BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   AB 764|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                         |
          |1020 N Street, Suite 524          |                         |
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          |327-4478                          |                         |
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 764
          Author:   Swanson (D)
          Amended:  7/5/11 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 06/29/11
          AYES:  Wolk, Huff, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hancock, Hernandez, 
            Kehoe, La Malfa, Liu

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-2, 06/01/11 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Personal income taxes:  voluntary 
          contributions:  Child
                        Victims of Human Trafficking Fund

           SOURCE  :     County of Alameda
                      District Attorney of Alameda County


           DIGEST  :    This bill authorizes the addition of the Child 
          Victims of Human Trafficking Fund checkoff to the personal 
          income tax form upon the removal of another voluntary 
          contribution fund (VCF) from the form, or as soon as space 
          is available.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing state law allows taxpayers to 
          contribute money to one or more of 15 VCFs by checking a 
          box on their state income tax return.  California law 
          requires contributions made through check-offs to be made 
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          from taxpayers' own resources and not from their tax 
          liability, as is possible on federal tax returns.  
          Check-off amounts may be claimed as charitable 
          contributions on taxpayers' tax returns during the 
          subsequent year.

          This bill creates the Child Victims of Human Trafficking 
          Fund.  The California Emergency Management Agency will 
          administer the fund monies granted to community-based 
          organizations that agree to serve minor victims of human 
          trafficking.  

          The fund will be added to the tax form when another VCF is 
          removed, or as soon as space is available, and shall remain 
          on the form for five years unless it is repealed earlier 
          for failing to meet the minimum contribution amount. 
          
           Comments
           
          The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) designs tax returns to 
          provide for the designation of contributions to specified 
          funds either on the return itself or on a separate schedule 
          that must be attached to the return.  With a few 
          exceptions, VCFs remain on the return until they are either 
          repealed or fail to meet their minimum contribution amount. 
            The minimum contribution amounts are adjusted annually 
          for inflation.  For most VCFs, the minimum contribution 
          amount is $250,000 in the fund's second year.  By September 
          1 of each year, the FTB must determine the minimum 
          contribution amount required for each fund to remain on the 
          form for the following calendar year and whether estimated 
          contributions to each fund will be less than the minimum 
          contribution amount for that calendar year.  If the FTB 
          estimates that a fund will fail to meet the minimum 
          contribution amount, that fund is repealed effective for 
          taxable years beginning on or after January 1st of the 
          following calendar year. 

          Following is a list of 2011 check-offs and contribution 
          amounts received in 2010:

           ------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Alzheimer's Disease/Related   |$426,417                      |
          |Disorders Fund                |                              |

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          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |Arts Council Fund             |Initial Tax Return 2010       |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Breast Cancer Research     |$519,728                      |
          |Fund                          |                              |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Cancer Research Fund       |$275,587                      |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Firefighters' Memorial     |$207,455                      |
          |Fund                          |                              |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Fund for Senior Citizens   |$296,144                      |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Peace Officer Memorial     |$135,250                      |
          |Foundation Fund               |                              |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Police Activities League   |Initial Tax Return 2010       |
          |(CALPAL) Fund                 |                              |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Sea Otter Fund             |$263,543                      |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Seniors Special Fund       |$59,192                       |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |CA Veterans Homes Fund        |Initial Tax Return 2010       |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |Emergency Food for Families   |$487,333                      |
          |Fund                          |                              |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |Rare & Endangered Species     |$578,215                      |
          |Preservation Program          |                              |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |Safely Surrendered Baby Fund  |Initial Tax Return 2010       |
          |------------------------------+------------------------------|
          |State Children's Trust for    |$448,081                      |
          |the Prevention of Child Abuse |                              |
           ------------------------------------------------------------- 

           Related Legislation
           
          In addition to this bill, the following bills have been 
          introduced this year:

          SB 164 (Simitian) extends the repeal dates of both the 
          State Children's Trust Fund for the Prevention of Child 

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          Abuse and the Rare and Endangered Species Preservation 
          Program from January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2018.  

          SB 583 (Vargas) reestablishes the ALS/Lou Gehrig's Disease 
          Research Fund. 

          SB 803 (DeSaulnier) creates a VCF designation on the 
          personal income tax form for taxpayers to contribute to 
          California Youth Leadership Project. 

          SBX1 3 (LaMalfa) creates a VCF designation on the personal 
          income tax form, the Help Our State Fund, for taxpayers to 
          contribute to the General Fund. 

          AB 233 (Hall) creates a VCF designation on the personal 
          income tax form for taxpayers to contribute to the 
          California YMCA Youth and Government Fund.  
          AB 564 (Smyth) reestablishes the Municipal Shelter 
          Spay-Neuter Fund and encourages all persons who prepare 
          state income tax returns to inform their clients in writing 
          that they may contribute to any voluntary contribution 
          check-off on the return.  

          AB 971 (Monning) reestablishes the California Sea Otter 
          Fund.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/12/11)

          County of Alameda (co-source) 
          District Attorney of Alameda County (co-source)
          Alameda County Board of Supervisors
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal 
          Employees, AFL-CIO
          Berkeley City Council
          California Catholic Conference

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author, "Nearly 
          300,000 American children and youth are estimated to be at 
          risk of child sexual exploitation each year.  There are 
          many organizations throughout the state that help to 
          provide support services to young men and woman who have 

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          been victimized by sexual exploitation.  This bill will 
          facilitate these important treatment services by providing 
          a funding mechanism to support organizations that serve 
          sexually exploited minors.  AB 764 authorizes individual 
          taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax 
          liability to the Child Victims of Human Trafficking Fund to 
          be allocated to community-based organizations that serve 
          minor victims of human trafficking."


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-2, 06/01/11
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, 
            Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, 
            Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, 
            Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, 
            Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, 
            Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, 
            Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, 
            Hueso, Huffman, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, 
            Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, 
            Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, Portantino, 
            Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, 
            Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
          NOES:  Halderman, Jones
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Garrick, Gorell, Jeffries, V. Manuel 
            P�rez


          AGB:nl  8/16/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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