This measure would declare April 2010 as Financial Aid and Literacy Month to raise public awareness about the need for increased financial literacy.
Existing law, subject to exceptions, subjects any person in this state who manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the state for sale, keeps for sale, offers or exposes for sale, gives, or lends any unsafe handgun, as defined, to imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year. Existing law, subject to exceptions, requires handguns imported into the state for sale, kept for sale, or offered or exposed for sale, to be tested, as specified, to determine if they are unsafe. This bill would exempt from those provisions, handguns for which production ceased prior to January 1, 2000, and for which production has not resumed, and handguns that are commemorative or custom-made, and for which production was or is limited to 1,000 or fewer firearms.
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes a credit against the taxes imposed by that law in an amount equal to the lesser of 5% of the purchase price or $10,000 in the case of the purchase of a qualified principal residence on and after March 1, 2009, and before March 1, 2010, but not to exceed an aggregate limitation of $100,000,000 for all credits allowable. Existing law requires a certification that the residence has never been occupied be provided to the Franchise Tax Board within one week of the sale of the qualified principal residence. This bill would limit the credit to taxpayers who purchased a qualified principal residence on and after March 1, 2009, and before July 3, 2009, and on and after the effective date of this bill and before March 1, 2010. This bill would also require the aggregate limitation of credits to be reduced by a specified amount per certification received by the Franchise Tax Board. (2) The bill would appropriate the sum of $44,000 from the General Fund to the Franchise Tax Board, in augmentation of a specified appropriation made in the 2009-10 Budget Act. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law, the Public Utilities Act, establishes requirements for equipment, practices, and facilities for public utilities. This bill would prohibit an electrical corporation from constructing substantially larger transmission towers in an easement intended for smaller transmission towers when the easement runs through an occupied residential area. 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 the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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, the Collateral Recovery Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of repossession agencies by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services under the supervision and control of the Director of Consumer Affairs. Any person who violates these provisions is guilty of a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment. Existing law requires an applicant for a qualification certificate or for an initial registration or reregistration to submit an application to the bureau and include certain personal information in the application that is confidential and is prohibited from being disclosed to the public. This bill would specify that a repossession agency is also prohibited from disclosing that personal information, including the cell phone number, of an applicant for a qualification certificate or for an initial registration or reregistration. Existing law requires the bureau to give examinations and reexaminations for a qualification certificate every other month. This bill would instead require those examinations to be given every 3 months. Existing law prohibits a person from performing the duties of a registrant for a licensed repossession agency unless the person has in his or her possession a valid repossessor registration card or evidence of a valid temporary registration or registration renewal. This bill would authorize a person to perform the duties of a registrant for a licensee pending receipt of a registration card if the person has been approved by the bureau and carries on his or her person a hardcopy printout of the bureau's approval from the bureau's Internet Web site. Existing law requires a repossession agency to keep and maintain adequate records of all transactions, including assignment forms. Existing law authorizes an assignment form to be an original, photocopy, facsimile copy, or a copy stored in electronic format. This bill would also authorize an assignment form to be a copy stored in an e-mail or text message. Existing law requires a repossession agency to inventory the personal effects removed from recovered collateral and authorizes those personal effects to be disposed of after being held for at least 60 days. Existing law requires the inventory to be filed in the permanent records of the licensee. Existing law establishes that the inventory is a confidential document and prohibits the disclosure of the contents of the inventory except under specified circumstances. This bill would provide that the inventory of personal effects is only required to be filed in the permanent records of the licensee for a period of 4 years. The bill would require out-of-state license plates to be removed from collateral and inventoried. The bill would provide that disclosing the existence of an inventory and any associated fees is also prohibited except under specified circumstances. Existing law provides a repossession of certain collateral that is subject to vehicle registration is complete when the repossessor gains entry to the collateral or when the collateral becomes connected to a tow truck or the repossessors tow vehicle. This bill would also provide that a repossession of that collateral is complete when the repossessor moves, pushes, or gains control of the collateral. Existing law authorizes a peace officer or certain employees, who are engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations, of a city, county, or jurisdiction of a state agency in which a vehicle is located, to remove a vehicle under specified circumstances, including, among other circumstances, when a vehicle is found or operated upon a highway, public land, or an offstreet parking facility with a registration card that is fraudulent or not for that vehicle or with a registration expiration date in excess of 6 months before the date the vehicle is found or operated. Existing law authorizes these removed vehicles to be released to the owner or person in control of the vehicle after the owner or person furnishes the storing law enforcement agency with proof of current registration and a currently valid driver's license to operate the vehicle. Existing law authorizes the impoundment of a removed vehicle, or a vehicle found upon a highway or public land, that has been issued 5 or more notices of parking violations to which the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded, or if the registered owner of the vehicle is known to have been issued 5 or more notices for failure to pay or failure to appear in court for traffic violations, as specified. Existing law authorizes these impounded vehicles to be released to the legal owner if certain conditions have been satisfied, including, among other things, that the legal owner completes a specified affidavit. This bill would, for a vehicle removed for having a fraudulent or expired registration, authorize the vehicle to be released to the legal owner or the legal owner's agent without proof of current registration if the vehicle will only be transported to a repossessor's storage facility, and from the storage facility to the legal owner or a licensed motor vehicle auction, as specified. The bill would also delete the requirement that a legal owner complete an affidavit in order to release a vehicle impounded for failure to respond to parking violation notices or for failure to pay or appear in court for traffic violations. Because a violation of the bill's provisions under the Collateral Recovery Act 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.
