Amended in Assembly January 19, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 33

Introduced by Assembly Members Atkins and Mark Stone

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O’Donnell, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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January 7, 2016

House Resolution No. 33—Relative to the California Earned Income Tax Credit.

WHEREAS, California enacted its first ever state Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC), based on the federal EITC, last summer as part
of the 2015-16 budget package; and

WHEREAS, The state EITC will allow California’s lowest
income workers to better provide for their families by boosting
their 2015 incomes by as much as $2,653; and

WHEREAS, The state EITC provides a match of up to 85
percent of the federal EITC for California’s lowest income workers,
a match that far exceeds any other state in the nation; and

WHEREAS, The state EITC, together with the federal EITC,
could raise the incomes of families living in deep poverty, defined
as below one-half of the federal poverty line, by as much as 83
percent in 2015; and

WHEREAS, The state EITC will build on the decades-long
track record of success of the federal EITC; and

WHEREAS, Research shows that the federal EITC reduces
poverty, encourages employment, and boosts local economies;
and

WHEREAS, Research has linked the EITC to improved health
for mothers and infants as well as better educational outcomes for
children; and

WHEREAS, The success of California’s EITC depends on
policymakers, public agencies, and community leaders ensuring
that all households that are eligible for the new credit know about
it, learn about it, and claim it; and

WHEREAS, Over $1.8 billion of federal EITC dollars have
gone unclaimed in California each year and promoting the new
state EITC will boost awareness and claims of the federal EITC,
thereby returning federal dollars to California families and local
economies; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That January
22, 2016, is California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Awareness Day; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.