This measure would proclaim the year of 2014 as the "Year of the Community," and would declare that the Legislature will actively promote the rights of persons with developmental disabilities and their full inclusion into community life.
The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL) prescribes the membership composition requirements for boards of retirement in counties that are subject to certain provisions regarding safety members. CERL requires the retirement boards in these counties to be comprised of 9 members and one alternate member, as specified. CERL requires the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th members to be qualified electors of the county who are not connected with the county government, except that one may be a member of the county board of supervisors. The California Constitution prohibits modification of the composition of certain public retirement boards that include elected employee members without ratification by the electors of the jurisdiction in which the participants of the system are employed. This bill would permit the Board of Supervisors of Orange County, by resolution adopted by majority vote, to appoint an alternate member for the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 9th member of the board of retirement. The bill would require that the alternate member be a qualified elector of the county who is not connected with the county government in any capacity. The bill would require the alternate member to have the same term of office as the 9th member, would permit the alternate member to vote only if the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 9th member is absent from a board meeting, and would require the alternate member to fill a vacancy with respect to those members until a successor qualifies. The bill would entitle the alternate member to compensation equal to his or her counterparts for attendance without regard to whether he or she is a voting member and would generally provide the alternate member with the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as his or her counterparts. The bill would permit the alternate member to hold positions on committees and participate in deliberations independent of his or her counterparts. The bill would prohibit the alternate member from serving until service of this type is approved by a majority of the electors in the county.
Existing law, on or before July 1 of each fiscal year, requires the county board of education to adopt an annual budget for the budget year and file the budget with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the county board of supervisors, and the county auditor. Existing law requires the Superintendent to examine the budget, as specified, and, on or before August 15, approve or disapprove the budget. This bill would authorize the Superintendent to disapprove the adopted budget of a county board of education if it does not disclose the long-term actuarial obligations of the county office of education, including, but not limited to, the debts and retiree obligations of the county office of education. Existing law, on or before July 1 of each fiscal year, requires the governing board of a school district to, among other things, adopt a budget and file that budget with the county superintendent of schools within 5 days of the adoption or by July 1, whichever occurs first. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to examine the budget, as specified, and, on or before August 15, approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the adopted budget. This bill would authorize the county superintendent of schools to disapprove the adopted budget of a school district if it does not disclose the long-term actuarial obligations of the school district, including, but not limited to, the debts and retiree obligations of the school district.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax 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, and 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 qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person to be used primarily in research and development, as provided. The bill would require the purchaser to furnish the retailer with an exemption certificate, as specified. The bill would further limit the exemption for leases that are continuing sales or purchases to a six-year period. 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, the Local Revenue Fund, the Fiscal Recovery Fund, or the Local Revenue Fund 2011. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Both laws, in specified conformity to federal income tax laws, allow a credit for increasing research expenses, as defined. In general, the amount of the credit under both laws is equal to 15% of the excess of the qualified research expenses, as defined, for the taxable year over the base amount, as defined, and, in addition, for purposes of the Corporation Tax Law, 24% of the basic research payments, as defined. The term "base amount" means the product of the average annual gross receipts of the taxpayer for each of the specified years preceding the taxable year and the fixed-base percentage, as defined, but in no event less than 50% of the qualified research expenses for the taxable year. A taxpayer may elect an alternative incremental credit for increasing research expenses in modified conformity to federal income tax laws. This bill would increase the credit for increasing research expenses to 20% of the excess of the qualified research expenses over the base amount. This bill would also provide complete conformity to the alternative incremental credit provided under those federal income tax laws. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize a credit for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009, in an amount equal to $3,000, prorated as provided, for each full-time employee hired during the taxable year by an employer that employed a specified number of employees. Those laws contain a cut-off date for the credits based upon the estimated receipt of returns claiming credits for all taxable years of $400 million, and require those sections to be repealed as of a specified date. This bill would delete the requirement related to the number of employees employed by the employer and the specified cut-off date and repeal date. