(1) Existing law establishes a governing board to establish and administer a unit known as the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. Among other duties, this unit provides fiscal management assistance, at the request of any school district, charter school, county office of education, or community college district. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2023, this governing board to receive voluntary contributions made by individuals to school districts, charter schools, child care centers operated by local educational agencies, and community college districts. The bill would require these contributed moneys to be deposited in the Local Schools and Colleges Voluntary Contribution Fund, which the bill would establish in a county treasury, as specified, under the administration of the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. The bill would create 2 new subaccounts of the fund, the Baseline Schools and Colleges Subaccount and the Supplemental Schools and Colleges Subaccount, into which the moneys deposited in the Local Schools and Colleges Voluntary Contribution Fund would be deposited, as specified. The bill would require the funds deposited in the Baseline Schools and Colleges Subaccount described above to be transferred to the State Treasury to reimburse the General Fund for that subaccount's share of meeting the constitutional minimum funding requirement for local educational agencies and community college districts. The bill would require the funds deposited in the Supplemental Schools and Colleges Subaccount to be allocated, on the basis of average daily attendance, to local educational agencies and community college districts, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. Because the bill would create new duties for a county treasury, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2023, would allow a credit under the Personal Income Tax Law in an amount equal to 85% of the amount contributed by the taxpayer to the Local Schools and Colleges Voluntary Contribution Fund, as identified in the certification required by this bill to be issued by the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. This bill would require the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to establish a procedure for any taxpayer to obtain from the office a certification for the credit allowed, as specified. The bill would require the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to provide the Franchise Tax Board with a copy of the certifications issued, as provided. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of credits allowable for the 2018–19 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, through the 2022–23 fiscal year, plus any unallocated credit amount for the preceding fiscal year to $45,000,000,000. This bill would, if the amount allowable as a credit under this bill exceeds the taxpayer's tax liability for the taxable year, require the excess to be credited against other amounts due, if any, and the balance, if any, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be paid from the ____ Fund and refunded to the taxpayer. The Personal Income Tax Law provides for an alternative minimum tax and provides that, except for specified credits, no credit shall reduce the regular tax, as defined, below the tentative minimum tax. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2023, would allow the credit to reduce the regular tax below the tentative minimum tax. (3) 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 the statutory provisions noted above. (4) This bill would become operative on January 1, 2019, only if Senate Constitutional Amendment 23 of the 2017–18 Regular Session is submitted to, and approved by, the voters at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election.
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Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide a supportive housing program that provides wraparound services to mentally ill parolees at risk of homelessness using funding appropriated for that purpose. Existing law makes an inmate or parolee eligible for participation if he or she has a serious mental disorder, as specified, and has been assigned a release date from state prison and is likely to become homeless upon release or is currently a homeless parolee. Existing law requires providers to offer various services, including housing location services and rental subsidies and establishes criteria for housing that qualifies for the program. Existing law requires providers to report to the department regarding the intended outcomes of the program, including the number of participants served and the outcomes for participants. Existing law also requires the department to prepare an analysis of the information, as specified, and to annually submit, on or before February 1, the information and the analysis to the Chairs of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and other specified committees. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2019, to create the Supportive Housing Pilot Program, which would be in effect at the same time as the existing program and would establish a process and timeline for finalizing a memorandum of understanding with one or more counties that elect to participate in which the department would agree to, among other things, refer eligible parolees to participating counties for mental health treatment, housing navigation services, and supportive housing services, and to pay for bridge rental assistance, as defined, and services in supportive housing during the program participant's term of parole. The participating counties would agree to provide community-based mental health treatment within the existing county Medi-Cal mental health program if ongoing treatment for the participant is medically necessary and to fund rental assistance and services, as specified. Among other things, the bill would establish criteria for housing for purposes of the program. The bill would require a participating county to report to the department regarding the intended outcomes of the program, and would require the information to include the number who were arrested while participating in the program and the number residing in a county jail. The bill would require the department, on or before June 30, 2021, to seek and contract with an independent evaluator to prepare an analysis of the information, as specified, and to submit the information and the analysis to the Chairs of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and other specified committees no later than January 1, 2023. The bill would require the department to implement the program using funding appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes described in the program. The bill would also include a statement of legislative findings and declarations.
