are forgiven ppp loans taxable income?

Short Answer: No UNLESS you are a publicly traded company or a business that did not experience the 25% year-over-year decline in gross receipts.

Longer Answer: California signed into law Assembly Bill 80 on 4/29/2021, which makes forgiven PPP loans tax exempt for all businesses except publicly traded companies and those businesses that did not see a 25% reduction in gross receipts from 2019 to 2020. This is in conformity with federal tax treatment. 

If you received a PPP loan in 2020, you may have been eligible to apply for a second PPP loan if your business suffered a loss in revenue from 2019 to 2020 (25% reduction in gross receipts). If you did not request a second draw for your business, this means you have not had to prove the 25% reduction and therefore the first loan, if forgiven, is taxable income.