California voters approved Proposition 56, which increased the excise tax rate on cigarettes and expanded the definition of “tobacco products” to include any type of tobacco, nicotine, little cigars, and electronic cigarettes sold in combination with nicotine.

On April 1, 2017, the cigarette tax rate increased from $0.87 to $2.87 per pack of 20 cigarettes. In addition, the distribution of nicotine delivery devices – including, but not limited to, electronic cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, vape pens, and e-hookahs – sold in combination with substances containing nicotine are now subject to the current tobacco products tax rate of 27.30 percent of the wholesale cost of the product.

Nicotine delivery devices sold independently and not in combination with any liquid or substance containing nicotine are not subject to excise tax. This includes any battery, battery charger, carrying case, or any other accessory used in the operation of a nicotine delivery device.

Any product approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration as a tobacco cessation product or other therapeutic purpose when that product is marketed and sold for such approved use (for instance, nicotine patches) will also not be subject to the excise tax.

Additional information regarding the provisions of Proposition 56 is available online. You may also view the BOE’s online Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Guide on the BOE website.

The five-member California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a publicly elected tax board that hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes. The BOE collects $60.5 billion annually in taxes and fees, supporting state and local government services. For specific help, please contact the BOE at 1-800-400-7115.

Thanks to Cain Robles, social service coordinator at EVC, Chuck received a private tour of the Golden1 Center, home of the Sacramento Kings. Chuck has been a resident of the Eskaton Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) for about 11 years, first in independent living, then assisted living and now in skilled nursing. He took his daughter, granddaughter, and two great-granddaughters on the tour with him. The excitement on Chuck’s face was priceless.

World War II veteran Chuck Berkstresser Jr. earned two master’s degrees and two bachelor’s degrees: Geology and geography; chemistry and physical science. The 93-year-old boasted, “I had more guns pulled on me in the geology field than I ever did in combat.” He was in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge where he heard shooting but was never involved in it. At the U.S. Geological Survey, he worked in the resources division as a geologist. Later he became a teacher at the City College.

Some of his hobbies include photography (mostly scenery), reading (non-fiction), and sailing. He also loved traveling with his wife before she passed away few years ago. At the mention of sailing, Chuck was particularly excited to share his stories.

In one instance, he and his wife went sailing in Tahoe. First the lake was too calm. He said, “My sails were hanging limp. There wasn’t a puff of air.” But the next time they went out, the water was way too rough and choppy. The size and depth of Lake Tahoe made his wife nervous.

During a Lake Meade sailing exhibition, Chuck and his wife sailed nearly 300 miles in 3½ weeks. They lived on the 26-foot boat equipped with a two-burner stove and a port-a-potty. “We were self-contained,” he added. Together they traveled to every state except North Dakota, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama.

He met his wife while taking Organic Chemistry. She was a lab instructor and he would stay late asking her questions. This gave him time to ask her to go out with him. They later got married and had four daughters.

Chuck now lives at Eskaton Village Carmichael, and when asked what his favorite thing about living at Eskaton is he said: “The food, the friends, the staff, and the friendship with the staff. It’s just a good place.” His most important lessons from his life have been: “Be honest, work hard, and do your job. And when you get a chance have fun. By all means, have fun.”

Several community Egg Hunts for children will be held this Saturday, April 15, and each is open to the public. Below is a list to choose from:

Arden Manor Egg Hunt at Deterding Park, 1415 Rushen Drive. Free Egg Hunt at 9:30 am rain or shine. For more information, visit the Arden Manor Recreation and Park District website.

Arden Park Easter Egg-Stravaganza at Arden Park, 1000 La Sierra Drive. Carnival games 8:30-10 am, Pancake Breakfast 8:30-10 am ($5.00 per person) and Egg Hunt at 10:15 am ($3.00 per child). For more information, visit the Arden Park Recreation and Park District website.

Carmichael Egg Hunt at Carmichael Park, 5750 Grant Avenue. Pancake Breakfast by Kiwanis Club 7 to 11 am ($5 per adult/$3 children 12 and under). Free Egg Hunt at 10 am sharp rain or shine. For more information, visit the Carmichael Recreation and Park District website.

