Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law: suspension of tax.

Plain English Breakdown

The candidate explanation includes claims about the bill setting standards for environmental data sharing and creating a statewide portal, which align with the official summary. However, it does not specify if these actions will be taken due to resource availability.

Suspension of Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax

This law suspends a tax on motor vehicle fuel for one year, requires businesses to pass savings onto consumers, and sets standards for how environmental data is shared online.

What This Bill Does

• Suspends the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year.
• Requires that any savings from this tax suspension be passed on to end consumers by sellers of fuel.
• Makes it an unfair business practice if a seller does not pass on these savings to consumers.
• Directs the Controller to transfer money from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund.
• Sets standards for how environmental data is shared online, including requiring state agencies to publish this data in specific formats.

Who It Names or Affects

• Consumers who buy motor vehicle fuel
• Businesses that sell motor vehicle fuel
• State agencies responsible for collecting and publishing environmental data

Terms To Know

End consumer

The final person or entity that buys a product, in this case, the motor vehicle fuel.

Machine-readable format

A way of organizing data so that computers can easily read and use it.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much money will be transferred from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account.
• It is unclear if there are enough resources available for the Office of Data and Innovation to create a statewide environmental data portal.

Official Summary Text

AB 2722, as amended, Ellis.
Environmental data.
Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law: suspension of tax.
Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon.
Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws.
This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor
vehicle fuels tax by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction.
This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Office of Data and Innovation within the Government Operations Agency and sets forth its powers and duties, including delivering better government services to the people of California through technology and service innovation, data, and design.
Existing law establishes the California Environmental Protection Agency under the supervision of the Secretary for Environmental Protection. Existing law requires the secretary to develop and adopt information technology standards by which public agencies and the regulated community may use computers and other information technology to comply with environmental data reporting requirements, and to establish a standardized electronic format and protocol for the exchange of electronic data for
the purpose of meeting the environmental data reporting requirements under specified laws.
This bill would require the secretary, in consultation with the office, to determine the minimum permissible machine-readable formats for environmental data, as specified. Subject to availability of the necessary resources, the bill would authorize the office to create an interoperable statewide environmental data portal to maintain and preserve copies of environmental data in electronic, machine-readable format for access by the public.
This bill would require a state agency that collects, maintains, or publishes environmental data to ensure, among other things, that the environmental data is published online in the machine-readable format determined by the secretary and accessible through a state agency’s internet website or the interoperable statewide environmental data portal created by the office. The bill would authorize the
secretary and the office to provide technical guidance, training, and template schemas to state agencies to support publication and interoperability.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF