(1) Existing law, the Wage Garnishment Law, sets forth procedures for the levy of a judgment debtor's wages when required to enforce a money judgment.
This bill, for purposes of the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Use Fuel Tax Law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law, Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law, the Timber Yield Tax Law, the Energy Resources Surcharge Law, the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, the Hazardous Substances Tax Law, the Integrated Waste Management Fee Law, the Oil Spill Response, Prevention, and Administration Fees Law, the Underground Storage Tank Maintenance, the Diesel Fuel Tax Law, and various taxes and fees collected in accordance with the Fee Collections Procedures Law, would authorize the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) , or the State Board of Equalization (BOE) in the case of the Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law, to serve earnings withholding orders for taxes, fees, or surcharges, as applicable, and any other notice or document required to be served or provided in connection with an earnings withholding order according to the Wage Garnishment Law to government and private employers by electronic transmission or other electronic technology, as provided.
(2) The CDTFA administers various taxes, fees, and surcharges in accordance with the Fee Collections Procedures Law, including, among others, the Lead-Acid Battery Recycling Act of 2016, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003, and the Healthy Outcomes and Prevention Education (HOPE) Act.
This bill would specify that a feepayer subject to liability under the Sales and Use Tax Law is also subject to liability for the same periods for taxes, fees, and surcharges administered pursuant to the Fee Collections Procedures Law, as applicable.
(3) Existing law authorizes the CDTFA to enter into settlement agreements regarding protests, appeals, or refund claims for certain taxes and fees if it is determined that the settlement amount is consistent with a reasonable evaluation of the costs and risks associated with litigation. Existing law authorizes the executive director or the chief counsel to recommend a settlement and to approve a settlement on the advice of the Attorney General. Existing law requires joint approval from the executive director and chief counsel for settlements involving a reduction of tax or penalties in settlement not exceeding $5,000.
This bill would specify that the director, rather than the department, is authorized to make various decisions pertaining to settlements, and would require the approval of only the director. The bill would, instead, require the Attorney General to advise only the chief counsel. The bill would remove the joint approval requirement for settlements involving a reduction of tax and penalties in settlement not exceeding $5,000, leaving approval solely to the discretion of the director, and would increase that $5,000 limitation to $11,500. Commencing July 1, 2029, and every 5th fiscal year thereafter, the bill would require the department to adjust for inflation the $11,500 limitation concerning settlements involving a reduction of tax and penalties by using the California Consumer Price Index, as calculated by the Department of Finance.
Under the existing settlement authority, the executive director is required to create a public record of reduction of tax or penalties or total tax and penalties in settlement in excess of $500. Under existing law, the public record is required to include the name or names of the taxpayers who are parties to the settlement, the total amount in dispute, the amount agreed to pursuant to the settlement, a summary of the reasons why the settlement is in the best interests of the State of California, and, for any settlement approved by the department, the Attorney General's conclusion as to whether the recommendation of settlement was reasonable from an overall perspective. Existing law also requires the existing settlement proceedings undertaken by the department to be conducted in a closed session.
This bill would exempt settlements requiring the approval of only the director from the requirement to include the Attorney General's conclusion as to whether the recommendation of settlement was reasonable from an overall perspective. The bill would also remove the requirement that the proceedings be conducted in a closed session.
This bill would apply the changes made to these settlement provisions only to settlements approved on or after January 1, 2024.
(4) Existing law, the Fee Collection Procedures Law, makes it unlawful for any state agency, or any person having an administrative duty under those provisions, to disclose any information pertaining to a feepayer, as defined, that was submitted in a report or return required by those provisions. Existing law establishes an exception to this prohibition for specified information provided to directly interested successors, receivers, trustees, executors, administrators, assignees, and guarantors of a feepayer.
This bill would expand that exception to include information provided to directly interested predecessors.
(5) The Sales and Use Tax Law exempts from the sales and use taxes the gross receipts from the sales in bulk of monetized bullion, nonmonetized gold and silver bullion, and numismatic coins, and the storage, use, or other consumption of those bullion and coins, as provided, and requires the department to adjust the initial bulk threshold amount on or before October 1.
This bill, for the January 1, 2023, adjustment, would change the operative adjustment date to July 1, 2023, and beginning with the January 1, 2024, adjustment, would change the operative adjustment date to the first day of the 2nd calendar quarter beginning after the effective date of the amendments incorporating the increase in the operative threshold into the department's regulations.
