BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 571
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 571 (Liu)
As Amended August 22, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :35-2
REVENUE & TAXATION 5-0 ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS
7-0
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|Ayes:|Bocanegra, Mullin, |Ayes:|Ian Calderon, Waldron, |
| |Nestande, Pan, Ting | |Bloom, Brown, Gomez, |
| | | |Levine, Wilk |
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APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, | | |
| |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | | |
| |Hall, Holden, Linder, | | |
| |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the addition of the Keep Arts in Schools
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 :
1)Provides that all money transferred to the Fund, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, shall be allocated to the:
a) Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the State Controller for
reimbursement of all costs incurred administering the Fund;
and,
b) Arts Council, for allocation of grants to individuals or
organizations administering arts programs for children in
preschool through 12th grade pursuant to Government Code
(GC) Section 8753(o).
SB 571
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2)Specifies that the Fund provisions shall remain in effect only
until January 1 of the fifth taxable year following the Fund's
first appearance on the PIT return. However, if the FTB
determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be
received during a calendar year will not meet a minimum
contribution threshold, the provisions shall be inoperative
with respect to taxable years beginning on or after January 1
of that calendar year.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows taxpayers to contribute to one or more of the 18 VCFs
on the PIT return.
2)Provides a specific sunset date for each VCF, except for the
California Seniors Special Fund and the State Parks Protection
Fund.
3)Requires each VCF to meet an annual minimum 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.
4)Provides for an Arts Council composed of 11 members. Among
other things, the Arts Council is authorized, under GC Section
8753(o), to award prizes or direct grants to individuals or
organizations in accordance with applicable regulations.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the FTB estimates that this bill would result in
annual General Fund revenue losses of $10,000 beginning in
fiscal year 2014-15.
COMMENTS:
What does this bill do? : This bill authorizes the addition of
the Fund to the PIT return to support Arts Council grants to
arts programs for children. Provided sufficient space is
available, the Fund would first appear on the 2013 PIT return
filed on or after January 1, 2014.
Legislative history : SB 1076 (Price), Chapter 319, Statutes of
2010, first authorized the addition of an "Arts Council Fund" to
the PIT return. As with the current legislative proposal,
SB 571
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moneys from this VCF were allocated for grants to individuals
and organizations administering arts programs under GC Section
8753(o). The Arts Council Fund first appeared on the 2010 PIT
return and last appeared on the 2011 return because the FTB
determined that contributions would fall below the required
$250,000 minimum contribution amount for the 2012 calendar year.
Specifically, in 2012, the Arts Council Fund received valid
contributions totaling only $165,647, or $84,353 less than the
$250,000 minimum contribution threshold.
A second bite at the apple : This bill simply reauthorizes a VCF
that was previously removed from the PIT return for lack of
public support. While proponents may argue that this Fund is
likely to fare better with a new name and in an improved
economic climate, the Legislature may wish to consider the
questionable precedent of simply re-adding VCFs to the PIT
return after they have failed to garner sufficient financial
support in the past.
Analysis Prepared by : M. David Ruff / REV. & TAX. / (916)
319-2098
FN: 0001913