BILL NUMBER: AB 546	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Knight

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add Section 6377 to the Revenue and Taxation Code,
relating to taxation, to take effect immediately, tax levy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 546, as introduced, Knight. Sales and use taxes: exemption:
manufacturing equipment: photovoltaic panels.
   The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes 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.
   This bill would exempt from sales and use taxes the gross receipts
from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of,
tangible personal property, as specified, purchased for use primarily
in the manufacturing of solar photovoltaic panels.
   This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to
local sales and use taxes, transactions and use taxes, and specified
state sales and use taxes.
   This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its
operative date would depend on its effective date.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 6377 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code,
to read:
   6377.  (a) There are exempted from the taxes imposed by this part
the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other
consumption in this state of, tangible personal property purchased
for use primarily in any stage of the manufacturing of solar
photovoltaic panels.
   (b) For purposes of this section:
   (1) "Manufacturing" means the activity of converting or
conditioning property by changing the form, composition, quality, or
character of the property for sale at retail or for use in the
manufacturing of a product to be sold at retail. Manufacturing
includes any improvements to tangible personal property that result
in a greater service life or greater functionality than that of the
original property.
   (2) "Tangible personal property" includes, but is not limited to,
machinery and equipment, including component parts and contrivances
such as belts, shafts, moving parts, and operating structures.
   (c) No exemption shall be allowed under this section unless the
purchaser furnishes the retailer with an exemption certificate,
completed in accordance with any instruction or regulation as the
board may prescribe, and the retailer subsequently furnishes the
board with a copy of the exemption certificate. The exemption
certificate shall contain the purchase price of the machinery or
equipment, the sale or storage, use, or other consumption of which is
exempt from taxes pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (d) (1) Notwithstanding any provision of the Bradley-Burns Uniform
Local Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section
7200)) or the Transactions and Use Tax Law (Part 1.6 (commencing with
Section 7251)), the exemption provided by this section shall not
apply with respect to any tax levied by a county, city, or district
pursuant to, or in accordance with, either of those laws.
   (2) The exemption provided by this section shall not apply with
respect to any tax levied pursuant to Sections 6051.2, 6051.5,
6201.2, and 6201.5 or pursuant to Section 35 of Article XIII of the
California Constitution.
  SEC. 2.  This act provides for a tax levy within the meaning of
Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect.
However, the provisions of this act shall become operative on the
first day of the first calendar quarter commencing more than 90 days
after the effective date of this act.