Amended in Assembly May 5, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1329


Introduced by Assembly Member Patterson

(begin deleteCoauthor: end deletebegin insertCoauthors: end insertAssemblybegin delete Memberend deletebegin insert Membersend insert Chávezbegin insert and Steinorthend insert)

February 27, 2015


An act to add Section 17053.1 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation, to take effect immediately, tax levy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1329, as amended, Patterson. Personal Income Tax Law: credit: fuel management activities.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law.

This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, would allow a credit under that law in an amount equal tobegin delete 25% of the amountsend deletebegin insert the qualified costs, as defined,end insert paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer, not to exceed a specified amount, during the taxable year for fuel management activities, as defined, performed on qualified real property owned by the qualified taxpayer.

This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

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SECTION 1.  

Section 17053.1 is added to the Revenue and
2Taxation Code
, to read:

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17053.1.  

(a) For taxable years beginning on or after January
21, 2016, there shall be allowed a credit against the “net tax,” as
3defined by Section 17039, in an amount equal tobegin delete 25 percent of the
4amountsend delete
begin insert the qualified costsend insert paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer
5during the taxable year for fuel management activities performed
6on qualified real property, subject to subdivision (c).

7(b) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
8shall apply:

9(1) “Defensible space” means the area adjacent to a structure
10or dwelling where wildfire prevention or protection practices are
11implemented to provide defense from an approaching wildfire or
12to minimize the spread of a structure fire to wildlands or
13surrounding areas.

14(2) “Fuel management activities” means the creation of a
15defensible space around structures, the establishment of fuel breaks,
16the thinning of woody vegetation for the primary purpose of
17reducing risk to structures from wildfire, or the secondary treatment
18of woody fuel by looping, scattering, piling, chipping, removing
19from the site, or prescribed burning, provided these activities meet
20or exceed the requirements of the 2015 California Forest Practice
21Rules.

22(3) “Hazardous fire area” has the same meaning as that term is
23defined in Section 4251 of the Public Resources Code.

begin insert

24(4) “Licensed contractor” means a contractor licensed under
25the Contractors’ State License Law (Chapter 9 (commencing with
26Section 7000) of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code)
27with a license that relates to the duties necessary to provide fuel
28management activities.

end insert
begin insert

29(5) “Professional forester” means a person licensed under the
30Professional Foresters Law (Article 3 (commencing with Section
31750) of Chapter 2.5 of Division 1 of the Public Resources Code).

end insert
begin insert

32(6) “Qualified costs” means 25 percent of the costs paid or
33incurred by a qualified taxpayer for labor or services performed
34for fuel management activities by a licensed contractor or
35professional forester, which costs are evidenced by records and
36documents, including, but not limited to, a written certification.

end insert
begin delete

37(4)

end delete

38begin insert(7)end insert “Qualified real property” means real property that is located
39within a hazardous fire area or a very high fire hazard severity
40zone in this state.

begin delete

P3    1(5)

end delete

2begin insert(8)end insert “Qualified taxpayer” means a taxpayer who owns qualified
3real property. A taxpayer who owns a share of qualified real
4property may be allowed a share of the credit based on the
5taxpayer’s share of the qualified costs.

begin delete

6(6)

end delete

7begin insert(9)end insert “Wildfire” means an unplanned, unwanted wildland fire,
8including unauthorized human-caused fires, escaped wildland fire
9use events, escaped prescribed fire projects, and all other wildland
10fires where the objective is to extinguish the fire.

begin delete

11(7)

end delete

12begin insert(10)end insert “Very high fire hazard severity zone” has the same meaning
13as that term is defined in subdivision (i) of Section 51177 of the
14Government Code.

begin insert

15(11) “Written certification” means a written evaluation by the
16State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection or local fire
17department that certifies the establishment of defensible space,
18provided that the certification shall be obtained within 30 days
19after completion of the work establishing the defensible space. The
20qualified taxpayer shall retain a copy of the certification and
21provide it to the Franchise Tax Board upon request.

end insert

22(c) The amount of the credit allowed by this section shall not
23exceed the lesser of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500)
24per qualified taxpayer per taxable year or 50 percent of a qualified
25taxpayer’s total taxbegin insert liabilityend insert forbegin delete that yearend deletebegin insert the previous taxable yearend insert.

26(d) A deduction shall not be allowed under this part for any
27amount paid or incurred for which a credit is allowed by this
28section.

29(e) The Franchise Tax Board shall establish a procedure to verify
30that the amount was paid or incurred by the qualified taxpayer for
31fuel management activities on qualified property.

32(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to comply
33with the requirements of Section 41.

begin insert

34(g) If the credit allowed by this section exceeds the “net tax,”
35the excess may be carried over to reduce the “net tax” in the
36following year, and the succeeding six years, if necessary, until
37the credit is exhausted.

end insert
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SEC. 2.  

This act provides for a tax levy within the meaning
2of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect.



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