Under existing law, a city or county is empowered to perform duties including providing for public safety and law enforcement. A city or county is authorized, either directly or indirectly, to prescribe policies and regulations for law enforcement agencies under its jurisdiction. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2019, require each law enforcement agency, as defined, to submit to its governing body at a regularly scheduled hearing, open to the public, a proposed Surveillance Use Policy for the use of each type of surveillance technology and the information collected, as specified. The bill would require the law enforcement agency to cease using the surveillance technology within 30 days if the proposed plan is not adopted. The bill would require the law enforcement agency to submit an amendment to the surveillance plan, pursuant to the same open meeting requirements, for each new type of surveillance technology sought to be used. The bill would require the policy and any amendments to be posted on the agency's Internet Web site. The bill would prohibit a law enforcement agency from selling, sharing, or transferring information gathered by surveillance technology, except to another law enforcement agency, as permitted by law and the terms of the Surveillance Use Policy. The bill would provide that any person could bring an action for injunctive relief to prevent a violation of these provisions and, if successful, could recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The bill would require an agency to discipline an employee who knowingly or intentionally uses surveillance technology in violation of these provisions, as specified. The bill would authorize an agency to temporarily use surveillance technology during exigent circumstances, as specified, without meeting the requirements of these provisions, provided that, among other things, the agency submits a specified report to its governing body within 45 days of the end of the exigent circumstances, except as specified. The bill would also establish procedures for the Department of the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Justice to establish their own Surveillance Use Policies. The bill would, among other things, require that these agencies ensure that the collection, use, maintenance, sharing, and dissemination of information or data collected with surveillance technology is consistent with respect for individual privacy and civil liberties, and that the policy be publicly available on the agency's Internet Web site. The bill would also require that if these agencies intend to acquire surveillance technology, they provide 90 days advance notice on the agency's Internet Web site, as specified. The bill would make legislative findings in support of these provisions. Because this bill would impose additional requirements on local public agencies, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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, with regard to certain mandates, no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board and prescribes the membership and functions and duties of the board with regard to the preservation and protection of natural lands and wildlife habitat. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for greenhouse gas emissions reduction activities. This bill would establish the Natural Resources Climate Resiliency Program to plan and implement projects that increase the resiliency of natural systems, natural and working lands, and wildlife habitat in rural and urban areas throughout the state in the face of climate change. The bill would require that the program be developed and implemented by the Wildlife Conservation Board, in coordination with any participating state conservancies, as defined. The bill would require that moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, bonds, settlements with conditions consistent with the program, and other revenue sources, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, be transferred to the Natural Resources Climate Change Resiliency Fund (fund) , which the bill would create. The bill would require that the board and any participating state conservancies, by June 30, 2019, jointly develop a schedule for the allocation of moneys transferred to the fund pursuant to those provisions to the board and each participating conservancy, as provided. The bill would require that the schedule of allocation be determined based on the geographical scope and population of the jurisdictional area covered by the board and each participating conservancy, with consideration given to a region's vulnerability to climate change impacts, and be jointly updated by the board and participating conservancies, not less than once every 5 years, as prescribed. The bill would require that any allocations of moneys from the fund that are included in the schedule of allocation be based on the geographical scope and population of the jurisdictional area covered by the board and each participating conservancy with consideration given to visitor population of the jurisdictional area and the population served by a jurisdictional area even if all or a portion of the population served by the jurisdictional area resides outside of the jurisdictional area. The bill would require that the board and any participating state conservancies expend moneys from the fund for purposes of the program, as prescribed. The bill would also require the board to expend a portion of those moneys to fund projects located in disadvantaged communities, as described, and low-income communities, as defined. The bill would require the board, in collaboration with state conservancies that are considering participating in the program, no later than January 1, 2020, after a public hearing or other public process, to develop criteria and guidelines for the implementation of the program, as provided. The bill would authorize the board and each participating conservancy to develop a climate resiliency program pursuant to the bill that prioritizes projects that include specified cobenefits. The bill would require the board and a participating conservancy, after a participating conservancy notifies the board in writing of its interest in the program and completes the above-described criteria and guidelines, to adopt its own climate resiliency plan or climate resiliency program covering its jurisdiction that is consistent with specified objectives and priorities as geographically appropriate, as specified. The bill would authorize the board and any participating state conservancies to award grants to specified public entities and nongovernmental organizations for projects that are consistent with the program. The bill would require the board and any participating state conservancies to each prepare an annual public report on projects undertaken pursuant to the program during the year prior to preparation of the report, as prescribed.
