BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 764
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Date of Hearing: April 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON REVENUE AND TAXATION
Henry T. Perea, Chair
AB 764 (Swanson) - As Introduced: February 17, 2011
Majority vote. Fiscal committee.
SUBJECT : Personal income taxes: voluntary contributions:
Victim-Witness Assistance Fund
SUMMARY : Authorizes the addition of the Victim-Witness
Assistance Fund (Fund) checkoff to the personal income tax (PIT)
form upon the removal of another voluntary contribution fund
(VCF) from the form. Specifically, this bill provides:
1)That all moneys transferred to the Fund, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, shall be allocated as follows:
a) To the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the State
Controller for reimbursement of all costs incurred in
administering the checkoff; and,
b) To community-based organizations that serve minor
victims of human trafficking. Money in the Fund shall be
allocated to community-based organizations in accordance
with the selection process specified in Penal Code (PC)
Section 13837(b).
2)For the Fund provisions' automatic repeal on either January 1
of the fifth taxable year following the Fund's first
appearance on the PIT return or on January 1 of an earlier
year, if FTB estimates that the annual contribution amount
will be less than $250,000, or an adjusted amount for
subsequent years.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows taxpayers to designate on their PIT returns a
contribution to any of 15 VCFs.
2)Provides a specific sunset date for each VCF, except for the
California Seniors Special Fund.
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3)Provides that each VCF must meet a minimum annual contribution
amount to remain in effect, except for the California Seniors
Special Fund, the California Firefighters' Memorial Fund, and
the California Peace Officer Memorial Foundation Fund.
FISCAL EFFECT : The FTB estimates annual revenue losses of
roughly $20,000 resulting from itemized deductions.
COMMENTS :
1)The author has provided the following statement in support of
this bill:
Nearly 300,000 American children and youth are estimated to
be at risk of child sexual exploitation each year. There
are many organizations throughout the state that help to
provide support services to young men and women who have
been victimized by sexual exploitation. This bill will
facilitate these important treatment services by providing
a funding mechanism to support organizations that serve
sexually exploited minors. AB 764 authorizes individual
taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax
liability to the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be
allocated to community-based organizations that serve minor
victims of human trafficking.
2)FTB notes the following in its staff analysis of this bill:
This bill would allow the Legislature to allocate funds
directly to nongovernmental entities. Typically, voluntary
contribution funds are allocated to a state agency for
purposes of overseeing the expenditure of the funds.
Without an allocation to a state agency, the funds could be
prevented from reaching community-based organizations that
provide sexual assault services programs. The author may
wish to add language that would allocate the funds to a
state agency that would be responsible for administering
the funds to the community-based organizations.
3)Committee Staff Comments:
a) The Victim-Witness Assistance Fund : Under existing law,
moneys appropriated from the Fund are made available to
public or private nonprofit agencies to assist criminal
witnesses and victims. To be eligible to receive funds,
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agencies must meet a number of statutory criteria. Among
other things, agencies must provide comprehensive services
to victims and witnesses of all types of crime. In
addition, agencies must be recognized and selected by their
county board of supervisors.
b) Open Questions : This bill provides for the allocation
of Fund moneys to community-based organizations that serve
minor victims of human trafficking. Under existing law,
however, agencies must serve victims of all types of crimes
to be eligible to receive Fund monies. Thus, it is not
clear whether the author intends for contributions to be
allocated to agencies that provide comprehensive services
or to agencies focused exclusively on serving minor victims
of human trafficking. This ambiguity is compounded by
provisions stating that Fund moneys shall be allocated to
community-based organizations in accordance with the
selection process specified in PC Section 13837(b), which
appears to govern the California Emergency Management
Agency. To simplify administration of this VCF, Committee
staff suggests amendments clarifying that Fund moneys are
to be allocated to nonprofit agencies that provide
comprehensive services to victims and witnesses of all
types of crime, including human trafficking.
c) In the Interest of Full Disclosure : Under this bill,
the instructions for the PIT form would be amended to
include information on the new Fund, and to inform
taxpayers that "100 percent of Ýany] contribution shall be
used to fund community-based organizations that serve minor
victims of human trafficking . . . ." Technically, this is
not accurate. As with all VCFs, a small percentage of
contribution funds are used to reimburse both FTB and the
State Controller for their administrative costs. As such,
the author may wish to take amendments removing the
reference to a specific percentage.
d) So Many Causes, So Little Space : There are countless
worthy causes that would benefit from the inclusion of a
new VCF on the state's income tax returns. At the same
time, space on the return is limited. Thus, it could be
argued that the current system for adding VCFs to the form
is subjective and essentially rewards causes that can
convince the Legislature to include their fund on the form.
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e) Suggested Amendments : Committee staff suggests the
following technical amendments to the bill:
i) Replace the word "payment" with "payments" on page
2, line 15; and,
ii) Provide an explicit mechanism for transferring
taxpayer contributions to the Fund. Specifically,
Committee staff suggests adding the following language to
proposed Revenue and Taxation Code Section 18809.1:
The Franchise Tax Board shall notify the Controller of
both the amount of money paid by taxpayers in excess
of their tax liability and the amount of refund money
that taxpayers have designated pursuant to Section
18809 to be transferred to the Victim-Witness
Assistance Fund. The Controller shall transfer from
the Personal Income Tax Fund to the Victim-Witness
Assistance Fund an amount not in excess of the sum of
the amounts designated by individuals pursuant to
Section 18809 for payment into that fund.
f) Related Legislation : The following related bills have
been introduced in the current Legislative Session:
i) AB 233 (Hall) would add the California YMCA Youth
and Government Fund to the form;
ii) AB 564 (Smyth) would, among other things, add the
Municipal Shelter Spay-Neuter Fund to the form; and,
iii) AB 971 (Monning) would extend the current repeal
date for the California Sea Otter Fund.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : M. David Ruff / REV. & TAX. / (916)
AB 764
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319-2098