Fair Oaks Easter Eggstravaganza at Fair Oaks Park, 1549 Fair Oaks Boulevard. Activities 9am-1pm include Free Egg Hunt for children Ages 0-13 plus fee charges for carnival games, inflatables, choo-choo ride, and breakfast by Lions Club ($5 for adults/$3 for children) Note adult egg hunt, too ($3 to participate)! For more information, visit the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District website.

Fulton-El Camino Egg-O-Rama & Pancake Breakfast at Howe Park, 2201 Cottage Way. Pancake Breakfast 8-11 am ($3 per person) Carnival and Egg Hunt ($5 participation) Carnival 9:30 am-12 pm, Egg Hunt Ages 0-2 & 3-4 at10:15 am and Ages 5-7 & 8-12 at 11:15 am. For more information, visit the Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District website.

Mission Oaks Easter Blast at Swanston Community Center, 2350 Northrop Avenue. Egg Hunt, Games and Crafts will be held12-2 pm. For more information, visit the Mission Oaks Recreation and Park District website.

North Highlands Spring Fling Eggstra! Eggstra! at Freedom Park, corner of Freedom Park and Dudley Boulevard. Free Community Egg Hunt Ages 1-4 at 10:15 am, Ages 5-8 at 11 am, and Ages 9-12 at 11:10 am. For more information, visit the North Highlands Recreation and Park District website.

Freshman Peyton Spellacy has been admitted to the NewsRoom By The Bay, a summer digital journalism program for high school students, held every summer at Stanford University. The program will be held July 2-9, 2017.

“It is really special because it is a select group,’ said Spellacy. “A lot of them are seniors and juniors. I am excited to learn about their experiences and really use it as an opportunity to grow in my own broadcasting.”

Spellacy, who is from Carmichael, played on the St. Francis varsity tennis team last fall before joining the Sports Media club. She participated on numerous broadcasts during the basketball season, calling all three levels. She was part of the team that streamed and broadcast the CIF NorCal varsity playoff game including the first live pregame show in TroubieTV history.

“TroubieTV has given me the outlet to my passion,” said Spellacy. “It has taught me so much about being on camera. I love it.”

St. Francis Catholic High School has earned recognition as one of 88 schools of distinction from the NFHS Network for the efforts of the Sports Media Club in producing TroubieTV.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) announces the acceptance of a valid U.S. passport card when applying for a first-time driver license (DL) or identification card (ID). The DMV included the U.S. passport card in the list of approved legal presence documents starting on April 3, 2017.

“We added the U.S. passport card to offer more options for our customers,” said DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. “The passport card is secure, more convenient, and less expensive than a passport book and it will help new driver license and ID card applicants establish their legal presence.”

Millions of people have applied for and received a U.S. passport card from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs since they became available in 2008. The verification process and security features in the card are similar to a passport book, which the DMV currently accepts. The DMV determined that the passport card is a readily available and secure document that will help in establishing the applicant’s legal presence.

First-time driver license applicants must make an appointment before visiting a DMV field office. Walk-ins are only accepted at Driver License Processing Centers.

The DMV has a helpful webpage that features the requirements for driver license and ID card applicants. To apply for an original driver license or ID card, customers must complete a Driver License or Identification Card Application form (DL 44), give a thumb print, have their picture taken, provide their social security number, and verify their birth date, legal presence, and California residency.

The DMV reminds all new DL and ID card applicants that they must provide proof of California residency. The residency requirement law went into effect July 1, 2016. For more information about the residency requirement visit the DMV website.

For more information about the U.S. passport card and how to apply, visit the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs website.

A Tax Recovery and Criminal Enforcement (TRaCE) Task Force investigation led to the prosecution and conviction of Carlo Hamrahi, 44, of Santa Clarita. His issuance of fake checks led to the discovery of his fraudulent home loan modification scheme for which he was convicted of two felony counts of grand theft and a white-collar crime enhancement resulting in losses exceeding $100,000 on April 6, 2017, in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Norwalk. He was sentenced to three years in state prison and ordered to pay $140,000 in restitution to his victims.