This measure would congratulate and commend the Boy Scouts of America on their 100th anniversary and centennial celebration, and recognize the achievements and impacts the scouting program has had on youth.
This measure would recognize the week of April 18, 2010, through April 24, 2010, as Crime Victims' Rights Week.
(1) Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to provide by ordinance for the reassessment of property that is damaged or destroyed, without fault on the part of the assessee, by a major misfortune or calamity, upon the application of the assessee or upon the action of the county assessor with the board's approval. With respect to certain counties that have adopted reassessment ordinances and have been declared by the Governor to be in a state of emergency as a result of certain events, existing law provides for state allocations of the estimated amounts of the reductions in property tax revenues resulting in certain fiscal years from reassessments under those ordinances. Existing law also continuously appropriates, without regard to fiscal years, moneys in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties for purposes of funding these state allocations. This bill would provide for similar state allocations with respect to property tax revenue reductions resulting from a reassessment for damages incurred within the Counties of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino, which were declared by the Governor to be in a state of emergency due to the wildfires that commenced in November 2008. By requiring moneys continuously appropriated from the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties to be allocated for the new purpose of reimbursing the Counties of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino for these property tax revenue reductions, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to a specified provision of the California Constitution, for a homeowners' property tax exemption in the amount of $7,000 of the full value of a "dwelling," as defined. This bill would also provide that any dwelling that qualified for the exemption prior to the commencement dates of the wildfires listed in the Governor's disaster proclamations of November 15, 2008, and November 17, 2008, that was damaged or destroyed by the wildfires in the Counties of Orange and Riverside, as declared by the Governor in November 2008, and that has not changed ownership since the commencement dates of these disasters as listed in the proclamations, may not be denied the exemption solely on the basis that the dwelling was temporarily damaged or destroyed or was being reconstructed by the owner, or was temporarily uninhabited as a result of restricted access to the property due to wildfires. The California Constitution requires the Legislature, in each fiscal year, to reimburse local governments for the revenue losses incurred by those governments in that fiscal year as a result of the homeowners' property tax exemption. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to make this required reimbursement in the annual Budget Act. By requiring local tax officials to implement new exemption criteria, 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 these statutory provisions. (3) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law provide for the carryover to specified taxable years of specified losses sustained as a result of certain disasters occurring in California in an area determined by the President of the United States to warrant specified federal assistance, or proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of emergency. This bill would extend these provisions to losses sustained in the Counties of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino as a result of the wildfires that commenced in November 2008. This bill would authorize a taxpayer to make an election to claim a deduction for those losses on the tax return for the preceding year. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would proclaim the month of May to be Women Veterans Recognition Month.
The Subdivision Map Act defines the term "subdivision" to mean the division, by a subdivider, of a unit or units of land, or any portion thereof, shown on the latest equalized county assessment role as a unit or contiguous units, for the purpose of sale, lease, or financing. The act requires property to be considered as contiguous units, even if the property is separated by a facility, if the units are in close enough proximity to be reasonably used together to create a single subdivision project. This bill would modify the definition of the term "subdivision" for purposes of the act by expressly exempting property separated by specified types of facilities from being considered as contiguous units. The bill would also prohibit that property from being considered as separate parcels if the parcels created would be inconsistent with the general plan or specified specific plans, or create an economically unviable use.