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, also allow a credit under both laws in an amount equal to specified percentages of wages paid by a qualified employer taxpayer to a qualified employee. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow individual and corporate taxpayers to utilize net operating losses and carryovers and carrybacks of those losses for purposes of offsetting their individual and corporate tax liabilities. Existing law allows net operating losses attributable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013, to be carrybacks to each of the preceding 2 taxable years, as provided. Existing law provides that for a net operating loss attributable to a taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2015, the amount of carryback to any taxable year is not to exceed 75% of the net operating loss. This bill would instead provide that for a net operating loss attributable to a taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2014, the amount of carryback to any taxable year is not to exceed 100% of the net operating loss. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, authorize a taxpayer to depreciate property, determined by an applicable depreciation method, an applicable recovery period, and an applicable convention. This bill would reduce the applicable recovery period for property placed into service on and after January 1, 2014, to 12 of the applicable recovery period set forth in existing federal income tax laws or state laws. This bill would, at the election of the taxpayer, reduce the applicable recovery period for property placed into service before January 1, 2014, to 12 of the applicable recovery period set forth in existing federal income tax laws or state laws. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law provide that gain or loss upon the disposition of a capital asset is determined by reference to the specified adjusted basis of that asset. This bill would provide under both laws that the gross income of a taxpayer does not include any gain from the sale or exchange of any capital asset. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include use of market-based compliance mechanisms. This bill would require the state board to freely allocate greenhouse gas emissions allowances to the California State University, the University of California, and private colleges and universities for purposes of any market-based compliance mechanism adopted by the state board. The bill would prohibit the state board from assessing a fee on the California State University, the University of California, or a private college or university for purposes of any program or regulation adopted pursuant to the act.
Existing law requires that all persons released from prison on and after October 1, 2011, after serving a prison term for a felony, be subject to postrelease community supervision provided by a county agency for a period of 3 years immediately following release, except for persons released after serving a term for a serious felony, a violent felony, an offense for which the person was sentenced pursuant to the Three Strikes law, a crime where the person is classified as a High Risk Sex Offender, or a crime where the person is required to undergo treatment by the State Department of State Hospitals because the person has a severe mental disorder. Existing law requires these persons to be subject to parole supervision by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation following release from state prison and the jurisdiction of the court in the county in which the parolee is released or resides. The bill would additionally require any person who has a prior conviction for a serious or violent felony, a prior conviction for an offense for which the person was classified as a High Risk Sex Offender at the time he or she was eligible for release from prison, or a conviction for an offense for which the person was required, as a condition of parole, to undergo treatment by the State Department of State Hospitals, to be subject to parole supervision by the department and the jurisdiction of the court in the county in which the parolee is released or resides.
Existing law generally prohibits a city from leasing property that it owns or controls for a period exceeding 55 years, but permits a city to lease property that it owns or controls for a period not to exceed 99 years if specified conditions are met. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
(1) Existing law, the Open Enrollment Act, authorizes the parent of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district of enrollment, as defined, as specified. This bill would expand the act to authorize the parent of a pupil enrolled in a school district of residence, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district other than their school district of residence. The Open Enrollment Act requires a school district of enrollment to ensure that pupils enrolled pursuant to the act are enrolled in a school with a higher Academic Performance Index than the school in which the pupil was previously enrolled and are selected through a random, unbiased process, except that pupils applying for transfer are required to be assigned specified priorities for approval. This bill would add a third priority for approval for pupils transferring from a school ranked in decile 2 on the Academic Performance Index. To the extent the bill would expand the duties of school districts under the Open Enrollment Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or a county board of education, as specified, after a public hearing on the matter, to request the State Board of Education to waive all or part of any section of the Education Code or any regulation adopted by the state board that implements a provision of the Education Code that may be waived, except for specified provisions. This bill would include additional specified provisions of the Education Code, relating to notice and procedures to apply and transfer schools pursuant to the Open Enrollment Act, that may not be waived. 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.
Existing law designates the Capitol Area Plan as approved by the Director of General Services, as specified, as the official state master plan for development in the City of Sacramento's central city. Existing law requires the plan to be used as a guide for the location of state buildings and other facilities in the metropolitan area. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
