December 9
This initiative relates to the treatment under the Personal Income Tax (PIT) Law of court-ordered child support payments, as well as the establishment of certain administrative requirements with respect to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) (File No. SA2002RF0023). The measure would (1) allow court-ordered child support payments to be deductible from income for PIT purposes and (2) establish a series of guidelines and procedures regarding taxpayers’ disputes with the FTB.
November 18
This statutory initiative provides that no electricity rate can be set at a level intended to generate revenues to offset losses the IOUs incurred while procuring electricity during the rate freeze period established under AB 1890. Accordingly, the measure applies to PG&E and SCE, since they had not recovered all of their stranded costs and were still subject to the rate freeze when electricity prices skyrocketed. In contrast, SDG&E had already recouped its stranded costs and was no longer affected by the rate freeze established under AB 1890 when the crisis hit. The initiative also specifies that any revenues collected prior to the enactment of this initiative by the IOUs for the purpose of offsetting these losses must be rebated to the ratepayers.
August 15
This statutory initiative amends state law to exclude from the AMT calculation any income resulting from the exercise of ISOs. Thus, the difference between the option price and the market price would not be considered income for AMT purposes. This change would result in a reduction in revenues stemming from the AMT. There would be some offsetting increases in revenues from the regular PIT in future years as the assets are sold. This is due to the fact that the AMT would no longer apply to exercised ISOs and thus no credits would be available in future years from the AMT on exercised ISOs.
August 13
This measure would repeal the Governor’s authority to grant clemency and instead transfer clemency authority to the California Clemency Board, which would consist of county clemency boards. Each county would have at least one board of five citizens randomly selected from the pool of registered voters. The board would be responsible for reviewing and taking action on clemency requests from prisoners whose committing offense occurred in that county. The local clemency boards would have the authority to release prisoners, commute sentences, or concur with the inmate’s current sentence. A statewide elected officer whose responsibilities would include accepting clemency petitions from the public, processing clemency petitions for review, and undefined financial responsibilities would administer the local clemency boards.
May 7
The measure requires pupils to complete 40 hours of community service for an “acceptable” nonprofit organization or governmental entity in order to receive a high school diploma, starting in the 2005-06 school year.
April 29
The initiative amends the State Constitution to provide Las Vegas- and Atlantic City-type gaming in Eureka, California exclusively for a period of 28 years. After that time, the Legislature could either extend Las Vegas- and Atlantic City-type gaming to all counties in California or eliminate it.
March 15
This measure proposes to provide additional funding for emergency medical care services by increasing the surcharge on criminal fines, forfeitures, and penalties, including vehicle code violations, but not including parking offenses.