Bill Text: CA AB3017 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Qualified medical supplies providers: sales taxes: repayment.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-08-16 - Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(c). [AB3017 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB3017-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  August 14, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 3017

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Introduced by Assembly Member Acosta

February 16, 2018

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An act to amend Section 1808.4 of the Vehicle Code, relating to the Department of Motor Vehicles. add Section 6836 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to medical supplies, and making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 3017, as amended, Acosta. Department of Motor Vehicles: records: federal air marshal. Qualified medical supplies providers: sales taxes: repayment.

Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by gross receipts on 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.

This bill would provide a procedure for a qualified medical supplies provider to submit a claim for qualified repayments, as defined, with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, as provided. This bill would define a qualified medical supplies provider to mean a pharmacy or durable medical equipment provider enrolled in Medi-Cal who, among other things, paid sales taxes imposed under the Sales and Use Tax Law and the California Constitution for sales of medical supplies or equipment furnished to Medi-Cal beneficiaries occurring during the period beginning June 1, 2011, and before November 1, 2013, for which a portion of payments from Medi-Cal for those sales, which included applicable sales tax reimbursement, was paid back to the State Department of Health Care Services by the pharmacy or durable medical equipment provider due to the reduction of Medi-Cal payment by specified law.

This bill would, on or before March 1, 2020, require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to provide to the Controller the amount of qualified repayments to be made to each qualified medical supplies provider, and would appropriate an amount necessary from the General Fund to the department to make the payments of qualified repayments. The bill would provide that the total amount of money available to make qualified repayments shall not exceed the aggregate amount paid to the State Department of Health Care Services, as described above.

This bill would make findings regarding the public purpose served by the bill.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits the disclosure of the home addresses of certain public employees and officials, and the respective spouse or child of those persons, that appear in records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, except to a court, a law enforcement agency, an attorney in a civil or criminal action under certain circumstances, and certain other official entities.

This bill would extend that prohibition, subject to those same exceptions, to the disclosure of the home addresses of federal air marshals.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

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 6836 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:

6836.

 (a) A qualified medical supplies provider may receive from the state a qualified repayment if all of the provisions of this section are satisfied.

(b) (1) For purposes of this section, a “qualified medical supplies provider” means a pharmacy or durable medical equipment provider enrolled in Medi-Cal who meets all of the following requirements:

(A) The pharmacy or durable medical equipment provider furnished medical supplies or equipment to Medi-Cal beneficiaries as a Medi-Cal provider and had its reimbursement payments from Medi-Cal for those medical supplies or equipment reduced pursuant to Chapter 3 of the Statutes of 2011.

(B) The pharmacy or provider paid to the State Board of Equalization sales taxes imposed under the Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1 (commencing with Section 6001)), and Sections 35 and 36 of Article XIII of the California Constitution on the gross receipts from the sales of medical supplies or equipment furnished to Medi-Cal beneficiaries occurring during the period beginning June 1, 2011, and before November 1, 2013, for which a portion of payments from Medi-Cal for those sales, which included applicable sales tax reimbursement, was paid back to the State Department of Health Care Services by the pharmacy or durable medical equipment provider due to the reduction of Medi-Cal payment by Chapter 3 of the Statutes of 2011.

(2) “Qualified repayment” means an amount equal to the amount of sales tax reimbursement paid back to the State Department of Health Care Services by the qualified medical supplies provider described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), less any amounts previously refunded, credited, or paid to a qualified medical supplies provider through any means whatsoever.

(c) (1) Before January 1, ____, a qualified medical supplies provider may file a claim for a qualified repayment with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

(2) The claim shall be in writing, and shall be completed in accordance with any instructions or regulations as the department may prescribe, including, but not limited to, proof of payment of the tax described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).

(3) The department shall work with representatives of a qualified medical supplies provider to establish the information and documentation necessary to process a claim for repayment using information available to the qualified medical supplies provider from the Medi-Cal program.

(4) On or before March 1, 2020, the department shall provide to the Controller the amount of qualified repayments to be made to each qualified medical supplies provider pursuant to this section. The total amount of money available to make qualified repayments shall not exceed an amount equal to the aggregate amount of qualified repayments paid to the State Department of Health and Care Services. If the total amount of claims filed exceeds the amount appropriated or the amount appropriated is less than the aggregate amount of qualified repayments received by the State Department of Health and Care Services, the department shall determine the pro rata share due to each qualified medical supplies provider based on the proportion each claim bears to the total amount of claims and shall report that amount to be provided.

(5) There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the department an amount necessary to make the payments of qualified repayments to qualified medical supplies providers allowed pursuant to this section.

(6) No interest shall be paid on any qualified repayment made pursuant to this section.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that the addition of Section 6836 to the Revenue and Taxation Code by this act serves a public purpose and does not constitute a gift of public funds within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XVI of the California Constitution by allowing Medi-Cal providers, who furnish medical supplies or equipment to vulnerable Californians and were denied a refund by the statute of limitations, to recoup a portion of sale tax amounts paid on the sales of those items for which Medi-Cal reimbursements were reduced retroactively after delays by court action.

SEC. 3.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

To protect the financial solvency of affected qualified medical supplies providers who furnish medical supplies or equipment to vulnerable Californians as soon as possible, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.

SECTION 1.Section 1808.4 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:

1808.4.

(a)For all of the following persons, his or her home address that appears in a record of the department is confidential if the person requests the confidentiality of that information:

(1)Attorney General.

(2)State Public Defender.

(3)A Member of the Legislature.

