(Part 1 of 2)
MINIMUM Wage: Minimum wage increases to $9 per hour effective July 1, 2014.
Identity Theft, Internet Online Tracking
– Identity theft: State agencies and businesses are required to notify people when security information is hacked.
– Tracking software: Website operators are required to inform users if their online activities are being tracked.
Schools:
– Student abuse: School superintendents are required to report teacher misconduct to the state.
– Keep Arts In School: Californians can donate by checking a new box on their personal income tax forms.
Carpools
Solo drivers of electric and low-emission vehicles can use car pool lanes for four more years.
Children
– Homeless youths: California to establish shelters for runaway and homeless youth.
– Child abuse: The status of a child who is homeless or unaccompanied does not mean neglect or child abuse.
– Parents’ rights: A child can have more than 2 legal parents so custody & financial responsibility can be shared.
Crime
– Recording suspects: Detectives must videotape interrogations of underage suspects in homicide cases to guard against false confessions.
– GPS devices: Sex offenders on parole who disarm electronic trackers are required to serve 180 days in jail.
– Expungement: Some nonviolent felons sentenced to county jail instead of state prison are given the right to have their crimes deleted from their records.
Prescriptions and Narcotics
– Prescriptions: Authorities investigating a doctor’s drug prescriptions can access deceased patients’ records.
Penalties: Transporting narcotics is redefined to exclude users caught with drugs for personal use.
Employment
– Nanny overtime: Employers are required to provide time-and-a-half pay for nannies, private health aides, and some other domestic workers if they work more than 9 hours a day or 45 hours per week.
Environment
– Water conservation: When a permit is required to renovate a single-family home built more than 20 years ago, old fixtures (toilets, faucets and shower heads) must be replaced with water-saving fixtures.
– Fracking: A company engaging in hydraulic fracturing (injecting water and chemicals into the ground to improve production) is required to notify neighbors, list on the internet chemicals it uses, and test groundwater for contamination.
Sports: Schools must remove student athletes from games if they suffer concussion or head injury.
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Victor Santos Sy, CPA, MBA, provides professional services in accounting and tax controversy including IRS audit defense and offers in compromise. He also advises clients on choices of entity including corporations for small businesses and LLCs for rentals. Vic worked with SyCip, Gorres, Velayo (SGV – Andersen Consulting) and Ernst & Young before establishing Sy Accountancy Corporation at 704 Mira Monte Place, Pasadena, CA 91101. The firm celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. You may email tax questions to Vic at [email protected]. You are welcome to visit our website for more than 300 tax tips at www.victorsycpa.com.