Bill Text: CA SB655 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Sales and use taxes: exemption: diabetic supplies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-09-04 - Read third time. Amended. (Page 3040.) Re-referred to Com. On REV. & TAX. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. [SB655 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB655-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 655 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 4, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 20, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 29, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Padilla
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Section 345.5 of the Public Utilities
Code, relating to energy. An act to amend Section 6369
of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation, to take
effect immediately, tax levy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 655, as amended, Padilla. Independent System Operator:
transmission facilities. Sales and use taxes:
exemption: diabetic supplies.
The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on retailers measured by
the gross receipts from 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. That
law provides various exemptions from that tax, including an exemption
for insulin and insulin syringes furnished by a registered
pharmacist to a person for treatment of diabetes as directed by a
physician.
This bill would expand this exemption to be applicable to insulin,
insulin syringes, skin puncture lancets, and glucose test strips
furnished by a registered pharmacist or any retailer, as provided.
Counties and cities are authorized to impose local sales and use
taxes, and districts, as defined, are authorized to impose
transactions and use taxes, in conformity with state sales and use
taxes. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes enacted by the
Legislature are incorporated into these taxes.
Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code provides that the
state will reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by
the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions.
This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the
Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state
shall not reimburse local agencies for sales and use tax revenues
lost by them pursuant to this bill.
This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its
operative date would depend on its effective date.
The Public Utilities Act requires the Independent System Operator,
a nonprofit public benefit corporation created pursuant to law, to
ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the state's
electricity transmission grid. The operator is required to manage the
transmission grid and related energy markets in a manner consistent
with applicable state laws intended to protect the public's health
and the environment. The operator is also required to consult and
coordinate with state and local agencies to ensure that the operator
operates in furtherance of state laws regarding consumer and
environmental protection.
This bill would specify that those state laws regarding consumer
and environmental protection include, but are not limited to, the
California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program and the California
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
The bill would require the operator to appear annually before
appropriate policy committees of the Legislature to report on the
operator's activities. The bill also would declare legislative intent
that the operator ensure that the transmission grid is secure from
unauthorized intrusion.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 2. Section 6369 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code is amended to read:
6369. (a) There are exempted from the taxes imposed by this part
the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage,
use, or other consumption in this state of, medicines:
(1) Prescribed for the treatment of a human being by a person
authorized to prescribe the medicines, and dispensed on prescription
filled by a registered pharmacist in accordance with law.
(2) Furnished by a licensed physician and surgeon, dentist, or
podiatrist to his or her own patient for treatment of the patient.
(3) Furnished by a health facility for treatment of any person
pursuant to the order of a licensed physician and surgeon, dentist,
or podiatrist.
(4) Sold to a licensed physician and surgeon, podiatrist, dentist,
or health facility for the treatment of a human being.
(5) Sold to this state or any political subdivision or municipal
corporation thereof, for use in the treatment of a human being; or
furnished for the treatment of a human being by a medical facility or
clinic maintained by this state or any political subdivision or
municipal corporation thereof.
(6) Furnished without charge by a pharmaceutical manufacturer or
distributor to a licensed physician, surgeon, dentist, podiatrist, or
health facility for the treatment of a human being, or furnished by
a pharmaceutical manufacturer or distributor without charge to an
institution of higher education for instruction or research, provided
that the exemption provided in this paragraph is limited to
medicines of a type that can be dispensed only (A) for the treatment
of a human being and (B) pursuant to prescriptions issued by persons
authorized to prescribe medicines. The exemption provided in this
paragraph shall include the materials used to package, and the
constituent elements and ingredients used to produce, the medicines
described in this paragraph and is intended to preclude any
imposition of tax pursuant to Section 6094 or 6095 with respect to
those materials, elements, and ingredients.
(b) "Medicines" as used in this section, means any substance or
preparation intended for use by external or internal application to
the human body in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or
prevention of disease and commonly recognized as a substance or
preparation intended for that use. However, "medicines" does not
include any of the following:
(1) Any auditory, prosthetic, ophthalmic, or ocular device or
appliance.
(2) Articles that are in the nature of splints, bandages, pads,
compresses, supports, dressings, instruments, apparatus,
contrivances, appliances, devices, or other mechanical, electronic,
optical, or physical equipment or article or the component parts and
accessories thereof.
(3) Any alcoholic beverage the manufacture, sale, purchase,
possession, or transportation of which is licensed and regulated by
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (Division 9 (commencing with
Section 23000) of the Business and Professions Code).
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), "medicines" as used in this
section means and includes any of the following:
(1) Sutures, whether or not permanently implanted.
(2) Bone screws, bone pins, pacemakers, and other articles, other
than dentures, permanently implanted in the human body to assist the
functioning of any natural organ, artery, vein, or limb and which
remain or dissolve in the body.
