Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, 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 habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined, and requires that the fire prevention fee be adjusted annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and prohibits the collection of fire prevention fees if, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the fund to finance specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year. Existing law requires that the fire prevention fees collected, except as provided, be deposited into the fund and be made available to the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for certain specified fire prevention activities that benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are required to pay the fee. Existing law further requires the board, on and after January 1, 2013, to submit an annual written report to the Legislature on specified topics. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to repeal the state responsibility area fire prevention fees imposed by the above provisions.
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Existing law establishes a variety of offenses relating to cruelty to animals. Existing law generally provides that a person that violates certain animal at-large provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is required to be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000, by imprisonment of not less than 10 days nor more than 1 year, or by both the fine and imprisonment, as prescribed. This bill would require any person, with certain exceptions, who willfully or knowingly documents evidence of animal cruelty to provide a copy of the documentary evidence obtained to local law enforcement within 120 hours of documentation, and would make a violation of this requirement an infraction punishable by a fine of $250. The bill would provide that a person shall not be civilly or criminally liable for providing documentary evidence of suspected animal cruelty as required by the bill, or for providing a law enforcement agency with information about the person or employer suspected of animal cruelty. The bill would define animal cruelty for its purposes as any act involving an animal, as defined, or poultry, as defined, described in prescribed criminal offenses. The bill would enact other related provisions. Because a violation of the requirement to provide a copy of documentary evidence of animal cruelty to local law enforcement, as prescribed, would be an infraction, this 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 provides that any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that the members of the gang engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. This bill would revise and expand the scope of the provision described above to apply to a person who actively participates in a criminal street gang with knowledge that the gang's members or active participants engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who (1) commits, alone or in concert, a felony that is one of the gang's primary activities, as described, (2) aids or abets any felony committed by a member of, or active participant in, that gang, or (3) willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by a member of, or an active participant in, that gang. By revising and expanding the scope of 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.
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. That 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. That law required these payments to be made out of specified funds appropriated to the Controller, as specified, and also required certain 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, 2014. 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the tax imposed by that law, including a credit against the tax in an amount equal to 50% of the costs, as specified, paid or incurred by a taxpayer for the adoption of a minor child, as provided. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this provision.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to administer, until January 1, 2016, a self-generation incentive program for distributed generation resources and to separately administer solar technologies pursuant to the California Solar Initiative. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this requirement.
Existing law, the California High-Speed Rail Act, creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties, including the power to enter into contracts, as specified. This bill would require the authority to provide, to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, a copy of each contract entered into by the authority if the dollar value of the goods or services to be provided or performed under the contract is $25,000 or more, as well as a copy of each contract amendment and contract change order agreed to by the authority for $25,000 or more.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes 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. That law provides various exemptions from those taxes. The bill would exempt from those taxes, on and after January 1, 2014, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, qualified tangible personal property purchased by a qualified person for use primarily in manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of property, as specified, qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a contractor for specified purposes, as provided, and tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person to be used primarily in research and development, as provided. 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 in conformity with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes are incorporated into these laws. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes, transactions and use taxes, and specified state taxes from which revenues are deposited into the Local Public Safety Fund, the Education Protection Account, and the Local Revenue Fund. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, 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 habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined, and requires that the fire prevention fee be adjusted annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and prohibits the collection of fire prevention fees if, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the fund to finance specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year. Existing law requires that the fire prevention fees collected, except as provided, be deposited into the fund and be made available to the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for certain specified fire prevention activities that benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are required to pay the fee. Existing law further requires the board, on and after January 1, 2013, to submit an annual written report to the Legislature on specified topics. This bill would repeal these provisions.
Existing law, the Financial Integrity and State Manager's Accountability Act of 1983 (FISMA) , provides that state agency heads are responsible for the establishment and maintenance of a system or systems of internal accounting and administrative control within their agencies, as specified. Existing law requires that state agency heads covered by FISMA shall, biennially, conduct an internal review and prepare a report on the adequacy of the agency's systems of internal accounting, administrative control, and monitoring practices. Copies of the reports are required to be submitted to the Legislature, the California State Auditor, the Controller, the Treasurer, the Attorney General, the Governor, the director, and to the State Library where the copies are required to be available for public inspection. This bill would also require the report to be posted on the agency's Internet Web site within 5 days of finalization and would require the report to be signed by the head of the agency under penalty of perjury. By requiring the head of an agency to sign the report under penalty of perjury, this bill would expand circumstances under which a person may be convicted of a crime and, thereby, would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that the head of an agency that fails to submit the report within 30 days of its deadline shall be suspended without pay until the agency comes into compliance with the reporting requirements. This bill would require the framework for conducting an internal review of an agency's systems of internal accounting and administrative control to include Protocols for auditing and monitoring of the agency's assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenditures, as well as reconciliation of accounting and budget documents reported to the Department of Finance and the Office of the Controller. Existing law requires the head of an internal audit staff of a state agency to investigate any allegation that an employee of the agency provided false or misleading information in connection with the review of the agency's systems of internal accounting and administrative control or in connection with the preparation of the biennial report on the systems of internal accounting, administrative control, and monitoring practices. Existing law requires the head of an internal audit staff or designated internal control person to report in writing to the head of the agency or the division if there is reasonable cause to believe that false or misleading information was provided. This bill would require the report to also be submitted to the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. 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.