(6) The Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law requires the BOE to refund the excess balance of a tax, penalty, or interest that has been paid more than once or has been erroneously or illegally collected or computed, if the BOE makes a specified determination. That law also requires the BOE to cancel any amount illegally determined, either by the BOE or the person filing the return. Under those laws, if the amount canceled or refunded is in excess of $50,000 the BOE is required to make the determination a public record 10 days prior to the effective date of the determination.
This bill would instead require the BOE to make the determination a public record for 10 days after the effective date of the determination.
(7) Existing law, Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, on and after January 1, 2020, imposes a 911 surcharge on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier, and beginning January 1, 2023, imposes a separate 988 surcharge on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier. The act defines an access line for these purposes to include, among other things, a wireline communications service, and defines that as a local exchange service provided at a physical location in this state that allows the user to make an outbound communication to the 911 emergency communications, to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and commencing January 1, 2023, to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as defined in the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act.
This bill would instead define wireline communications service as a local exchange service provided at a physical location in this state that allows the user to make an outbound communication to the 911 emergency communications and commencing January 1, 2023, to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as defined in the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act. The bill would make additional changes relating to the administration of the act.
This bill would additionally require the department to conduct an annual hearing to allow industry representatives and individual taxpayers to present proposals on changes to the act to further improve voluntary compliance and the relationship between taxpayers and the government.
(8) Existing law, the Hazardous Substances Tax Law, imposes various taxes and fees relating to the generation, handling, and disposal of hazardous substances, as specified. Existing law requires each feepayer to file an annual return with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to make those payments, and requires the feepayer to file a closing return upon the transfer or discontinuance of hazardous waste operations, as provided.
This bill, for purposes of the Hazardous Substances Tax Law, would instead only require specified feepayers subject to a fee relating to occupational lead poisoning to file a closing return, as provided.
(9) This bill would also make various technical and conforming changes to each of these laws, including to the Cannabis Tax Law, and would update references to the State Board of Equalization to instead refer to the CDTFA.

Statutes affected:
SB889: 6355 RTC, 7093.5 RTC, 9271 RTC, 30459.1 RTC, 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 40211 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC, 41171 RTC, 43160 RTC, 43522 RTC, 45867 RTC, 46622 RTC, 50156.11 RTC, 55332 RTC, 55381 RTC, 60636 RTC
03/21/23 - Introduced: 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC
07/03/23 - Amended Assembly: 6355 RTC, 6355 RTC, 7093.5 RTC, 7093.5 RTC, 9271 RTC, 9271 RTC, 30459.1 RTC, 30459.1 RTC, 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 40211 RTC, 40211 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC, 41171 RTC, 41171 RTC, 43160 RTC, 43160 RTC, 43522 RTC, 43522 RTC, 45867 RTC, 45867 RTC, 46622 RTC, 46622 RTC, 50156.11 RTC, 50156.11 RTC, 55332 RTC, 55332 RTC, 60636 RTC, 60636 RTC
09/01/23 - Amended Assembly: 6355 RTC, 7093.5 RTC, 9271 RTC, 30459.1 RTC, 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 40211 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC, 41171 RTC, 43160 RTC, 43522 RTC, 45867 RTC, 46622 RTC, 50156.11 RTC, 55332 RTC, 55381 RTC, 55381 RTC, 60636 RTC
09/19/23 - Enrolled: 6355 RTC, 7093.5 RTC, 9271 RTC, 30459.1 RTC, 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 40211 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC, 41171 RTC, 43160 RTC, 43522 RTC, 45867 RTC, 46622 RTC, 50156.11 RTC, 55332 RTC, 55381 RTC, 60636 RTC
10/08/23 - Chaptered: 6355 RTC, 7093.5 RTC, 9271 RTC, 30459.1 RTC, 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 40211 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC, 41171 RTC, 43160 RTC, 43522 RTC, 45867 RTC, 46622 RTC, 50156.11 RTC, 55332 RTC, 55381 RTC, 60636 RTC
SB 889: 32401 RTC, 32440 RTC, 34010 RTC, 34019 RTC, 41007.2 RTC, 41021 RTC, 41028 RTC, 41030 RTC