A piece of legislation in California was just amended to completely change it into a gun and ammo tax, these changes will take effect immediately.
The piece of legislation, California Assembly Bill 1227, was originally about building standards for roofs and home energy standards. Now the legislation is a tax on firearms and ammo.
A California bill regarding roof replacement building standards was just amended to completely change it into a gun and ammo tax that would take effect immediately. https://t.co/hOewLdlZ8S pic.twitter.com/jItKC9Cl63
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) May 6, 2022
The Amended bill reads as follows:
Existing law establishes the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant Program, administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to award competitive grants for the purpose of violence intervention and prevention.Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges.This bill, the Gun Violence Prevention, Healing, and Recovery Act, would, commencing July 1, 2023, and subject to an appropriation as specified, impose an excise tax in the amount of 10% of the sales price of a handgun and 11% of the sales price of a long gun, rifle, firearm precursor part, and ammunition, as specified. The tax would be collected by the state pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require that the revenues collected be deposited in the Gun Violence Prevention, Healing, and Recovery Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury.This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 2/3 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.Because this bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
For context, here is how the original legislation read:
Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to prescribe, by regulation, energy efficiency standards, including appliance efficiency standards. Under this authorization, the commission has adopted requirements for thermal emittance, 3-year aged reflectance, and solar reflectance index of roofing materials used in new construction and reroofing projects.
This bill would require the commission, during one or more of the next 4 triennial code adoption cycles after January 1, 2023, to consider amendments to the roof replacement building standards for alterations to existing low-rise, steep-sloped roof residential buildings with the goal of increasing the value of minimum aged solar reflectance up to 0.40 in the 2033 standard and the goal of expanding the range of climate zones in which minimum aged solar reflectance values are prescribed for those alterations, as provided.