The TRaCE investigation began after the Board of Equalization (BOE) received fraudulent checks totaling nearly $900,000 issued by Hamrahi. After BOE discovered the checks were bogus, the TRaCE Task Force executed a search warrant at Hamrahi’s home in March 2015. This turned up evidence that Hamrahi, using the alias Roberto Colleoni, was operating Colleoni Enterprises, a company offering home loan modifications.

TRaCE task force agents found that Hamrahi induced numerous unsuspecting homeowners to enter into home loan modifications, baiting them with promises of reducing their mortgage balances by fifty percent, lowering their interest rate by two percent, and extending payment terms to forty years in duration all while providing a money back guarantee.

Hamrahi collected fees and upfront money from the trusting homeowners, giving the appearance that the loan modifications had been executed to the extent of forging deeds and opening escrow accounts. Hamrahi even sent them fraudulent “payoff” checks containing stolen identities, which were eventually returned by banks as fraudulent. No homeowners received legitimate home loan modifications under Hamrahi’s scheme.

The TRaCE Task Force is made up of investigators and special agents from the California Department of Justice, Board of Equalization, California Attorney General’s Office, Franchise Tax Board, Employment Development Department, Department of Motor Vehicles, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The partnership was formed in 2014 to investigate criminal elements of the underground economy engaged in manufacturing, importation, distribution, and the sale of pirated intellectual property, as well as other crimes resulting from the evasion of business and income taxes.

A little more than six years after closing down, Carmichael-based ACR Solar International is open for business and on fire, experiencing triple-digit revenue increases and finding itself basking once again in the sunlight of self-ownership.

“We started all over in 2012 with negative cash flow,” explains company founder Al C. Rich, who, along with the help of family and a few loyal team members, have brought the company back to life after it was shut down abruptly just one year after it was acquired by Folsom-based fuel cell maker, Jadoo Power Systems, Inc.

Rich initially launched the company in 1977 as AC Rich and Sun on the East Coast. It was a time when the mere mention of solar heating could set eye-balls rolling within energy expert circles loyal to interdependence on oversees oil and coal.

“When we were just getting started in Virginia, nothing much was happening with solar,” said Rich. “It was a field that many people just weren’t quite sure about yet.”

But when President Jimmy Carter vowed to reduce the country’s dependence on oil by the 1990s, new solar programs and government contracts to run them began to surface. By 1992, already widely recognized for its advances in solar, including its patented, award-winning solar SKYLITE™ water heater, and procurement of several government consulting contracts, Rich was invited to participate in a new Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Solar Program created under S. David Freeman. It proved a real game changer.

“Thank God for David Freeman and SMUD,” said Rich. “They had a new solar program going and they got us out here in California from Virginia, and that’s how we got to Carmichael.”

The company reformed as ACR Solar, International in 1997 and established its subsidiary, solarroofs.com. In 2008, ACR Solar was named one of the fastest growing companies in Sacramento by the Sacramento Business Journal and acquired by Jadoo in 2010. Despite widespread success and a robust demand for commercial and residential solar systems, Jadoo shuttered the company the following year due to what Rich describes as “bad stock swaps.” Everyone, Rich included, got their pink slips just before Christmas.

“That was a very scary time for all of us,” said Rich, adding that he was a bit older and not sure about next steps, given the rapidly changing marketplace. But he, along with his daughter Ashley, who has worked for AC Solar since 2006, and a few loyal employees refused to give up on the company. In 2012, Rich set out to rebuild using little more than sweat equity to get there.

“I realized that I was going to have to hire myself if I wanted to continue,” said Rich. “But it wasn’t easy. We had to actually pay bills for the company that Jadoo never paid. We worked very hard to rebuild and it took a lot of sweat equity and loyalty.”

Today, ACR Solar has 11 full-time employees, including daughter Ashley, who serves as vice president, and Rich’s son, Clark, who oversees IT and media. Three employees on the roster share ownership in the company, Rich said.

The first year back in business, ACR did roughly $250,000 in sales. Last year, sales topped out 1.75 million and ACR found itself at number 14 on the Sacramento Business Journal’s list of the region’s fasted-growing companies. This year sales are expected to hit $2 million.

So, what’s the secret sauce for keeping the company on track? “Service,” said Rich. “It’s really simple. We are doing what I’ve always done, which is provide good value, dedicated customer service and good pricing. That’s what works.”