Bill Text: CA AB2829 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Certified Access Specialist Inspection Grant Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-19 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2829 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB2829-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  April 06, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2829

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Introduced by Assembly Member Low

February 18, 2022

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An act to add Sections 17053.43 and 23643 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation, to take effect immediately, tax levy. An act to add and repeal Section 4459.9 of the Government Code, relating to disability access, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2829, as amended, Low. Tax credits: accessibility expenditures. Certified Access Specialist Inspection Grant Program.

Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of various specified personal characteristics, including disability. Existing law establishes standards for making new construction and existing facilities accessible to persons with disabilities and provides for construction-related accessibility claims for violations of those standards.

Existing law requires the State Architect to establish and publicize a program for the voluntary certification by the state of any person who meets specified criteria as a certified access specialist (CASp) to inspect, among other things, businesses for compliance with accessibility building standards. Existing law requires the State Architect to publish and regularly update a list CASps and a list of businesses that have been inspected by a CASp. Existing law requires the State Architect to develop a process by which a business may notify the State Architect that a structure or area has had a CASp inspection and to develop a form for businesses to notify the public that the business has obtained a CASp inspection.

This bill, until January 1, 2028, would establish the Certified Access Specialist Inspection Grant Program to assist small businesses in obtaining CASp inspections, and would require the State Architect to administer the program. The bill would authorize small businesses, defined to mean a business with fewer than 500 employees, with a physical property in the state, to apply for a grant for a CASp inspection of the small business’s property, in an amount equal to the actual cost of the inspection, not to exceed $3,000 per inspection. The bill would require the State Architect to develop an application and to develop criteria to evaluate and award the grants, as specified, and would require the State Architect to annually submit a report to the Legislature on the results of the program. The bill would appropriate an unspecified amount from the General Fund to the Certified Access Specialist Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for purposes of the program.

This bill would also make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds.

Existing federal law allows a credit against federal income taxes for eligible small businesses for eligible access expenditures, as those terms are defined, in an amount equal to 50% of eligible access expenditures for a taxable year that exceed $250 but do not exceed $10,250. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow a credit against the taxes imposed by those laws for the amount paid or incurred for eligible access expenditures in an amount equal to 50% of eligible access expenditures for a taxable year as do not exceed $250, as specified.

This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2027, allow a credit under both the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for eligible access expenditures in accordance with the above-described federal tax credit, except with a credit amount equal to 10% of eligible access expenditures for a taxable year, as specified.

This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY2/3   Appropriation: NOYES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Section 4459.9 is added to the Government Code, to read:

4459.9.

 (a) (1) The Certified Access Specialist Inspection Grant Program is hereby established to assist small businesses obtain CASp inspections.

(2) The State Architect shall administer the program in accordance with this section.

(b) Small businesses with a physical property in the state may apply, in a form and manner prescribed by the State Architect, for a grant for a CASp inspection of the small business’s property, in an amount equal to the actual cost of the inspection, not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) per inspection.

(c) (1) The State Architect shall develop criteria to evaluate and award the grants that includes, among other things, financial need of the small business.

(2) Beginning January 1, 2023, the State Architect shall award grants upon receipt of a completed application to small businesses in accordance with the criteria and shall prioritize applicants with demonstrated financial need.

(d) (1) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, the Controller shall, on January 1, 2023, transfer from the General Fund to the Certified Access Specialist Fund the sum of ____ dollars ($____) for purposes of the Certified Access Specialist Inspection Grant Program established in this section.

(2) The State Architect may use up to 5 percent of the moneys transferred in paragraph (1) for its reasonable costs to administer the program.

(e) On or before January 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the State Architect shall submit a report to the Legislature, in accordance with Section 9795, on the results of the program, and shall post a copy of the report on its internet website.

(f) For purposes of this section, “small business” means a business with fewer than 500 employees.

(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the Certified Access Specialist Inspection Grant Program established in Section 4459.9 of the Government Code, as added by this act, serves the public purpose of reducing financial barriers for small businesses to obtain accessibility inspections by certified access specialists (CASps), and thereby increasing access to businesses for all Californians, by providing grants for the costs associated with those CASp inspections, and does not constitute a gift of public funds within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.

SECTION 1.Section 17053.43 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:

17053.43.

(a)For each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2027, there shall be allowed as a credit against the “net tax,” as defined in Section 17039, the amount paid or incurred for eligible access expenditures. The credit shall be allowed in accordance with Section 44 of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to expenditures to provide access to disabled individuals, except that the credit amount specified in subdivision (b) shall be substituted for the credit amount specified in Section 44(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(b)The credit amount allowed under this section shall be an amount equal to 10 percent of so much of the eligible access expenditures for the taxable year as exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250) but do not exceed ten thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($10,250).

(c)In the case where the credit allowed by this section exceeds the “net tax,” the excess may be carried over to reduce the “net tax” in the following year, and the succeeding four years, if necessary, until the credit is exhausted.

(d)The credit allowed by this section may be claimed only on a timely filed original return of the taxpayer.

(e)The Franchise Tax Board may prescribe rules, guidelines, or procedures necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section, including any guidelines regarding the substantiation of the credit allowed by this section. Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code does not apply to any rule, guideline, or procedure prescribed by the Franchise Tax Board pursuant to this section.

(f)This section shall remain in effect only until December 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 2.Section 23643 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:

23643.

(a)For each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2027, there shall be allowed as a credit against the “tax,” as defined in Section 23036, the amount paid or incurred for eligible access expenditures. The credit shall be allowed in accordance with Section 44 of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to expenditures to provide access to disabled individuals, except that the credit amount specified in subdivision (b) shall be substituted for the credit amount specified in Section 44(a) of the Internal Revenue Code and the second sentence of Section 44(d)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to partnerships and “S” corporations, shall not apply.

(b)The credit amount allowed under this section shall be an amount equal to 10 percent of so much of the eligible access expenditures for the taxable year as exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250) but do not exceed ten thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($10,250).

(c)In the case where the credit allowed by this section exceeds the “tax,” the excess may be carried over to reduce the “tax” in the following year, and the succeeding four years, if necessary, until the credit is exhausted.

(d)The credit allowed by this section may be claimed only on a timely filed original return of the taxpayer.

(e)The Franchise Tax Board may prescribe rules, guidelines, or procedures necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section, including any guidelines regarding the substantiation of the credit allowed by this section. Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code does not apply to any rule, guideline, or procedure prescribed by the Franchise Tax Board pursuant to this section.

(f)This section shall remain in effect only until December 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 3.

It is the intent of the Legislature to make the findings required by Section 41 of the Revenue and Taxation Code with respect to the tax credits allowed by this act.

SEC. 4.

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