Advisory Panel Recommendations for Stablilizing State Revenue Stream
The Commission on the 21st Century Economy, a nonpartisan panel created by Executive Order of Governor Schwarzenegger, released its report and recommendations for stabilizing California’s revenue streams on Tuesday, September 29th. The Governor has already called for a special session of the Legislature to take up its recommendations. Among the recommendations (quoting from the Commission’s press release):
· Reduce Personal Income Tax (PIT) for every taxpayer – Reduce the number of tax brackets from six to two. The new tax rate would be 2.75 percent for taxable income up to $56,000 for joint filers ($28,000 for single) and 6.5 percent for taxable income above that amount. These changes would retain the PIT’s progressive nature but reduce income tax rates for all taxpayers. The proposal would reduce the amount of income tax paid by 29 percent.
· Eliminate the corporation tax and minimum tax – Eliminate the corporate tax, which is currently at 8.84 percent. The $800 minimum franchise tax should also be eliminated.
· Eliminate the state general purpose sales tax – Eliminate the current 5 percent state sales tax, with the exception of the sales tax on gas and diesel fuels which would continue to be dedicated to transportation. Elimination of the sales tax would phase in over five years.
· Establish a business net receipts tax (BNRT) – Establish a new tax, not to exceed 4 percent, applied to the net receipts of businesses. Small businesses with less than $500,000 in gross annual receipts would be exempt from this tax. This tax would have a much broader base than the sales tax (since it would apply not only to goods but also to services and to sales into the state from businesses located outside the state) and, unlike the sales tax, be deductible against federal taxes.
· Create an independent tax dispute forum – This forum would provide taxpayers with a forum for resolving disputes with the state.
· Strengthen the state’s Rainy Day Reserve Fund – Increase the target for the reserve from 5 percent of revenues to 12.5 percent and restrict the government's ability to use reserve assets so that the reserve is available to help fund services during recessionary periods (this will require a constitutional amendment and therefore a vote of the people)
BIOCOM staff will be getting together with our contract lobbyists and other business organizations to assess this proposal. The full report, presentation and press release about the report’s release can be found on the Commission’s website at www.cotce.ca.gov
State Legislative Update 2009
The 2009 California Legislative Regular Session has drawn to a close, and in other years that would mean the Legislature’s business would be done until January. But this is far from a typical year. The Legislature has convened twice in the past nine months to address budget deficits that were larger than some states’ total budgets.
Despite these challenges, and to some degree because of the lack of funding to implement new state programs, BIOCOM had a very successful year in the legislative arena. BIOCOM’s Legislative and Public Policy Committees identified four bills as priorities; of these, three were opposition bills: one was defeated in committee and may be revisited next year, one was not taken up when it was clear the author did not have the votes for passage, and one was amended and BIOCOM therefore removed its opposition. Furthermore, no bills BIOCOM opposed in this legislative session made it to the Governor’s desk this year.
BIOCOM was also a party to a wide coalition which scored one of BIOCOM’s most significant legislative victories ever, the signing of ABx3 15, a bill which allows companies to choose to have their corporate income tax based on a single sales apportionment factor. This is an issue BIOCOM has been actively engaged in for several years, and will eliminate the tax penalty companies who choose to have large workforces in California have had to pay.
This all said, the Legislature is likely to reconvene, possibly as early as the second week in October, for special legislative sessions on water, education, possibly taxation, and a variety of other subjects. Keep an eye out in the BIOCOMMUNIQUE for updates on what is happening in these areas.
You can find a summary of the bills BIOCOM took a position on in the 2009 state legislative session by clicking here.
Health Care Reform Update- Senate Finance Committee and the Chairman’s Mark
As you may know, Joe Panetta, President & CEO of BIOCOM traveled to Washington DC with a group and took the opportunity to visit with members of the House and Senate to discuss the proposed $4 billion tax on medical device products and the negative impact it would have on California. Joining him were Ahmed Enany, President & CEO, Southern California Biomedical Council (SoCalBio); Matt Gardner, President & CEO, BayBio; Todd Gillenwater, Vice President of Public Policy, California Healthcare Institute; and Tom Tremble, Vice President of Government and Regional Affairs, AdvaMed.
