Bill Text: CA SB518 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 518 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: Alcoholic Beverage Tax: winegrower returns and schedules.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 702, Statutes of 2022. [SB518 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB518-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly June 29, 2022

Amended IN Assembly June 13, 2022

Amended IN Senate May 25, 2021

Amended IN Senate April 13, 2021

Amended IN Senate March 09, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 518

Introduced by Senator Laird

February 17, 2021

An act to add Section 32457.1 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 518, as amended, Laird. Alcoholic Beverage Tax: winegrower returns and schedules.

The Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law, administered by the State Board of Equalization, imposes an excise tax upon all beer and wine sold in this state, as provided, on manufacturers, winegrowers, importers, or sellers of beer or wine that sell beer or wine on which no tax has been paid. That law requires winegrowers to file a return including specified schedules. Existing law prohibits the board, or any employee of the board, from making known in any manner certain information that is contained in a winegrower’s return or schedules.

This bill would require the board, upon request, to make public the names and addresses of taxpayers filing a winegrower return, as well as any information in a winegrower return and schedules. The bill would make an exception to the requirement for disclosure of names and addresses in the case of taxpayers that are natural persons. The bill would require the board to amend the winegrower return form to contain a brief description of how the wine industry has historically used information contained in winegrower returns, and to allow taxpayers the option to prohibit the information on their return from being made public, as provided.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

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

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The State Board of Equalization (BOE) has provided winegrower return and schedule information to the wine industry for decades. Information for individuals has been anonymized for several years, but not for businesses.

(b) This data has long been the foundation of the widely respected Gomberg-Fredrikson Report, an industry publication founded in the 1940s that monitors monthly and annual comparative shipments of leading California wineries and wine imports by country.

(c) The BOE in 2019 and 2020 reevaluated the release of this data and determined that they did not have the statutory authority to provide the data unless the data is completely anonymized.

(d) Historically, the data has allowed the industry to better understand current trends and plan for the future. Without this data, the ability to perform critical market assessments is compromised and could result in economic harm to the industry.

(e) The lack of complete data has presented significant challenges in recent years, including difficulty evaluating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires in California wine country.

~~(f)The Legislature, in passing this act, intends to authorize the BOE to release winegrower tax information in accordance with their past practices.~~

SEC. 2.

Section 32457.1 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:

32457.1.

(a) Except as provided in ~~subdivision (b),~~ subdivisions (b) and (c), and notwithstanding Section 15619 of the Government Code, ~~the following information shall be made public upon request:~~ any information contained in the returns and accompanying schedules of a winegrower shall be made public upon request, including the names and addresses of all taxpayers filing a winegrower return.

~~(1)Any information contained in the returns and accompanying schedules of a winegrower.~~
~~(2)The names and addresses of all taxpayers filing a winegrower return.~~

(b) Subdivision (a) shall not require disclosure of the names and addresses of any taxpayer that is a natural person.

(c) The board shall amend the winegrower return form to include a link to an internet website that contains the following:
(1) A brief description of how the wine industry has historically used data in winegrower returns for market analysis.
(2) An option for any taxpayer to prohibit the taxpayer’s return, or any information contained therein, from being made public.