Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 922

Introduced by Assembly Member Gallagher

February 26, 2015

begin delete An act relating to economic development. end delete begin insert An act to amend Section 6377.1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation, to take effect immediately, tax levy. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 922, as amended, Gallagher. begin delete Economic development. end delete begin insert Sales and use taxes: exemption manufacturing. end insert

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Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes 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, and provides various exemptions from those taxes.

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Existing law exempts from those taxes, on and after July 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2022, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, qualified tangible personal property purchased by a qualified person for use primarily in manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of property, as specified; qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a contractor for specified purposes, as provided; and qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person to be used primarily in research and development, as provided. Existing law defines a “qualified person” to be a person that is primarily engaged in specified lines of business.

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Existing law specifies that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes, transactions and use taxes, and specified state taxes from which revenues are deposited into the Local Public Safety Fund, the Education Protection Account, the Local Revenue Fund, the Fiscal Recovery Fund, or the Local Revenue Fund 2011.

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This bill would delete that repeal date, thereby extending the application of the exemption indefinitely. The bill, on or after January 1, 2023, would limit the exemption to a qualified person that is located in a county, city and county, or metropolitan statistical area that had an unemployment rate of 10% or more in the previous calendar quarter.

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This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

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Existing law provides for various economic development programs that foster community sustainability and for community and economic development initiatives throughout the state.

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This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to develop a new economic program that would operate in areas with high unemployment.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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begin insert Section 6377.1 of the end insert begin insert Revenue and Taxation Code end insert
begin insert is amended to read: end insert

6377.1.  

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (e), on or after
July 1, 2014, begin delete and before July 1, 2022, end delete 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, any of the
following:

(1) Qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by
a qualified person to be used primarily in any stage of the
manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of
tangible personal property, beginning at the point any raw materials
are received by the qualified person and introduced into the process
and ending at the point at which the manufacturing, processing,
refining, fabricating, or recycling has altered tangible personal
property to its completed form, including packaging, if required.

(2) Qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by
a qualified person to be used primarily in research and
development.

(3) Qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by
a qualified person to be used primarily to maintain, repair, measure,
or test any qualified tangible personal property described in
paragraph (1) or (2).

(4) Qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by
a contractor purchasing that property for use in the performance
of a construction contract for the qualified person, that will use
that property as an integral part of the manufacturing, processing,
refining, fabricating, or recycling process, or as a research or
storage facility for use in connection with those processes.

(b) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Fabricating” means to make, build, create, produce, or
assemble components or tangible personal property to work in a
new or different manner.

(2) “Manufacturing” means the activity of converting or
conditioning tangible personal property by changing the form,
composition, quality, or character of the property for ultimate sale
at retail or use in the manufacturing of a product to be ultimately
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.

(3) “Primarily” means 50 percent or more of the time.

(4) “Process” means the period beginning at the point at which
any raw materials are received by the qualified person and
introduced into the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating,
or recycling activity of the qualified person and ending at the point
at which the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or
recycling activity of the qualified person has altered tangible
personal property to its completed form, including packaging, if
required. Raw materials shall be considered to have been
introduced into the process when the raw materials are stored on
the same premises where the qualified person’s manufacturing,
processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling activity is conducted.
Raw materials that are stored on premises other than where the
qualified person’s manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating,
or recycling activity is conducted shall not be considered to have
been introduced into the manufacturing, processing, refining,
fabricating, or recycling process.

(5) “Processing” means the physical application of the materials
and labor necessary to modify or change the characteristics of
tangible personal property.

(6) (A)  begin insert (i) end insert begin insert   end insert “Qualified person” means a person that is primarily
engaged in those lines of business described in Codes 3111 to
3399, inclusive, 541711, or 541712 of the North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS) published by the United States
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), 2012 edition.

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(ii) On or after January 1, 2023, “qualified person” means a
qualified person, as defined in clause (i), that is located in a county,
city and county, or metropolitan statistical area that had an
unemployment rate of 10 percent or more in the previous calendar
quarter.

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(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), “qualified person” shall
not include either of the following:

(i) An apportioning trade or business that is required to apportion
its business income pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25128.

(ii) A trade or business conducted wholly within this state that
would be required to apportion its business income pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 25128 if it were subject to apportionment
pursuant to Section 25101.

(7) (A) “Qualified tangible personal property” includes, but is
not limited to, all of the following:

(i) Machinery and equipment, including component parts and
contrivances such as belts, shafts, moving parts, and operating
structures.

(ii) Equipment or devices used or required to operate, control,
regulate, or maintain the machinery, including, but not limited to,
computers, data-processing equipment, and computer software,
together with all repair and replacement parts with a useful life of
one or more years therefor, whether purchased separately or in
conjunction with a complete machine and regardless of whether
the machine or component parts are assembled by the qualified
person or another party.