(4)A judge or court commissioner.

(5)A district attorney.

(6)A public defender.

(7)An attorney employed by the Department of Justice, the office of the State Public Defender, or a county office of the district attorney or public defender.

(8)A city attorney, city prosecutor, or an attorney who submits verification from his or her public employer that the attorney represents the city in matters that routinely place the attorney in personal contact with persons under investigation for, charged with, or convicted of, committing criminal acts, if that attorney is employed by a city attorney or city prosecutor.

(9)A nonsworn police dispatcher.

(10)A child abuse investigator or social worker, working in child protective services within a social services department.

(11)An active or retired peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code.

(12)An employee of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, or the Prison Industry Authority specified in Sections 20403 and 20405 of the Government Code.

(13)A nonsworn employee of a city police department, a county sheriff’s office, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, a federal, state, or local detention facility, or a local juvenile hall, camp, ranch, or home, who submits agency verification that, in the normal course of his or her employment, he or she controls or supervises inmates or is required to have a prisoner in his or her care or custody.

(14)A county counsel assigned to child abuse cases.

(15)An investigator employed by the Department of Justice, a county district attorney, or a county public defender.

(16)A member of a city council.

(17)A member of a board of supervisors.

(18)A federal prosecutor, criminal investigator, air marshal, or National Park Service Ranger working in this state.

(19)An active or retired city enforcement officer engaged in the enforcement of the Vehicle Code or municipal parking ordinances.

(20)An employee of a trial court.

(21)A psychiatric social worker employed by a county.

(22)A police or sheriff department employee designated by the chief of police of the department or the sheriff of the county as being in a sensitive position. A designation pursuant to this paragraph shall, for purposes of this section, remain in effect for three years subject to additional designations that, for purposes of this section, shall remain in effect for additional three-year periods.

(23)A state employee in one of the following classifications:

(A)Licensing-Registration Examiner, Department of Motor Vehicles.

(B)Motor Carrier Specialist I, Department of the California Highway Patrol.

(C)Museum Security Officer and Supervising Museum Security Officer.

(D)Licensing Program Analyst, State Department of Social Services.

(24)(A)The spouse or child of a person listed in paragraphs (1) to (23), inclusive, regardless of the spouse’s or child’s place of residence.

(B)The surviving spouse or child of a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, if the peace officer died in the line of duty.

(C)(i)Subparagraphs (A) and (B) shall not apply if the person listed in those subparagraphs was convicted of a crime and is on active parole or probation.

(ii)For requests made on or after January 1, 2011, the person requesting confidentiality for their spouse or child listed in subparagraph (A) or (B) shall declare, at the time of the request for confidentiality, whether the spouse or child has been convicted of a crime and is on active parole or probation.

(iii)Neither the listed person’s employer nor the department shall be required to verify, or be responsible for verifying, that a person listed in subparagraph (A) or (B) was convicted of a crime and is on active parole or probation.

(D)(i)The department shall discontinue holding a home address confidential pursuant to this subdivision for a person specified in subparagraph (A) or (B) who is the child or spouse of a person described in paragraph (9), (11), (13), or (22) if the child or spouse is convicted of a felony in this state or is convicted of an offense in another jurisdiction that, if committed in California, would be a felony.

(ii)The department shall comply with this subparagraph upon receiving notice of a disqualifying conviction from the agency that employs or formerly employed the parent or spouse of the convicted person, or as soon as the department otherwise becomes aware of the disqualifying conviction.

(b)The confidential home address of a person listed in subdivision (a) shall not be disclosed, except to any of the following:

(1)A court.

(2)A law enforcement agency.

(3)The State Board of Equalization.

(4)An attorney in a civil or criminal action that demonstrates to a court the need for the home address, if the disclosure is made pursuant to a subpoena.

(5)A governmental agency to which, under any provision of law, information is required to be furnished from records maintained by the department.

(c)(1)A record of the department containing a confidential home address shall be open to public inspection, as provided in Section 1808, if the address is completely obliterated or otherwise removed from the record.

(2)Following termination of office or employment, a confidential home address shall be withheld from public inspection for three years, unless the termination is the result of conviction of a criminal offense. If the termination or separation is the result of the filing of a criminal complaint, a confidential home address shall be withheld from public inspection during the time in which the terminated individual may file an appeal from termination, while an appeal from termination is ongoing, and until the appeal process is exhausted, after which confidentiality shall be at the discretion of the employing agency if the termination or separation is upheld. Upon reinstatement to an office or employment, the protections of this section are available.

(3)With respect to a retired peace officer, his or her home address shall be withheld from public inspection permanently upon request of confidentiality at the time the information would otherwise be opened. The home address of the surviving spouse or child listed in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (24) of subdivision (a) shall be withheld from public inspection for three years following the death of the peace officer.

(4)The department shall inform a person who requests a confidential home address what agency the individual whose address was requested is employed by or the court at which the judge or court commissioner presides.

(d)A violation of subdivision (a) by the disclosure of the confidential home address of a peace officer, as specified in paragraph (11) of subdivision (a), a nonsworn employee of the city police department or county sheriff’s office, or the spouses or children of these persons, including, but not limited to, the surviving spouse or child listed in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (24) of subdivision (a), that results in bodily injury to the peace officer, employee of the city police department or county sheriff’s office, or the spouses or children of these persons is a felony.

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which amends Section 1808.4 of the Vehicle Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

The need to protect the privacy of federal air marshals from the public disclosure of their home addresses outweighs the interest in public disclosure of that information.