Amended in Senate May 23, 2016

Amended in Senate April 27, 2016

Amended in Senate March 28, 2016

Senate BillNo. 1416


Introduced by Senator Stone

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Eduardo Garcia and Mayes)

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February 19, 2016


An act to add and repeal Article 4 (commencing with Section 18735) of Chapter 3 of Part 10.2 of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to the Salton Sea.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1416, as amended, Stone. Voluntary contribution: Revive the Salton Sea Fund.

Existing law authorizes an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of his or her personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds. Existing law also contains administrative provisions that are generally applicable to voluntary contributions.

This bill would allow an individual to designate on his or her tax return that a specified amount in excess of his or her tax liability be transferred to the Revive the Salton Sea Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would prohibit a voluntary contribution designation for the Revive the Salton Sea Fund from being added on the tax return until another voluntary contribution designation is removed or a space is available and would require, once the designation is added, specified information to be on the tax form, including the purposes for which the contribution would be used.

This bill would require money contributed to the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and to the Natural Resources Agency forbegin delete distributionsend deletebegin insert distributionend insert of grants to provide funds or supplement funding of the state, county and local agencies,begin delete nonprofit,end deletebegin insert nonprofit organizations,end insert and projects identified as necessary for the restoration and maintenance of the Salton Sea and to develop a mechanism to provide ongoing public awareness, as specified.

The bill would provide that these provisions would remain in effect only until January 1 of the 5th taxable year following the first appearance of the fund on the tax return, but would further provide for an earlier repeal if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received during a calendar year will not equal or exceed the minimum contribution amount, as defined, for that calendar year, in which case these provisions would be repealed on December 1 of that year.

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

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

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Article 4 (commencing with Section 18735) is
2added to Chapter 3 of Part 10.2 of Division 2 of the Revenue and
3Taxation Code
, to read:

4 

5Article 4.  Revive the Salton Sea Fund
6

 

7

18735.  

(a) An individual may designate on the tax return that
8a contribution in excess of the tax liability, if any, be made to the
9Revive the Salton Sea Fund established by Section 18736. That
10designation shall be used as a voluntary contribution on the tax
11return.

12(b) The contributions shall be in full dollar amounts and may
13be made individually by each signatory on a joint return.

14(c) A designation under subdivision (a) shall be made for a
15taxable year on the original return for that taxable year and once
16made shall be irrevocable. If payments and credits reported on the
17return, together with any other credits associated with the
18individual’s account, do not exceed the individual’s tax liability,
19the return shall be treated as though no designation has been made.

P3    1(d) (1) The Franchise Tax Board shall revise the form of the
2return to include a space labeled “Revive the Salton Sea Fund” to
3allow for the designation permitted under subdivision (a). The
4form shall also include in the instructions information that the
5contribution may be in the amount of one dollar ($1) or more and
6that the contribution shall be used to fund all of the following:

7(A) Programs to create statewide public awareness and
8grassroots support for the restoration of the Salton Sea.

9(B) Programs to engage the public through promotion and
10education about the Salton Sea.

11(C) Current and future projects identified as necessary for
12restoration and maintenance of the Salton Sea, including projects
13identified by the Salton Sea Authority.

14(2) Notwithstanding any other law, a voluntary contribution
15designation for the Revive the Salton Sea Fund shall not be added
16on the tax return until another voluntary contribution designation
17is removed or space is available, whichever occurs first.

18(e) A deduction shall be allowed under Article 6 (commencing
19with Section 17201) of Chapter 3 of Part 10 for any contribution
20made pursuant to subdivision (a).

21

18736.  

There is hereby established in the State Treasury the
22Revive the Salton Sea Fund to receive contributions made pursuant
23to Section 18735. The Franchise Tax Board shall notify the
24Controller of both the amount of money paid by taxpayers in excess
25of their tax liability and the amount of refund money that taxpayers
26have designated pursuant to Section 18735 to be transferred to the
27Revive the Salton Sea Fund. The Controller shall transfer from
28the Personal Income Tax Fund to the Revive the Salton Sea Fund
29an amount not in excess of the sum of the amounts designated by
30individuals pursuant to Section 18735 for payment into that fund.

31

18737.  

(a) All money transferred to the Revive the Salton Sea
32Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall be allocated as
33follows:

34(1) To the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for
35reimbursement of all costs incurred by the Franchise Tax Board
36and the Controller in connection with their duties under this article.

37(2) (A) To the Natural Resources Agency for distribution of
38grants to provide funds or supplement funding of state, county and
39local agencies,begin delete nonprofit,end deletebegin insert nonprofit organizations,end insert and projects
40identified as necessary for the restoration and maintenance of the
P4    1Salton Sea, including projects identified by the Salton Sea
2Authority.

3(B) Up to 5 percent of the funds to the Revive the Salton Sea
4Fund for development of a mechanism to provide ongoing public
5awareness through activities that will promote the charitable tax
6deduction for the fund and seek continued contributions. These
7activities may include convening a philanthropic roundtable,
8developing literature for use by city, county, or local agencies and
9programs, and whatever other activities are deemed necessary and
10appropriate to promote the fund.

11(b) No money in the Revive the Salton Sea Fund shall be used
12to supplant state General Fund money for any purpose.

13

18738.  

(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2) of
14subdivision (b), this article shall remain in effect only until January
151 of the fifth taxable year following the first appearance of the
16Revive the Salton Sea Fund on the personal income tax return and
17is repealed as of December 1 of that year.

18(b) (1) By September 1 of the second calendar year and each
19subsequent calendar year that the Revive the Salton Sea Fund
20appears on the tax return, the Franchise Tax Board shall do all of
21the following:

22(A) Determine the minimum contribution amount required to
23be received during the next calendar year for the fund to appear
24on the tax return for the taxable year that includes that next calendar
25year.

26(B) Provide written notification to the Natural Resources Agency
27of the amount determined in subparagraph (A).

28(C) Determine whether the amount of contributions estimated
29to be received during the calendar year will equal or exceed the
30minimum contribution amount determined by the Franchise Tax
31Board for the calendar year pursuant to subparagraph (A). The
32Franchise Tax Board shall estimate the amount of contributions
33to be received by using the actual amounts received and an estimate
34of the contributions that will be received by the end of that calendar
35year.

36(2) If the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of
37the contributions estimated to be received during a calendar year
38will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount for the
39calendar year, this article shall be inoperative with respect to
P5    1taxable years beginning on or after January 1 of that calendar year
2and shall be repealed on December 1 of that year.

3(3) For purposes of this section, the minimum contribution
4amount for a calendar year means two hundred fifty thousand
5dollars ($250,000) for the second calendar year after the first
6appearance of the Revive the Salton Sea Fund on the personal
7income tax return or the minimum contribution amount as adjusted
8pursuant to subdivision (c).

9(c) For each calendar year, beginning with the third calendar
10year after the first appearance of the Revive the Salton Sea Fund
11on the personal income tax return, the Franchise Tax Board shall
12adjust, on or before September 1 of that calendar year, the
13minimum contribution amount specified in subdivision (b) as
14follows:

15(1) The minimum contribution amount for the calendar year
16shall be an amount equal to the product of the minimum
17contribution amount for the prior calendar year multiplied by the
18inflation factor adjustment as specified in subparagraph (A) of
19paragraph (2) of subdivision (h) of Section 17041, rounded off to
20the nearest dollar.

21(2) The inflation factor adjustment used for the calendar year
22shall be based on the figures for the percentage change in the
23California Consumer Price Index for all items received on or before
24August 1 of the calendar year pursuant to paragraph (1) of
25subdivision (h) of Section 17041.



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