(iii) Tangible personal property used in pollution control that
meets standards established by this state or any local or regional
governmental agency within this state.

(iv) Special purpose buildings and foundations used as an
integral part of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating,
or recycling process, or that constitute a research or storage facility
used during those processes. Buildings used solely for warehousing
purposes after completion of those processes are not included.

(B) “Qualified tangible personal property” shall not include any
of the following:

(i) Consumables with a useful life of less than one year.

(ii) Furniture, inventory, and equipment used in the extraction
process, or equipment used to store finished products that have
completed the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or
recycling process.

(iii) Tangible personal property used primarily in administration,
general management, or marketing.

(8) “Refining” means the process of converting a natural
resource to an intermediate or finished product.

(9) “Research and development” means those activities that are
described in Section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code or in any
regulations thereunder.

(10) “Useful life” for tangible personal property that is treated
as having a useful life of one or more years for state income or
franchise tax purposes shall be deemed to have a useful life of one
or more years for purposes of this section. “Useful life” for tangible
personal property that is treated as having a useful life of less than
one year for state income or franchise tax purposes shall be deemed
to have a useful life of less than one year for purposes of this
section.

(c) An exemption shall not be allowed under this section unless
the purchaser furnishes the retailer with an exemption certificate,
completed in accordance with any instructions or regulations as
the board may prescribe, and the retailer retains the exemption
certificate in its records and furnishes it to the board upon request.

(d) (1)    Notwithstanding the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local
Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 7200))
and the Transactions and Use Tax Law (Part 1.6 (commencing
with Section 7251)), the exemption established 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) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the exemption established
by this section shall not apply with respect to any tax levied
pursuant to Section 6051.2, 6051.5, 6201.2, or 6201.5, pursuant
to Section 35 of Article XIII of the California Constitution, or any
tax levied pursuant to Section 6051 or 6201 that is deposited in
the State Treasury to the credit of the Local Revenue Fund 2011
pursuant to Section 6051.15 or 6201.15.

(e) (1) The exemption provided by this section shall not apply
to either of the following:

(A) Any tangible personal property purchased during any
calendar year that exceeds two hundred million dollars
($200,000,000) of purchases of qualified tangible personal property
for which an exemption is claimed by a qualified person under
this section. For purposes of this subparagraph, in the case of a
qualified person that is required to be included in a combined report
under Section 25101 or authorized to be included in a combined
report under Section 25101.15, the aggregate of all purchases of
qualified personal property for which an exemption is claimed
pursuant to this section by all persons that are required or
authorized to be included in a combined report shall not exceed
two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) in any calendar year.

(B) The sale or storage, use, or other consumption of property
that, within one year from the date of purchase, is removed from
California, converted from an exempt use under subdivision (a)
to some other use not qualifying for exemption, or used in a manner
not qualifying for exemption.

(2) If a purchaser certifies in writing to the seller that the tangible
personal property purchased without payment of the tax will be
used in a manner entitling the seller to regard the gross receipts
from the sale as exempt from the sales tax, and the purchase
exceeds the two-hundred-million-dollar ($200,000,000) limitation
described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1), or within one year
from the date of purchase, the purchaser removes that property
from California, converts that property for use in a manner not
qualifying for the exemption, or uses that property in a manner
not qualifying for the exemption, the purchaser shall be liable for
payment of sales tax, with applicable interest, as if the purchaser
were a retailer making a retail sale of the tangible personal property
at the time the tangible personal property is so purchased, removed,
converted, or used, and the cost of the tangible personal property
to the purchaser shall be deemed the gross receipts from that retail
sale.

(f) This section shall apply to leases of qualified tangible
personal property classified as “continuing sales” and “continuing
purchases” in accordance with Sections 6006.1 and 6010.1. The
exemption established by this section shall apply to the rentals
payable pursuant to the lease, provided the lessee is a qualified
person and the tangible personal property is used in an activity
described in subdivision (a).

(g) (1) Upon the effective date of this section, the Department
of Finance shall estimate the total dollar amount of exemptions
that will be taken for each calendar year, or any portion thereof,
for which this section provides an exemption.

(2) No later than each March 1 next following a calendar year
for which this section provides an exemption, the board shall
provide to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee a report of the
total dollar amount of exemptions taken under this section for the
immediately preceding calendar year. The report shall compare
the total dollar amount of exemptions taken under this section for
that calendar year with the department’s estimate for that same
calendar year. If that total dollar amount taken is less than the
estimate for that calendar year, the report shall identify options for
increasing exemptions taken so as to meet estimated amounts.

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(h) This section is repealed on January 1, 2023.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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This act provides for a tax levy within the meaning of
Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect.

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SECTION 1.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to develop a new
economic program that would operate in areas with high
unemployment.

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