BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2291| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2291 Author: Mendoza (D) Amended: 8/13/08 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE REVENUE & TAXATION COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/25/08 AYES: Oropeza, Cogdill, Alquist, Scott, Wiggins NOES: Machado, Runner NO VOTE RECORDED: McClintock SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 64-10, 5/15/08 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Income tax check-off: Municipal Shelter Spay-Neuter Fund SOURCE : Concerned Dog Owners DIGEST : This bill adds the Municipal Shelter Fund as a Voluntary Contribution on the Personal Income Tax Form. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/13/08 clarify that the Department of Public Health (DPH) shall make available information to the Department of Food and Agriculture regarding whether a city or county animal shelter is current on its reporting requirements to the DPH, Veterinary Public Health Section. ANALYSIS : Existing law allows taxpayers to contribute CONTINUED AB 2291 Page 2 (not tax liabilities) to one or more of the 11 voluntary contribution funds listed on the state personal income tax return. Each voluntary contribution fund must meet a minimum annual contribution of $250,000. The minimum contribution amount does not apply to the California Seniors Special Fund, the California Firefighters Memorial Fund, and the California Peace Officer Foundation Memorial Fund. This minimum contribution amount is adjusted annually for inflation for all voluntary contribution funds, except for those referenced above, and the California Fund for Senior Citizens. Except for the California Seniors Special Fund, each voluntary contribution fund has a sunset date. This bill allows taxpayers to designate on their tax returns that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the Municipal Shelter Spay-Neuter Fund, which will be created by this bill. However, the bill provides that a voluntary contribution designation for this fund may not be added on the tax return until another voluntary contribution designation is removed from the return. This bill provides that all money contributed to the fund pursuant to these provisions, upon appropriations by the Legislature, be allocate to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and to the Department of Food and Agriculture for distribution of grants to eligible municipal shelters on a first-come-first -served basis, as specified for the purposes of providing low cost or free spay-neuter services and for administrative cost. This bill requires eligible municipal shelters, in order to receive a grant, to file an application with the Department of Food and Agriculture, as specified. This bill also requires the DPH, upon request, to notify the Department of Food and Agriculture whether a city or county animal shelter is current on its reporting requirements to the Veterinary Public Health Section. This bill provides that these voluntary contribution provisions are repealed on either January 1 of the 5th taxable year following the taxable year the fund first appears on the personal income tax return, or on January 1 AB 2291 Page 3 of an earlier calendar year, if the Franchise Tax Board estimates that the annual contribution amount will be less than $250,000, or an adjusted amount for subsequent taxable years. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No The Franchise Tax Board estimates no fiscal impact for fiscal year 2008-09 and revenue losses of less than $150,000 in fiscal year 2009-10 and 2010-11. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/08) Concerned Dog Owners (source) American Kennel Club American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Animal Switchboard Atherton Acres, Boarding and Training Kennels Cairn Terrier Club of Northern California California Animal Association California Animal Control Directors Association California Federation for Animal Legislation California Outdoor Heritage Alliance California State Association of Counties Golden Gate Pembroke Welsh Corgi Fanciers, Inc. Humane Society of the United States International Humane Association of California Irish Terrier Club of America League of California Cities Norcal Golden Retriever Club Northern California Pug Club Pembroke Welsh Corgie Club of Southern California Portuguese Water Dog Club of Northern California Redwood Belgian Tervuren Club Sacramento Sierra St. Bernard Club San Lorenzo Dog Training Club, Inc. South Bay Collie Fanciers, Inc. State Humane Association The Humane Society of the United States Tien-Shan Pugs United Animal Nations Working Riensenschnauzer Federation Yorkshire Terrier Club of Los Angeles AB 2291 Page 4 OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/13/08) Animal Issues Movement PetPac ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this bill creates the Municipal Spay-Neuter Fund, and place a check-off box on the State Income Tax Form for taxpayers to voluntarily donate to this fund. Each year almost one million health dogs and cats are born in California. Many of these animals find themselves without a home and are unfortunately euthanized. One way to help ease this problem is by encouraging people to spay or neuter their animals. We know that one major hurdle to this effort is the cost of Spay-Neuter services. Currently, sterilization of cats can range from $60 to $150 while the costs for dogs can range from $200 to $450. For lower income Californians this is a difficult expenditure. Studies show the primary reasons people do not sterilize their pets are cost and lack of access to spay/neuter services. The higher the cost, the lower the rate of compliance will be. The "Low Cost/Free Spay Neuter Fund" allows willing Californians to donate money to help increase access to Spay-Neuter services for low income Californians. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Animal Issues Movement states they oppose this bill because the distribution of funding is to be administered by the already overburdened Department of Agriculture, which does not have any direct connection to or responsibility for municipal animal shelters and is not an accounting agency. Another serious consideration is that the tax check-off might replace or reduce giving to local organizations that provide subsidies or free spay/neuter for pets of low-income residents and also provide referrals to affordable local veterinarians. This might also impact those who leave bequests to private organizations and municipal spay/neuter programs, due to the impression that State funding is available to sterilize pets. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Arambula, Beall, Berg, Brownley, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, AB 2291 Page 5 De La Torre, De Leon, DeSaulnier, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Garcia, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Keene, Krekorian, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Ma, Maze, Mendoza, Nava, Nunez, Parra, Plescia, Portantino, Price, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Wolk, Bass NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, DeVore, Gaines, Huff, La Malfa, Nakanishi, Niello, Walters NO VOTE RECORDED: Benoit, Dymally, Garrick, Karnette, Mullin, Soto DLW:do 8/14/08 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****