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.
Sponsored bills
The Real Estate Law provides for the regulation and licensure of real estate brokers and real estate salespersons by the Department of Real Estate, which is overseen by the Real Estate Commissioner, the chief officer of the Department of Real Estate. Under existing law, protection of the public is the highest priority for the Department of Real Estate in exercising its licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions. This bill would require the department to establish, by January 1, 2016, an Elder Financial Abuse Advisory Committee, as prescribed, to provide to the commissioner, beginning January 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, reports analyzing the department's financial policies relating to real estate and identifying those policies that negatively impact elderly residents.
The Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act provides for the formation of a corporation under the General Corporation Law for the purposes of qualifying as a professional corporation that is engaged in rendering professional services in a single profession, and permits a professional corporation to render professional services through persons who are licensed in that profession. Under the act, a medical corporation with more than 200 shareholders may provide that certain directors may have terms of office of up to 6 years. This bill would extend the maximum term of office of a medical corporation director, as described above, to 7 years. The bill also would make technical, nonsubstantive changes.
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.
Existing law establishes various programs that provide financial aid for qualifying students attending postsecondary educational institutions, including, among others, the Cal Grant T Program, which provides for the award of funds for tuition and student fees for attendance in a program of professional preparation. As a condition of receiving a Cal Grant T award, a recipient is required to teach for one year in a high-priority school, as defined. This bill would establish the Invigorating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (iSTEM) Teacher Preparation Grant Program, to be administered by the Student Aid Commission, to award grants to eligible applicants for tuition and student fees for programs of professional preparation to the extent that funds are appropriated for this purpose in the annual Budget Act. The bill would require an applicant to meet eligibility requirements, including, among others, obtaining a baccalaureate degree in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics field, as defined by the commission, and agreeing to teach in a high-priority school, as defined, for 2 years after the person obtains a teaching credential. The bill would require a recipient who fails to meet the requirements for receiving the grant to repay the commission the amount of the grant, and would authorize the commission to initiate a civil action against the recipient for repayment of the grant plus interest and costs incurred in recovering the funds.
(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 requires a local educational agency to implement one of several specified interventions for a school not identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school that, after one full school year, is subject to corrective action, as specified, and fails to meet specified criteria and has a specified percentage of parents and legal guardians of pupils sign a petition requesting the local educational agency to implement at least one of 5 specified interventions. Existing law requires a local educational agency to implement the intervention option requested by the petition unless the agency makes a specified finding in a regularly scheduled public hearing. This bill would delete the provision excluding schools identified as persistently lowest-achieving schools, and would also make the provisions applicable to schools ranked in deciles 1 to 3, inclusive, of the Academic Performance Index. The bill would make technical changes by updating cross-references. By imposing additional duties on school districts, 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, 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 requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop a high school exit examination in English language arts and mathematics in accordance with state academic content standards. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003–04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school. Existing law requires that each pupil take the high school exit examination in grade 10 beginning in the 2001–02 school year and allows each pupil to take the examination during each subsequent administration, until each section of the examination has been passed. This bill would require the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, to develop an additional section to be included in the high school exit examination that tests United States history and government in accordance with the statewide academically rigorous content standards for history-social science adopted by the state board, as specified. The bill would require the Superintendent to subject the United States history and government section to specified field testing and review requirements before adoption by the state board. The bill would require the state board, by January 1, 2016, to adopt a United States history and government section developed by the Superintendent for inclusion in the high school exit examination. The bill would require, commencing with the 2019–20 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12, in addition to successfully passing the English language arts and mathematics sections of the high school exit examination, to successfully pass the United States history and government section adopted by the state board. The bill would require, commencing with the 2017–18 school year, each pupil to take the high school exit examination, including the United States history and government section, in grade 10 and would allow each pupil to take the examination during each subsequent administration, until each section of the examination has been passed. The bill would make conforming changes and other nonsubstantive changes.
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in science and mathematics. Existing law also requires the Instructional Quality Commission to recommend to the State Board of Education the adoption of minimum standards for courses of study, and requires public schools to conform to those minimum standards, when adopted. This bill would require the commission and the state board to ensure that the science and mathematics curriculum frameworks adopted in the course of the next submission cycle include the subjects of engineering and robotics, and, upon the adoption of those curriculum frameworks, would require instruction in the areas of science and mathematics to include instruction in engineering and robotics. To the extent that these requirements would impose new duties on local educational agencies, 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, 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.
The Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop an Academic Performance Index that measures the performance of schools and the academic performance of pupils. Existing law requires the Superintendent, on or before October 1, 2013, to report to the Legislature and recommend to the state board for adoption a method for increasing emphasis on pupil mastery of standards in science and social science through the system of public school accountability or by other means. This bill would require the Superintendent, on or before July 1, 2015, to report to the Legislature and recommend to the state board for adoption a project-based assessment, as specified, through the system of public school accountability, or by other means, to measure the civics learning objectives contained in the history-social science framework for grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require the civics learning objectives to include specified elements.