(April 26, 2010) A host of bills moving in the California Assembly and Senate are sending the message to stop investing in California.

The California Chamber of Commerce-opposed bills target employers’ use of investment incentives, including tax credits, deductions, exemptions or other benefits.

The CalChamber is urging legislators to reject the bills. California employers represent the best hope for speeding California’s economic recovery, providing new jobs for the 12.5 percent of Californians who are still unemployed, and of increasing state revenue to help provide critical services to Californians in the long term.

Anti-Investment Proposals

The CalChamber-opposed anti-investment bills and their status are as follows:

• AB 2171 (C. Calderon; D-Montebello): Requires the Legislature to make a separate annual appropriation to fund all investment incentives for that year, and disallows all investment incentives claimed beyond the amount of the annual appropriation. Passed Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on April 19. In Assembly Appropriations Committee.
• AB 2230 (C. Calderon; D-Montebello): Requires Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to post private taxpayer information about the 100 largest publicly traded corporations on its website. Passed Assembly Revenue and Taxation on April 19. In Assembly Appropriations.
• AB 2641 (Arambula; I-Fresno): Requires the Legislature to review and determine whether investment incentives provide a measurable benefit to the state every five years, to eliminate those that do not, and also provides for all future created investment incentives to sunset automatically every fifth year. In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Suspense File pending a review of the bill’s fiscal implications.
• AB 2666 (Skinner; D-Berkeley): Requires FTB to collect and compile an annual report, to be posted on its website and searchable by the public, that includes detailed private taxpayer information about any California employer that receives an investment incentive, along with other private taxpayer information and also requires that the report be made available to the public in a searchable database. In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Suspense File pending a review of the bill’s fiscal implications.
• SB 1086 (Florez; D-Shafter): Requires FTB to compile an annual report, to be posted on its website and searchable/downloadable by the public, that includes private taxpayer information about any California employer who receives an investment incentive of $1,000 or more. In Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.
• SB 1272 (Wolk; D-Davis): Establishes specific bill requirements for future enacted investment incentive bills, including that they set forth detailed performance indicators to be used to evaluate their effectiveness, data collection requirements for taxpayers and government agencies that would be charged with oversight, and an automatic five-year sunset provision. In Senate Appropriations Committee.
• SB 1391 (Yee; D-San Francisco): Requires California employers taking advantage of any investment incentives to provide a detailed report to FTB and return any portion disallowed due to a net decrease in the number of full-time employees. Senate Revenue and Taxation hearing April 28.