BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2291
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2008
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mark Leno, Chair
AB 2291 (Mendoza) - As Amended: April 21, 2008
Policy Committee: Revenue and
Taxation Vote: 8-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill adds the Low Cost/Free Spay-Neuter Fund checkoff to
the personal income tax form upon the removal of another
voluntary contribution fund (VCF) from the form. Specifically,
the bill:
1)Establishes the fund in the State Treasury, which will receive
all voluntary contributions from the checkoff program.
2)Requires that, after reimbursing the Franchise Tax Board and
Controller for administrative expenses, remaining proceeds to
this fund be appropriated to Department of Food and
Agriculture, for allocation to municipal shelters to provide
low cost or free spay-neuter services.
3)Allows the Department of Food and Agriculture to use no more
than 5% of the contributions for administrative costs.
4)Specifies that the checkoff program shall be repealed on
January 1 of the fifth taxable year following its first
appearance on the PIT return, or on January 1 of an earlier
year if the FTB determines that annual contributions the
Spay-Neuter fund are less than $250,000.
FISCAL EFFECT
The contributions may be taken as an itemized deduction on
income tax returns. The Franchise Tax Board estimates that the
annual revenue losses from these deductions would be around
$15,000.
AB 2291
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COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author indicates that over 1 million cats and
dogs are born in California each year. Many of these animals
end up on the streets without a home or owners, and eventually
wind up in animal shelters. The author notes that a major
barrier to effective population control of cats and dogs is
the high cost of spay and neutering services. This bill is
intended to help municipal shelters overcome that barrier.
2)Background-voluntary contribution funds . California taxpayers
can make voluntary contributions to any of 14 contribution
funds listed on the state personal income tax return. The
contributions are in addition to any tax liabilities otherwise
owed. Thus, they do not directly reduce state taxes otherwise
available to support state-funded programs in the year in
which they are made. However, the amounts are allowed as an
itemized deduction for charitable contributions on the
subsequent year's income tax return.
These voluntary contributions support various purposes,
including cancer research, Alzheimer's research, endangered
species preservation, and emergency food assistance.
Contributions to the VCFs have historically ranged from
$300,000 to $800,000 per year. In most cases, the VCFs remain
on the state income tax return until they are repealed or they
fail to meet minimum contribution amounts (generally $250,000
in the first year, with future year minimums increased for
inflation). All but one of the VCFs have sunset dates.
3)Other checkoff measures. Presently, there are at least four
other bills in the Legislature that would add new VCFs to the
PIT return. These include AB 1812 (Arambula) relating to fire
protection, AB 2518 (Torrico) relating to the Northern
California Cancer Center research, AB 1935 (Fuller) relating
to ovarian cancer research, and SB 1502 (Steinberg) related to
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis research.
Analysis Prepared by : Brad Williams / APPR. / (916) 319-2081