Together, the group explained to members of the House and Senate how extremely concerned the medical device sector in California was over the $4 billion annual tax on medical device products. They reminded our representatives and their staffs that California is home to our nation's largest medical device cluster. California employs over 112,000 medical device workers and they explained how a $4 billion tax hike would exceed the $3.7 billion venture capital funding raised by the medical device sector in 2007.
Together the group worked to recruit members of Congress to sign onto a letter of concern over the proposed tax which was spearheaded by Representative Anna Eshoo, and our California delegation displayed remarkable unity in supporting us in our efforts against Chairman Baucus' proposal on the device excise tax.
Although this is a good first step in insuring that Chairman Baucus will be open to revisiting this portion of his bill, the battle in Senate Finance Committee isn't over.
BIOCOM will continue to work with partners at CHI, AdvaMed, SoCalBio and Baybio to push for further negotiation on the medical device tax language currently being considered by the Senate Finance committee as part of broader health reform legislation. {See end of story of current update on legislation}
Click here to view BIOCOM’s letter of opposition to the Medical Device Tax BIOCOM Medical Device tax letter.pdf
Click here to view a letter of concern signed by both California Democratic and Republican members of the house, who all agree that California can't afford a $40 billion tax over the next 10 years. Eshoo Medical Device tax letter.pdf
Click here to view a letter of concern signed by both CA Senators Feinstein and Boxer. Feinstein-Boxer Medical Device tax letter.pdf
On Thursday September 24th, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) introduced an amendment that would unravel the $80 billion agreement between the White House and PhRMA (one which also would apply to many biologics manufacturers). As you may know, the agreement was struck in June with an understanding that drug companies would agree to cut brand name drug prices by 50% for seniors affected by the “doughnut hole,” otherwise known as the gap in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage.
Sen. Nelson’s measure to unravel the negotiated agreement failed 10-13, with Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Democratic Senators Carper (D-Del) and Menendez (D-NJ) voting against the measure, leaving the previous agreement (which is written into the Chairman’s Mark entitled America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009) in place today. Under this language, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies would be assessed roughly $80 billion in fees over the next 10 years.
On Tuesday, September 29, the Senate Finance Committee voted 15-to-8 against an amendment introduced by Democratic Sen. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), defeating his proposal to create a government run health insurance option that would compete with the private market. Five Democrats, including Chairman Baucus, voted along with ten Republicans to defeat the measure. Shortly thereafter, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced an amendment which proposed to create a public option that would not rely on Medicare rates or require providers to participate. Schumer’s amendment was defeated with a vote of 10 to 13.
On Thursday, October 1st, the Senate Finance Committee concluded its consideration of amendments to the Committee’s version of the health care reform bill. The final bill has moved onto Congressional Budget Office for scoring. Once a price tag is assigned to the various elements of the bill, the Committee will reconvene to consider passing the final version of the legislation. One area of great concern to many BIOCOM members is the medical device tax contained in the Senate Finance bill. An amendment, introduced by Senator John Kyl (R-AZ), that would have stricken the $4 billion device tax from the bill, failed by a 10-13 vote.
BIOCOM Public Policy Section Provides Regular Updates on Health Reform Progress
The health reform debate is proceeding at a dizzying pace. In an effort to keep our members informed of the very latest developments, BIOCOM has set up a section on its website which will have news articles that help update you on the status of health reform efforts or bring a new insight into the discussions for our members. The health reform section can be found here:
http://www.biocom.org/public_policy/Health%20Care%20Reform/
If you have questions or suggestions for articles to be included that you have come across, please contact Madeleine Baudoin, BIOCOM Associate Director of Public Policy, at mbaudoin@biocom.org.