Article
6. California Jumpstart Act
12264.
This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Jumpstart Act.12264.5.
As used in this article, the following definitions apply:(a) “Affiliate” means an entity that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, another entity. For purposes of this subdivision, an entity is “controlled by” another entity if the controlling entity holds, directly or indirectly, the majority voting or ownership interest in the controlled entity or has control over the day-to-day operations of the controlled entity.
(b) “Closing date” means the date on which a relief fund has collected all amounts specified in subdivision (a) of Section 12268.
(c) “Full-time employee” means any of the following:
(1) An employment position that is filled at a small business.
(2) An employment position that is paid hourly wages for an average of at least 35 hours per week or any other period of time generally accepted by custom, industry, or practice as full-time employment.
(3) An employment position that is salaried and paid for full-time employment within the meaning of Section 515 of the Labor Code.
(d) “Investment authority” means the amount certified by the Treasurer pursuant to Section 12267.
(e) “Premium taxes” means the taxes imposed by paragraph (3) of subdivision (f) of Section 28 of Article XIII of the California
Constitution.
(f) (1) “Principal business operations” means the location that meets either of the following requirements:
(A) At least 60 percent of the business’s employees work at the location.
(B) Employees who are paid at least 60 percent of the business’s payroll work at the location.
(2) A business that has agreed to use the proceeds of a relief investment to establish its principal business operations in the state shall be deemed to have its principal business operations in a relief zone if it satisfies the requirements of paragraph (1) within 180 days after receiving a relief investment.
(g) “Relief contribution” means an investment of cash, by an entity
subject to premium taxes in this state, in a relief fund that equals the amount specified on a notice of tax credit allocation issued by the Treasurer under subdivision (c) of Section 12267 and that is used to purchase an equity interest in the relief fund or to purchase, at par value or premium, a debt instrument issued by the fund that meets both of the following requirements:
(1) Has an original maturity date of at least five years after the date of issuance.
(2) Has a repayment schedule that is not faster than a level principal amortization over five years.
(h) “Relief fund” means an entity certified by the office of the Treasurer under subdivision (a) of Section 12267.
(i) (1) “Relief investment” means any capital or equity
investment in a small business or any loan to a small business with a stated maturity of at least two years.
(2) A secured loan is a relief investment only if it has an initial interest rate of less than 2 percent or principal and interest payments are deferred for at least one year.
(3) A subordinate loan is a relief investment only if it has an initial interest rate of less than 6 percent or principal and interest payments are deferred for at least one year.
(4) An equity investment is a relief investment only if the relief fund does not acquire a majority interest in the small business as an initial investment in the small business.
(5) “Relief investment” does not include any transaction that includes an origination fee.
(j) “Relief zone” means any of the following locations in this state:
(1) A census tract in the state meeting either of the following requirements:
(A) The census tract has a poverty rate that is greater than 20 percent.
(B) The census tract has a median family income that does not exceed the following:
(i) If the census tract is not located in a metropolitan area, the statewide median family income.
(ii) If the census tract is located in a metropolitan area, the greater of the statewide median family income and the metropolitan area median family income.
(2) All
locations in the state but outside of census places with a population greater than or equal to 50,000 as of the latest decennial census and their adjacent and contiguous urbanized areas.
(3) A High Unemployment Area (HUA) in the state as designated by the Employment Training Panel at any time for taxable years beginning January 1, 2020, but before January 1, 2022.
(k) “Small business” means any business that, at the time a relief fund initially invests in the business, meets all of the following requirements:
(1) The total number of employees the business has does not exceed the greater of 250 and the number of employees set forth for the business’s North American Industry Classification System code in Section 121.201 of Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations at the time the initial relief investment is
made.
(2) The business has gross receipts, less returns and allowances reportable to the state, of less than ten million dollars ($10,000,000) during the previous taxable year.
(3) The business has its principal business operations in a relief zone in the state.
(4) The business is engaged in North American Industry Classification System sector 11, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, 48, 49, 54, or 62 or, if not engaged in those industries, the office of the Treasurer determines that the investment will create desirable economic outcomes in line with the goals of this article.
(l) “Treasurer” means the State Treasurer.
12265.
(a) (1) For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, there shall be allowed a credit against premium taxes a California Jumpstart Act tax credit in an amount equal to the amount of a relief contribution, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 12264.5.(2) A taxpayer claiming a credit under this section shall claim the credit pursuant to the utilization schedule issued by the office of the Treasurer pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 12269.
(b) If the credit allowed by this section exceeds the taxes described in subdivision (a), the excess may be carried over to reduce those taxes in the following year, and the four succeeding years if
necessary, until the credit is exhausted. Tax credits shall not be carried forward after the 2030–31 taxable year.
