Chapter 1.5. Local Agency Levy Powers And Limitations of California Revenue And Taxation Code >> Division 2. >> Part 1.7. >> Chapter 1.5.

(a) The board of supervisors of any county may license, for revenue and regulation, and fix the license tax upon, every kind of lawful business transacted in the unincorporated area of the county, including shows, exhibitions, and games. The board may provide for collection of the license tax by suit or otherwise.
  (b) Any board which imposes a license tax pursuant to subdivision (a) upon a business operating both within and outside the board's taxing jurisdiction shall levy the tax so that the measure of tax fairly reflects that proportion of the taxed activity actually carried on within the taxing jurisdiction.

(a) No license tax or fee levied by a charter or general law county, city and county, or city, or by a district or any other local agency, that is measured by the licensee's income or gross receipts, nor any flat business license tax or flat business license fee, shall apply to any minister, clergyman, Christian Science practitioner, rabbi, or priest of any religious organization that has been granted an exemption from federal income tax as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or a successor to that section.
  (b) No charter or general law county, city and county, or city, nor any district or any other local agency, may impose any business license tax or business license fee on any nonprofit organization that is exempted from taxes by Section 23701d and is an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or the successor to that section.
  (c) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a charter or general law county, city and county, or city, or district or any other local agency from imposing a fee to cover the costs of a program or service.

The board of supervisors of any county may levy a utility user tax on the consumption of electricity, gas, water, sewer, telephone, telegraph, and cable television services in the unincorporated area of the county.

(a) For the purposes of this section:
  (1) "Local jurisdiction" means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city, county, or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
  (2) "Public transit operator" means a local or regional transit agency or a joint powers agency operating bus transportation service as described pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 99200) of Chapter 4 of Part 11 of Division 10 of the Public Utilities Code.
  (b) There is exempt from any utility user tax, imposed by any local jurisdiction, a local agency's or public transit operator's consumption of compressed natural gas dispensed by a gas compressor, within a local jurisdiction, that is separately metered and is dedicated to providing compressed natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel for use by the local agency or public transit operator.
  (c) There is exempt from any utility user tax on the consumption of electricity, imposed by any local jurisdiction, a local agency's or public transit operator's consumption of electricity used to charge electric bus propulsion batteries, within a local jurisdiction, that is separately metered and is dedicated to providing electricity as a motor vehicle fuel for use by an electric public transit bus.

Any tax levied pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to any applicable voter approval requirement imposed by any other provision of law. Revenues collected pursuant to any tax imposed pursuant to this chapter may be reserved for local purposes as determined by the board of supervisors of the county imposing the tax.

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
  (1) "Local jurisdiction" means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city, county, or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
  (2) "Clean energy resource" means either of the following:
  (A) A device or technology used for a renewable electrical generation facility, as set forth in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code.
  (B) A technology that meets all of the following requirements:
  (i) The emissions standards adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the distributed generation certification program requirements of Article 3 (commencing with Section 94200) of Subchapter 8 of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.
  (ii) Produces de minimis emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides.
  (iii) The greenhouse gases emission performance standard established by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to Section 8341 of the Public Utilities Code.
  (iv) Has a total electrical efficiency of no less than 45 percent.
  (v) Is sized to meet the generator's onsite electrical demand.
  (vi) Has parallel operation to the electrical distribution grid.
  (vii) Utilizes renewable or nonrenewable fuel.
  (viii) Pays any applicable utility users tax for nonrenewable fuels used in electricity generation.
  (b) (1) There is exempt from any utility user tax on the consumption of electricity, imposed by any local jurisdiction, a customer's consumption of electricity generated by a clean energy resource that is located on the customer's premises and used solely for the customer or the customer's tenants.
  (2) This section does not exempt from any utility users tax imposed by any local jurisdiction any electricity or gas, not described in paragraph (1), that is provided to a customer by an electrical corporation, publicly owned utility, electrical cooperative, or irrigation district.
  (c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends that date.

(a) It is unlawful for any local jurisdiction, including any employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction, to permit any utility user's tax return or copy thereof, or any records of any payment of utility user's tax, to be seen or examined by, or disclosed to, any person who is not one of the following:
  (1) An employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction with administrative or compliance responsibilities relating to the utility user's tax ordinance.
  (2) An employee of the utility or other company that is required to report or pay a utility user's tax to the local jurisdiction, and that furnished the records or information.
  (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this section does not prohibit a local jurisdiction from doing any of the following:
  (1) Disclosing to a taxpayer information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the utility user's tax of that taxpayer; or, disclosing that information in a tax collection action, provided that that information is subject to a protective order issued by a court.
  (2) Disclosing to a tax officer of the state or federal government, pursuant to a written reciprocal agreement, information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the local utility user's tax.
  (3) Disclosing the gross utility user's tax revenues collected from the customers of a utility that is owned or operated by the local jurisdiction that imposes the utility user's tax.
  (c) For purposes of this section:
  (1) "Local jurisdiction" means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
  (2) "District" means any agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or a special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries.
  (d) Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both, in the discretion of the court.
  (e) This section shall not be construed to prohibit the divulging of information to the State Board of Equalization for the purposes of its administration of the Energy Resources Surcharge Law (Part 19 (commencing with Section 40001) of Division 2).
  (f) Any information subject to subdivision (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of the Government Code), except that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the disclosure of records pursuant to Section 6254.16 of the Government Code.

(a) It is unlawful for any employee, officer, authorized agent or contractor of a local jurisdiction levying a utility user's tax, that obtains access to information contained in utility user tax records of a local jurisdiction, to disclose any information obtained from the records of a utility or other company required to report or pay a utility user's tax to the local jurisdiction as a result of an audit, or any other information obtained in the course of an on-site audit, to any person who is not an employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction with administrative or compliance responsibilities relating to the utility user's tax ordinance.
  (b) Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both, in the discretion of the court.
  (c) This section shall not be construed to prohibit the divulging of information to the State Board of Equalization for the purposes of its administration of the Energy Resources Surcharge Law (Part 19 (commencing with Section 40001) of Division 2).
  (d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), this section shall not be construed to prohibit an employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of a local jurisdiction levying a utility user's tax from doing any of the following:
  (1) Disclosing to a taxpayer information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the utility user's tax of that taxpayer; or, disclosing that information in a tax collection action, provided that the information is subject to a protective order issued by a court.
  (2) Disclosing to a tax officer of the state or federal government, pursuant to a written reciprocal agreement, information obtained from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the local utility user's tax.
  (3) Disclosing the gross utility user's tax revenues collected from the customers of a utility that is owned or operated by the local jurisdiction that imposes the utility user's tax.
  (e) For purposes of this section:
  (1) "Local jurisdiction" means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
  (2) "District" means any agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or a special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries.
  (f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to create an exemption from disclosure under subdivision (k) of Section 6254 of the Government Code, or to prohibit the disclosure of records pursuant to Section 6254.16 of the Government Code or subdivision (i) of Section 6254 of the Government Code.