Bill Text: CA SB343 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Income taxes: gross income exclusions: Kast Property Tank Farm facility cleanup.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 887, Statutes of 2018. [SB343 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SB343-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  June 08, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 343

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Introduced by Senator Bradford

February 14, 2017

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An act relating to life sentences. to add Section 17138.4 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 343, as amended, Bradford. Life sentences: release. Personal income taxes: gross income exclusion: Kast Property Tank Farm facility cleanup.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines “gross income” as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income.

This bill would provide an exclusion from gross income for any qualified amount, as defined, received by a taxpayer, including amounts received by a taxpayer, directly or indirectly, during the remediation of the Carousel Housing Tract, as provided, and would make legislative findings and declarations 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 provides that the Board of Parole Hearings or its successor in interest shall be the state’s parole authority. Existing law requires that a prisoner who is found to be permanently medically incapacitated, as specified, be granted medical parole, if the Board of Parole Hearings determines that the conditions under which the prisoner would be released would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety. Existing law exempts a prisoner sentenced to death, a prisoner sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, a prisoner who is serving a sentence for which parole is prohibited by initiative statute, and a prisoner who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a peace officer or a person who had been a peace officer from medical parole eligibility.

Existing law authorizes a court to resentence or recall the sentence of a prisoner if the court finds that the prisoner is terminally ill, as specified, or the prisoner is permanently medically incapacitated, as specified, and, in either case, the conditions under which the prisoner would be released or receive treatment do not pose a threat to public safety. Existing law exempts a prisoner sentenced to death, a term of life without the possibility of parole, or a prisoner who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a peace officer or a person who had been a peace officer from eligibility for compassionate release pursuant to these provisions.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would allow a prisoner who is 70 years of age or older to petition for release, to allow a prisoner who is 70 years of age or older and has a serious medical condition to be moved to a facility that may provide better treatment, and to allow a prisoner who is 60 years of age or older and has a serious health condition to petition for release. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Digest Key

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

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Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) On March 11, 2011, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Regional Board issued Order R4-2011-046 requiring Shell Oil Company to investigate, clean up, and abate waste discharged at the former Kast Property Tank Farm facility located southeast of the intersection of Marbella Avenue and East 244th Street in Carson, California. This site was later developed into a residential housing development known as the Carousel Housing Tract by Barclay Hollander Curci, Inc., and Lomita Development Company.

(b) Shell Oil Company is complying with the order and working to minimize inconvenience to residents living in affected homes and compensate those residents for any resulting expenses.

SEC. 2.

 Section 17138.4 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code, to read:

17138.4.

 (a) Gross income does not include any qualified amount received by a taxpayer.

(b) For purposes of this section, “qualified amount” means all of the following:

(1) Amounts received by a taxpayer, directly or indirectly, during the remediation of the Carousel Housing Tract from Shell Oil Company for costs associated with temporary accommodations and relocation pursuant to Regional Water Quality Control Board Order R4-2011-046. These costs include, but are not limited to, hotel expenses, including meal reimbursement, mileage reimbursement, parking expenses, pet boarding fees, Internet connectivity and access fees, electric vehicle charging fees, laundry fees, expenses related to staying with friends or family during remediation, expenses related to renting another home for a lease term including the purchase of housewares, appliances, pet fees, furniture rental, utility fees, and moving expenses, a mileage allowance or costs related to alternative transportation for a taxpayer whose child or children attend relocated area schools until the date the taxpayer exited the relocation program, moving expenses, and expenses related to cleaning the interior of an affected home or vehicle.

(2) Notwithstanding any other law, amounts equal to any unreimbursed expenses related to Regional Water Quality Control Board Order R4-2011-046.

(3) Notwithstanding any other law, the proceeds from a settlement arising out of the investigation, clean up, or abatement of the waste discharged at the former Kast Property Tank Farm, Regional Water Quality Control Board Order R4-2011-046, or any combination thereof.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that Section 17138.4 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, as added by this act, is necessary for the public purpose of preventing undue hardship to taxpayers who reside in the Carousel Housing Tract of Carson, California, and does not constitute a gift of public funds within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.

SEC. 4.

 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:

In order to provide essential relief to those persons who have suffered inconvenience and expenses resulting from the cleanup of waste discharged at the former Kast Property Tank Farm facility located southeast of the intersection of Marbella Avenue and East 244th Street in Carson, California, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.

SECTION 1.

(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1)The United States is the largest incarcerator in the world, with 2.3 million people behind bars. Prisoners across the country are also getting older and experience all the same ailments that afflict those of that age who are not behind bars. Our extreme sentencing policies and a growing number of life sentences have effectively turned many of our correctional facilities into veritable nursing homes, and taxpayers are paying for it.

(2)From 1980 to 2010, the United States prison population grew over 11 times faster than the general population. During this time, the general population increased by 36 percent, while the state and federal prison population increased by over 400 percent. The number of elderly people in our prisons is growing even faster. The graying prison population has become a national epidemic, afflicting states around the country from California to Missouri to Florida, further burdening already strained state budgets. According to the National Institute of Corrections, prisoners age 50 and older are considered “elderly” or “aging” due to unhealthy conditions prior to and during incarceration. This report uses that definition and finds that there are 246,600 elderly prisoners behind bars across the country.

(3)In 1981, there were 8,853 state and federal prisoners age 55 and older. Today, that number stands at 124,900, and experts project that by 2030 this number will be over 400,000, amounting to over one-third of prisoners in the United States. In other words, the elderly prison population is expected to increase by 4,400 percent over this 50-year time span. This astronomical projection does not even include prisoners ages 50 to 54, for which data over time is harder to access.

(b)It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to allow a prisoner who is 70 years of age or older to petition for release, to allow a prisoner who is 70 years of age or older and has a serious medical condition to be moved to a facility that may provide better treatment, and to allow a prisoner who is 60 years of age or older and has a serious health condition to petition for release.