Existing law provides for the implementation, by counties and foster family agencies, of the resource family approval process, which is a unified, family friendly, and child-centered approval process that replaces the multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving adoptive families. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to establish and facilitate a pilot program, as specified, in up to five counties that voluntarily apply and are selected by the department, to increase placement stability for foster youth and facilitate greater resource family retention through strengths-based, skills-based, trauma-informed coaching. The bill would set forth the components of the pilot program and would require the department, by June 30, 2019, to consult with relevant stakeholders and to consider the stakeholders' recommendations to the department regarding certain parameters of the pilot program, as specified. The bill would require a county that elects to participate in the pilot program to conduct at least one evaluation of the program's impact and effectiveness on increasing placement stability for foster youth and retaining resource families in accordance with, and upon issuance of guidance from, the department, and to submit the evaluation to the department, no later than December 31, 2021. The bill would require the department to report the information provided by the counties to the Legislature, as prescribed. The provisions of the bill would be repealed on January 1, 2022.
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit for qualified renters in the amount of $120 for spouses filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000, as adjusted, or less, and in the amount of $60 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000, as adjusted, or less. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation these adjusted gross income amounts. For 2017, the adjusted gross income limit is $80,156 and $40,078, respectively. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2018, would increase the credit amount for a qualified renter, as specified, and would require the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation the credit amount for taxable years on and after January 1, 2023. The bill would authorize the Governor to suspend the increased credit amount by proclamation if the Governor finds and declares that an economic emergency exists in this state and it is necessary that the increased credit amount be suspended, in which case the credit amount would be the credit amount for the taxable year immediately preceding the taxable year in which the suspension of the credit applies. The bill would also provide that the increased credit amount is $0 for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, unless otherwise specified in a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill. In the event the increased credit amount is $0, the existing credit amounts of $60 and $120, respectively, would be the credit amounts for that taxable year. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Act of 2003 creates the Division of Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation within the Department of Parks and Recreation. The act gives the division certain duties and responsibilities, including the planning, acquisition, development, conservation, and restoration of lands in state vehicular recreation areas. Existing law establishes the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund to be the repository of certain moneys, including fees received by the department for the use of state vehicular recreation areas. Existing law requires the revenues in the fund to be available, upon appropriation, for grants and cooperative agreements, as specified, the support of the division, and the planning, acquisition, development, mitigation, construction, maintenance, administration, operation, restoration, and conservation of lands in state vehicular recreation areas and certain other areas. This bill would authorize the department to dispose of the portion of the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area known as the "Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area" to permanently preserve that land for conservation purposes, as specified, if the department determines that disposing of the land is in the public interest. The bill would require that the land only be sold to a local agency or nonprofit organization for use as a park or another open space purpose, as specified. The bill would require any revenue from the disposition of the land to be deposited in the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund for the purchase, by the department, of land for off-highway vehicle recreation.
Existing law makes a violation of the Vehicle Code an infraction punishable by a fine up to $100, unless otherwise specified. Existing law requires a driver facing a steady circular red signal alone to stop at a marked limit line, but if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, then before entering the intersection, and to remain stopped until an indication to proceed is shown, except as specified. A violation of that provision is an infraction punishable by a fine of $100. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2020, revise and recast those provisions, and instead would make a violation of the requirement for a right turn, or a left turn from a one-way street onto a one-way street, an infraction punishable by a fine of up to $100 pursuant to the general Vehicle Code provisions described above. The bill would make additional conforming changes. The bill would also make a statement of legislative findings and declarations.
Existing law provides for the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP) , which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act. Under existing law, benefit payments under SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment, effective January 1 of each year. Existing law prohibits, for each calendar year, commencing with the 2011 calendar year, any cost-of-living adjustment from being made to the maximum benefit payment unless otherwise specified by statute, except for the pass along of any cost-of-living increase in the federal SSI benefits. Existing law continuously appropriates funds for the implementation of SSP. This bill would reinstate the cost-of-living adjustment beginning January 1 of the 2019 calendar year, subject to the appropriation of funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act.