Asm. Laurie Davies

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2023, to a taxpayer that is a business with a physical location in the state in an amount equal to the costs paid or incurred by the qualified taxpayer during the taxable year for the purchase of cleaning and sanitizing supplies used at business locations in the state to prevent the transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) . The bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law requires the transfer of a specified portion of the sales tax on diesel fuel to the Public Transportation Account, a trust fund in the State Transportation Fund. Existing law requires funds in the account to be allocated to various public transportation and transportation planning purposes, with specified revenues in the account to be allocated by the Controller to specified local transportation agencies for public transportation purposes, pursuant to the State Transit Assistance (STA) Program. Existing law provides for each STA-eligible operator within the jurisdiction of the allocating local transportation agency to receive a proportional share of the revenue-based program funds based on the qualifying revenues of that operator, as defined. The Budget Act of 2013 and the Budget Act of 2014 require the Controller, upon the order of the Director of Finance, to transfer specified amounts totaling up to $55,515,000 as loans from the Public Transportation Account to the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund. This bill would require $54,000,000 from these loans to be repaid to the Public Transportation Account and would provide that these repaid funds are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to help offset the loss of revenues incurred by transit operators during the COVID-19 pandemic. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law specifies the powers and duties of the Governor, including to supervise the official conduct of executive and ministerial officers, to ensure that offices are filled and their duties performed, and to appoint individuals to various offices, boards, commissions, and other public positions. Existing law does not require the Governor to disclose whether prospective appointees of the Governor made monetary contributions to the Governor's campaign prior to their appointment. This bill would require, if a Governor's prospective appointee has made a contribution of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more to the Governor's campaign or to a committee organized specifically to benefit the Governor's campaign within the 12-month period preceding the public announcement of the appointment, that the public announcement, whether oral or written, disclose that such a contribution was made and the amount of the contribution. The bill would require the Secretary of State, until January 1, 2027, to submit an annual report to the Legislature describing any such contributions disclosed during the year preceding submission of the report.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city that includes, among other specified mandatory elements, a housing element. That law, for the fourth and subsequent revisions of the housing element, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region. That law further requires the appropriate council of governments, or, for cities and counties without a council of governments, the department, to adopt a final regional housing plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county in accordance with certain requirements. This bill would authorize a city or county, by agreement, to transfer all or a portion of its allocation of regional housing need to another city or county. The bill would allow the transferring city to pay the transferee city or county an amount determined by that agreement, as well as a surcharge to offset the impacts and associated costs of the additional housing on the transferee city. The bill would also require the transferring city or county and the transferee city or county to report to the council of governments and the department specified information about the transfer, as provided.

Existing law provides for unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own. These provisions are generally administered by the Employment Development Department. Existing law requires unemployment compensation benefits that are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice to be deposited to a qualifying account. Existing law defines "qualifying account" for these purposes to mean a demand deposit or savings account at an insured financial institution in the name of the person entitled to receipt of public assistance payments or a prepaid card account that meets certain requirements, including that the prepaid card account may not be attached to any credit or overdraft feature that is automatically repaid from the account after delivery of the payment. This bill would, by July 1, 2021, provide that the recipient of the unemployment compensation benefits has the right to choose whether the benefits payments are directly deposited into a qualifying account or applied to a prepaid debit card. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to taxes imposed by those laws, including a deduction for a net operating loss as specified. Existing law suspends the deduction for a net operating loss, as specified, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law generally authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law provides that, except as specified, the total credits allowable under those laws may not reduce the taxes imposed by those laws by more than $5,000,000, as provided, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. This bill, the Golden State Innovation Act of 2021, would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2023, exclude a taxpayer that performs research and development in biotechnology, as described, from the above-described suspension of the deduction for net operating losses and the above-described limitation on the total credits allowable. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations to adopt occupational health and safety standards to protect the welfare of employees. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health enforces occupational safety and health standards and orders. Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health, within the California Health and Human Services Agency, and vests the department with certain duties, powers, functions, jurisdiction, and responsibilities over specified public health programs. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs, among other things, the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations, including emergency regulations, by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health or the State Department of Public Health, within 14 calendar days of the release of a federal recommendation that conflicts with an emergency regulation related to COVID-19 issued by the division or the department, to review the conflicting emergency regulation and make a determination to either amend the regulation or submit a report to the Legislature on the decision not to amend the regulation, as specified. The bill would require the division or department, before determining whether to amend the emergency regulation, to provide public notice and an opportunity for public comment. The bill would repeal these provisions 90 days after the termination of the state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic declared by the Governor. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department (department) to administer the federal-state unemployment insurance program and provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law establishes procedures for the filing, determination, and payment of benefit claims, and those benefits are payable from the Unemployment Fund. Existing law requires the department to promptly pay benefits if it finds the claimant is eligible and to promptly deny benefits if it finds the claimant is ineligible for benefits. Existing law requires the department to consider facts submitted by an employer in making this determination and also provides for the department to audit claims, as specified. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2021, require the department, as part of its process for determining eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits, cross-check all claimant information with state and county correctional facility inmate data in an effort to detect fraudulent applications. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires the state, through the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments, to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services, as specified, and declares the intent of the Legislature, in providing for this statewide system of child welfare services, that all children are entitled to be safe and free from abuse and neglect. Existing law requires the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to be established in the State Department of Social Services with prescribed powers and duties relating to the management of foster children, including the dissemination of information on the rights of children and youth in foster care. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services, in consultation with a committee of interested individuals chosen by the director, to appoint the ombudsperson for a term of 4 years. This bill would establish the Office of the Child Protection Ombudsperson, with the intent to provide all California children with similar protections. The bill would require the State Child Protection Ombudsperson to be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, for a term of 2 years. The bill would specify the duties of the office, including investigating specified child deaths caused by abuse or neglect. The bill would also authorize the office to take specified actions, including investigating systemic issues and suggesting corrective action accordingly. The bill would require the Office of the State Child Protection Ombudsperson to report to the Legislature, at the end of each 2-year legislative session, data collected by the office describing the nature of the complaints received and systemic suggestions to improve the child welfare system.

Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department, administered by the Director of Employment Development, within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties related to the administration of the state unemployment and disability compensation programs. This bill would require the department to establish, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an advisory committee to advise the department on matters within the department's jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, unemployment insurance. The bill would require the committee to include members representing a diverse spectrum of private and public employers and employees impacted by programs overseen by the department, as provided. The bill would require the committee to hold open and public meetings in compliance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act at least once a quarter. The bill would require, commencing on January 1, 2023, the committee to prepare and publicly publish an annual report describing its activities, including, but not limited to, recommendations made by the advisory committee and the department's response to those recommendations. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.