(c) The credit is nonrefundable and may not be sold, transferred, or allocated to an entity other than an affiliate that was an affiliate of the taxpayer on the date that the taxpayer signed its affidavit included in the relief fund’s application pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 12266.
(d) No additional retaliatory tax shall be required as a result of receiving the tax credit described in this subdivision.
(e) A taxpayer claiming a credit under this section shall submit a copy of the tax credit certificate issued pursuant to Section 12269 with the taxpayer’s return for each taxable year for which the credit is claimed.
(f) (1) The aggregate amount of investment authority that may be certified shall be three hundred seventy-five million dollars ($375,000,000) and the aggregate amount of credit that may be allocated and certified pursuant to this section shall be three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) in total for all taxable years for which the California Jumpstart Act tax credit is authorized.
(2) If requests for investment authority and credits exceed the limitations described in paragraph (1), the office of the Treasurer shall proportionally reduce the investment authority and credits certified for each approved application as necessary to avoid exceeding the limit.
12266.
(a) Beginning 30 days after the enactment of this act, and ending on January 1, 2026, the office of the Treasurer shall accept applications for certification of relief funds and relief contributions. The application shall meet all of the following requirements:(1) The total relief investment authority sought by the applicant, which shall not exceed three hundred seventy-five million dollars ($375,000,000).
(2) The applicant shall include evidence to prove, to the satisfaction of the office of the Treasurer, that the applicant meets all of the following criteria:
(A) The applicant or an affiliate of the applicant is
a federally approved or licensed rural business investment company pursuant to Section 2009cc of Title 7 of the United States Code or a small business investment company pursuant to Section 681 of Title 15 of the United States Code. The applicant shall include a certificate executed by an executive officer of the applicant attesting that the approval or license remains in effect and has not been revoked and evidence that at least one principal or similar officer of the entity is, and has been for at least four years, an officer or employee of the applicant or an affiliate of the applicant on the date the application is submitted.
(B) As of the date the application is submitted, the applicant and its affiliates have invested more than one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in small businesses. As used in this subparagraph, a “small business” is not required to have principal business operations in California.
(3) A signed affidavit from each investor agreeing to make a relief contribution and that states the amount of the investor’s relief contribution. Eighty percent of the investment authority sought by the applicant shall be comprised of relief contributions.
(4) A nonrefundable application fee of ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(5) A detailed inclusive outreach plan intended to increase investment sourcing opportunities under the program in small businesses of interest, including, but not limited to, those owned by minority, women, disabled veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender persons, and other disadvantaged groups.
(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subdivision, the office of the Treasurer shall review
and make determinations with respect to applications within 30 days of receipt. Applications received by the office of the Treasurer on the same day shall be deemed to have been received simultaneously.
(2) The office of the Treasurer may approve investment authority only in an aggregate amount that is not greater than three hundred seventy-five million dollars ($375,000,000).
(3) If the office of the Treasurer denies an application for certification as a relief fund, and approving a subsequently submitted application would result in exceeding the dollar limitation on relief investment authority or relief contributions if the previously denied application is completed, clarified, or cured pursuant to subdivision (e), the office of the Treasurer shall refrain from making a determination on the subsequently submitted application until the previously denied application is
reconsidered or the 15-day period for submitting additional information for the previously denied application has passed, whichever comes first.
(c) The office of the Treasurer shall deny an application submitted under this section if any of the following apply:
(1) The application is incomplete.
(2) The application fee is not paid in full.
(3) The application does not satisfy all the criteria described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).
(4) The office of the Treasurer has already approved the maximum total relief investment authority and relief contributions allowed pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 12265.
(5) The
applicant fails to submit affidavits equal to 80 percent of the relief investment authority sought.
(d) The office of the Treasurer shall not deny a relief fund application or reduce the requested relief investment authority for reasons other than those described in subdivisions (b) and (c).
(e) (1) If the office of the Treasurer denies an application, the office of the Treasurer shall notify the applicant of the reasons for denial. If the application was denied for any reason other than the reasons specified in paragraph (3), (4) or (5) of subdivision (c), the applicant may provide additional information to the agency to cure defects in the application, provided the information is submitted within 15 days of receipt of the notice of denial.
(2) Upon receipt of additional information, the office
of the Treasurer shall reconsider and make a determination on the application within 15 days of receiving the additional information and, if approved, treat the application as approved as of its original filing date.
12267.
After approving an application submitted pursuant to Section 12266, the Treasurer shall issue a written notice to the applicant certifying all of the following:(a) The applicant is a relief fund.
(b) The amount of the applicant’s investment authority.
