the County of Los Angeles. The bill would require the authority to establish a route review committee prior to operation of those buses, as specified. The bill would provide that implementation of those articulated bus operations would be contingent upon specified conditions, including, among other things, determinations by the Department of the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation that those portions of the proposed routes on state highways, if any, are suitable for the operation of those buses, as specified. The bill would also make implementation of those articulated bus operations contingent upon specified collective bargaining requirements. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
(1) The Optometry Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of optometrists by the State Board of Optometry. The act defines the practice of optometry to include the prevention and diagnosis of disorders and dysfunctions of the visual system, and the treatment and management of certain disorders and dysfunctions of the visual system, as well as the provision of rehabilitative optometric services, and authorizes optometrists to engage in specified acts if certain requirements are met, including, the use of therapeutic pharmaceutical agents. The act authorizes the board to grant a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to an applicant who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, prior to January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state if certain requirements are met, including, but not limited to, completing a didactic course of at least 80 classroom hours in the diagnosis, pharmacological, and other treatment and management of ocular disease, as specified. This bill would change all references to a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to instead refer to a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPA) certification. The bill would delete certain requirements for an applicant for a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, prior to January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state, including, but not limited to, completing a didactic course of at least 80 classroom hours, as specified. The bill would require such an applicant to complete a preceptorship of at least 65 hours, as specified, with either a TPA-certified optometrist in good standing or a physician and surgeon board-certified in ophthalmology in good standing, and would require such an applicant to complete a minimum of 100 hours of directed and accredited education in ocular and systemic diseases, as specified. The bill would require a preceptor to certify completion of the preceptorship on a form approved by the board. (2) The act exempts an optometrist who graduated from an accredited school of optometry on or after January 1, 1992, and before January 1, 1996, from meeting specified requirements for the issuance of a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents, including the didactic course of at least 80 classroom hours. This bill would delete those exemptions for an optometrist who graduated from an accredited school of optometry on or after January 1, 1992, and before January 1, 1996, and instead require such an applicant to meet the requirements for the issuance of a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification that apply to an applicant who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, prior to January 1, 1996, as specified. (3) The act also authorizes the board to grant a certificate to use therapeutic pharmaceutical agents to an applicant who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, on or after January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state if certain requirements are met, including, but not limited to, completing 10 hours of experience with a board certified ophthalmologist. This bill would delete certain requirements for an applicant for a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification who graduated from a California accredited school of optometry, on or after January 1, 1996, and is licensed as an optometrist in the state, and would instead require such an applicant to pass all sections of the National Board of Examiners in Optometry's national board examination or its equivalent, as determined by the board, in order to be granted a therapeutic pharmaceutical agents certification.