(3) (A) Orthotic devices, other than orthodontic devices, designed
to be worn on the person of the user as a brace, support, or
correction for the body structure, and replacement parts for these
devices. However, orthopedic shoes and supportive devices for the
foot are not exempt unless they are custom-made biomechanical foot
orthoses or are an integral part of a leg brace or artificial leg.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "custom-made biomechanical
foot orthoses" means an individually prescribed foot orthosis which
is custom fabricated over a neutral or near neutral subtalar joint
with a pronated midtarsal joint position positive plaster model of
the patient's foot, which model, when the cast is modified to support
the osseous position of the forefoot in relationship to the
rearfoot, embodies the angular osseous relationships of the anterior
and posterior portions of the foot.
(4) Prosthetic devices, and replacement parts for those devices,
designed to be worn on or in the person of the user to replace or
assist the functioning of a natural part of the human body, other
than auditory, ophthalmic, and ocular devices or appliances, and
other than dentures, removable or fixed bridges, crowns, caps,
inlays, artificial teeth, and other dental prosthetic materials and
devices.
(5) Artificial limbs and eyes, or their replacement parts, for
human beings.
(6) Programmable drug infusion devices to be worn on or implanted
in the human body.
(d) "Health facility" as used in this section has the meaning
ascribed to it in Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, and
also includes any "clinic" as defined in Section 1200 of the Health
and Safety Code.
(e) Insulin and , insulin syringes
, skin puncture lancets, and glucose strips furnished by a
registered pharmacist or any retailer to a person for
treatment of diabetes as directed by a physician shall be deemed to
be dispensed on prescription within the meaning of this section.
(f) Orthotic and prosthetic devices, and replacement parts for
these devices, furnished pursuant to the written order of a physician
or podiatrist, shall be deemed to be dispensed on prescription
within the meaning of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), whether or
not the devices are furnished by a registered pharmacist.
(g) Mammary prostheses, and any appliances and related supplies
necessary as the result of any surgical procedure by which an
artificial opening is created in the human body for the elimination
of natural waste, shall be deemed to be dispensed on prescription
within the meaning of this section.
SEC. 2. Notwithstanding Section 2230 of the
Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made by this act and
the state shall not reimburse any local agency for any sales and use
tax revenues lost by it under this act.
SEC. 3. This act provides for a tax levy within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. However, the provisions of this act shall become
operative on the first day of the first calendar quarter commencing
more than 90 days after the effective date of this act.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
the following:
(a) The deployment of smart grid technology creates additional
opportunities for unauthorized persons or entities to impact the
transmission grid.
(b) Because uninterrupted and reliable electric service is a
matter of public health and safety, and is necessary for the conduct
of commerce, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Independent
System Operator take all necessary steps to ensure that the
transmission grid is secure from intrusion by unauthorized persons or
entities.
SEC. 2. Section 345.5 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
345.5. (a) The Independent System Operator, as a nonprofit,
public benefit corporation, shall conduct its operations consistent
with applicable state and federal laws and consistent with the
interests of the people of the state.
(b) To ensure the reliability of electric service and the health
and safety of the public, the Independent System Operator shall
manage the transmission grid and related energy markets in a manner
that is consistent with all of the following:
(1) Making the most efficient use of available energy resources.
For purposes of this section, "available energy resources" include
energy, capacity, ancillary services, and demand bid into markets
administered by the Independent System Operator. "Available energy
resources" do not include a schedule submitted to the Independent
System Operator by an electrical corporation or a local publicly
owned electric utility to meet its own customer load.
(2) Reducing, to the extent possible, overall economic cost to the
state's consumers.
(3) Maximizing availability of existing electric generation
resources necessary to meet the needs of the state's electricity
consumers.
(c) The Independent System Operator shall do all of the following:
(1) Consult and coordinate with appropriate state and local
agencies to ensure that the Independent System Operator operates in
furtherance of state law regarding consumer and environmental
protection, including, but not limited to, the California Renewables
Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section
399.11)) and the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and
Safety Code).
(2) Ensure that the purposes and functions of the Independent
System Operator are consistent with the purposes and functions of
nonprofit, public benefit corporations in the state, including duties
of care and conflict-of-interest standards for officers and
directors of a corporation.
(3) Maintain open meeting standards and meeting notice
requirements consistent with the general policies of the Bagley-Keene
Open Meetings Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of
Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code)
and affording the public the greatest possible access, consistent
with other duties of the corporation. The Independent System Operator'
s Open Meeting Policy, as adopted on April 23, 1998, and in effect as
of May 1, 2002, meets the requirements of this paragraph. The
Independent System Operator shall maintain a policy that is no less
consistent with the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act than its policy in
effect as of May 1, 2002.
(4) Provide public access to corporate records consistent with the
general policies of the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code) and affording the public the greatest possible
access, consistent with the other duties of the corporation. The
Independent System Operator's Information Availability Policy, as
adopted on October 22, 1998, and in effect as of May 1, 2002, meets
the requirements of this paragraph. The Independent System Operator
shall maintain a policy that is no less consistent with the
California Public Records Act than its policy in effect as of May 1,
2002.
(5) Appear annually before the appropriate policy committees of
the Senate and the Assembly to report on the Independent System
Operator's activities.