(c) The relief contributions required from each investor that submitted an affidavit with the relief fund’s application.
12268.
(a) (1) Within 60 days after receiving the certification issued pursuant to Section 12267, a relief fund shall do both of the following:(A) Collect relief contributions equal to the amount certified in Section 12267 from each investor whose affidavit was included in the application.
(B) Collect additional investments of cash that, when added to the investor contributions, equal the relief fund’s investment authority.
(2) At least 5 percent of the relief fund’s investment authority shall consist of direct or indirect equity investments from affiliates of the relief fund, including employees,
officers, and directors of the affiliates.
(b) Within 65 days after receiving certification pursuant to Section 12267, the relief fund shall send to the Treasurer documentation to prove that the amounts required by subdivision (a) have been collected.
(c) If the relief fund fails to comply with subdivision (a) or (b), the Treasurer shall revoke the relief fund’s certification and provide written notice to the relief fund of the revocation.
12269.
(a) (1) Upon receipt of the documentation required by subdivision (b) of Section 12268, the office of the Treasurer shall issue, to each investor or affiliate identified in subdivision (b) of Section 12268, a notice of the amount and utilization schedule of the tax credits allocated to that investor or affiliate as a result of its relief contribution.(2) The office of the Treasurer shall issue, to each investor or affiliate identified in subdivision (b) of Section 12268, the first tax credit certificate for one-fourth of the relief contributions made by the investor or affiliate on or before the second anniversary of the closing date. Thereafter, the office of the Treasurer shall issue a tax credit certificate for
one-fourth of the relief contributions allocated to the investor or affiliate on or before each of the following three anniversaries of the closing date.
(b) The Treasurer shall not be required to issue a tax credit certificate if the relief fund does not invest 70 percent of its investment authority in relief investments within one year of the closing date and 100 percent of its relief investment authority in relief investments within two years of the closing date.
12269.5.
(a) An annual fee of one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000), to be prorated amongst all relief funds that have not exited pursuant to Section 12271, shall be payable to the office of the Treasurer.(b) The initial annual fee is due and payable to the office of the Treasurer within 65 days after receiving the certification issued pursuant to Section 12267.
(c) After payment of the initial annual fee, the annual fee shall be due and payable to the office of the Treasurer before March 1.
(d) Application and annual fees paid to the office of the Treasurer shall be deposited in the Treasury Relief Investment Fund
established under Section 12276.
12270.
(a) (1) The office of the Treasurer may recapture tax credits claimed pursuant to Section 12264 and revoke the tax credit certificates issued if any of the following occur with respect to the relief fund:(A) Prior to investing 100 percent of its relief investment authority in relief investments, the relief fund makes a distribution or payment in excess of the cumulative investment earnings of the fund as of the date of payment or distribution, taking into account all past payments and distributions.
(B) After investing 100 percent of its relief investment authority in relief investments, the fund fails to maintain that level of investment until the fifth
anniversary of the closing date. For the purposes of this paragraph, an investment is maintained even if the investment is sold or repaid as long as the fund reinvests an amount equal to the capital returned or recovered by the fund from the original investment, exclusive of any profits realized, in other relief investments in this state within one year of the receipt of such capital. Regularly scheduled principal payments on a loan that is a relief investment shall be deemed continuously invested in a relief investment if the amounts are reinvested in one or more relief investments by the end of the following calendar year.
(C) After investing 100 percent of its relief investment authority in relief investments and before the fund decertifies under Section 12271, the fund makes a distribution or payment that results in the fund having less than 100 percent of its relief investment authority invested in relief investments or in cash or
marketable securities available for investment in relief investments.
(D) (i) The relief fund makes a relief investment in a small business that directly or indirectly through an affiliate owns, has the right to acquire an ownership interest, makes a loan to, or makes an investment in the relief fund, an affiliate of the fund, or an investor in the relief fund, excluding investments in publicly traded securities by a small business or an owner or affiliate of a small business.
(ii) Before recapturing tax credits or revoking a tax credit certificate pursuant to this section, the office of the Treasurer shall notify the relief fund of the reasons for the pending recapture or revocation. If the fund corrects the violations outlined in the notice to the satisfaction of the office of the Treasurer within 90 days of the date the notice was dispatched, the office of
the Treasurer shall not recapture the tax credits or revoke the tax credit certificate, as applicable.
(2) (A) The Treasurer shall not recapture a tax credit or revoke a tax credit certificate due to any actions of a fund that occur after decertification pursuant to Section 12271.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Treasurer may recapture a relief fund’s tax credits or revoke a tax credit certificate related to actions of the relief fund that occurred prior to decertification, even if the actions are discovered after decertification.
