AB 515: Income taxes: credits: food bank donations.

(1)The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, a credit for qualified taxpayers, defined as the person responsible for planting a crop, managing the crop, and harvesting the crop from the land, in an amount equal to 10% of the cost that would otherwise be included in, or required to be included in, inventory costs, as specified under federal law, with respect to the donation of fresh fruits or fresh vegetables to food banks located in California.

This bill, under both laws, would expand the credit to apply to the donation of qualified donation items, defined as raw agricultural products or processed foods. The bill would expand the definition of qualified taxpayer to also include the person responsible for growing or raising a qualified donation item, or harvesting, packing, or processing a qualified donation item. The bill would modify the credit amount to instead equal 15% of the qualified value, as defined, of the qualified donation items, but not less than an amount that would otherwise be calculated and allowed under existing law. The bill would extend the operation of the credit to taxable years before January 1, 2021, and would require it to be claimed on a timely filed original return. The bill would make various conforming changes and would also make a nonsubstantive change to the personal income tax provision.

(2)Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish and administer the State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP), to provide food and funding for the provision of emergency food to food banks, as provided. Existing law creates the State Emergency Food Assistance Program Account and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would allocate the moneys in the account to SEFAP and require that those moneys be used for the purchase, storage, and transportation of food grown or produced in California and for the departments administrative costs.

This bill would rename the State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP) as the CalFood Program and would rename the State Emergency Food Assistance Program Account as the CalFood Account. The bill would make other conforming changes in this regard.