(b) The amount by which one or more relief investments by a relief fund in the same small business exceeds seven million five hundred thousand dollars ($7,500,000) shall not be considered as a relief investment for purposes of this section, exclusive of
capital repaid or redeemed by the small business and reinvested as a relief investment in the small business. A relief investment in an affiliate of a small business shall be treated as a relief investment in that small business for purposes of this subdivision.
12271.
(a) (1) On or after the sixth anniversary of the closing date, a relief fund that has invested 100 percent of its relief investment authority in relief investments may apply to the office of the Treasurer to decertify as a relief fund.(2) The office of the Treasurer shall approve or deny an application made pursuant to paragraph (1) within 60 days after receiving the application.
(b) The office of the Treasurer shall not deny the application unless there is a reasonable basis for the denial. In evaluating the application, whether a tax credit was recaptured with respect to the decertifying relief fund shall be evidence to prove that the relief fund is
eligible for decertification.
(c) The office of the Treasurer shall send notice of its determination with respect to decertification and reasons for denial, if applicable, to the relief fund requesting decertification.
12272.
(a) A relief fund may request a written opinion from the office of the Treasurer as to whether the business qualifies as a small business.(b) The relief fund shall include evidence that the business satisfies the definition of a small business and a certification by an executive officer of the business attesting that the business satisfies such definition.
(c) The office of the Treasurer shall issue a written opinion to the fund within 10 business days of receiving the request. If the office of the Treasurer determines that the business qualifies as a small business or if the office of the Treasurer fails to timely issue the written opinion, the business shall be considered a
small business for purposes of this article.
12273.
(a) If the office of the Treasurer revokes a relief fund’s certification pursuant to Section 12268 or a tax credit certificate pursuant to Section 12270, the associated investment authority and investor contributions will not count toward the limit on total investment authority and investor contributions set forth in subdivision (f) of Section 12265.(b) (1) The office of the Treasurer shall first award reverted investment authority pro rata to each relief fund that was awarded less than the requested investment authority for which it applied.
(2) The office of the Treasurer may award any remaining investment authority to new
applicants.
12274.
(a) Each relief fund shall submit a report to the office of the Treasurer on or before the first day of each April following the end of the calendar year that includes the closing date until the calendar year after the relief fund has been decertified. The report shall provide an itemization of the relief fund’s relief investments and shall include the following documents and information:(1) A bank statement evidencing each relief fund’s relief investments.
(2) The name, location, and industry class of each business that received a relief investment from the fund, evidence that the business qualified as a small business at the time the investment was made if the relief fund did
not obtain a written opinion from the office of the Treasurer pursuant to Section 12272, and a certification executed by an executive officer of each business attesting that the business was a small business at the time of the initial relief investment in the business.
(3) For each small business receiving a relief investment, evidence for the Treasurer to verify the number of full-time employees at each small business at the time the investment was made, if not previously reported.
(4) A verifiable number of jobs created and retained as a result of each relief investment.
(5) The cumulative amount of relief investments made in each small business as a result of this credit.
(6) The number of relief investments made in small businesses of interest,
disaggregated by classifications, including, but not limited to, those owned by women, minority, disabled veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender persons, and other disadvantaged groups.
(7) A certification under penalty of perjury that the relief fund has not violated any of the grounds for revocation and recapture of credits set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 12267.
(8) Any other information required by the office of the Treasurer.
(b) Each fund shall submit a report to the office of the Treasurer on or before the fifth business day after the first and second anniversaries of the closing date that provides documentation to prove that the fund has met the investment thresholds described in subdivision (a) of Section 12267 and has not implicated any of the other recapture provisions described in
subdivision (b) of Section 12267.
12275.
The office of the Treasurer shall undertake outreach activities to encourage investment in underrepresented groups, including, but not limited to, by partnering with organizations representing persons and business enterprises from underrepresented groups, in a manner that will inform and educate members of these organizations on investment opportunities through the program provided in this article. Underrepresented groups include, but are not limited to, minority, women, disabled veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender persons, and other disadvantaged groups.12276.
There is hereby established in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Treasury Relief Investment Fund. All moneys appropriated to the office of the Treasurer for purposes of this article shall be deposited or paid into this fund and shall solely be used to carry out the office of the Treasurer’s duties specified in this article and those rules and regulations promulgated to implement this article.12277.
(a) The office of the Treasurer may adopt rules and regulations for purposes of implementing the provisions of this article.(b) The office of the Treasurer shall adopt forms and notices necessary to implement this article.
(c) The office of the Treasurer shall notify the Department of Insurance of the name of any insurance company allocated tax credits under this article and the amount of those credits.