BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 1690|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1690
          Author:   Chesbro (D), et al
          Amended:  8/19/10 in Senate
          Vote:     27 - Urgency

           
           SENATE REVENUE & TAXATION COMMITTEE  :  3-0, 6/23/10
          AYES:  Wolk, Alquist, Padilla
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Walters, Ashburn

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE :  11-0, 8/12/10
          AYES:  Kehoe, Ashburn, Alquist, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno,  
            Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  70-0, 5/24/10 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Disaster relief:  Humboldt County

           SOURCE  :     Humboldt County


           DIGEST  :    This bill adds the earthquake that occurred in  
          Humboldt County on January 9, 2010 (2010 Earthquake) to the  
          list of disasters eligible for full state reimbursement of  
          local property tax losses, beneficial homeowners' property  
          tax exemption treatment, and special "carry forward"  
          treatment of excess disaster losses.  

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 8/19/10 eliminates the  
          amendments move the protections against an assessor  
          revoking a homeowners' exemption for disaster-affected  
          properties and allowance of excess disaster losses for  
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          personal income and corporate taxpayers out of the  
          foundational code sections (Sections 218, 17207, and  
          24347.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code (RTC),  
          respectively) into new, nearby code sections (RTC Sections  
          218.2, 17207.2, and 24347.7) to ensure that other disaster  
          relief bills subsequently enacted do not inadvertently  
          chapter-out this bill's additions.  The Legislature is  
          currently considering five other disaster relief bills, so  
          more typical chaptering-out, contingent enactment language  
          adding the provisions of each of the other bills into AB  
          1690 would result in an unwieldy bill.

           ANALYSIS  :    

           Specifics of AB 1690
           
          1. Provides a mechanism for reimbursing Humboldt County for  
             property tax losses resulting from the reassessment of  
             properties damaged by the 2010 Earthquake. 

          2. Provides that any dwelling that qualified for a  
             homeowners' property tax exemption before January 9,  
             2010, that was damaged or destroyed by the 2010  
             Earthquake, and that has not changed ownership since  
             January 9, 2010, shall not be denied a homeowners'  
             exemption solely because that dwelling was temporarily  
             damaged or destroyed, or was being reconstructed by the  
             owner, or was temporarily uninhabited as a result of  
             restricted access. 

          3. Provides that any taxpayer's excess disaster loss  
             resulting from the 2010 Earthquake shall be carried  
             forward to each of the five taxable years following the  
             taxable year for which the loss is claimed.  However, if  
             there is any excess disaster loss remaining after this  
             five-year period, then the applicable percentage of that  
             excess disaster loss shall be carried forward to each of  
             the next 10 taxable years. 

          4. Specifies that, if the Commission on State Mandates  
             determines that this bill contains costs mandated by the  
             state, local agencies and school districts will be  
             reimbursed for those costs. 


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           Related Legislation 
           
          AB 1662 (Portantino) provides similar disaster relief in  
          connection with certain wildfires that occurred in Los  
          Angeles and Monterey Counties.  The bill is pending in the  
          Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee. 

          AB 1766 (Gaines) provides similar disaster relief in  
          connection with the 49 Fire that began in Placer County in  
          August 2009.  The bill is pending in the Senate Revenue and  
          Taxation Committee. 

          AB 2136 (V. Manuel Perez) provides similar disaster relief  
          in connection with the earthquake that struck Imperial  
          County.  The bill is pending in the Senate Revenue and  
          Taxation Committee.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  Yes   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/19/10)

          Humboldt County (source)
          California Professional Firefighters
          California Special Districts Association
          California State Association of Counties
          California State Legislature Rural Caucus
          Regional Council of Rural Counties


           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    The author states that "AB 1690  
          would allow special tax treatment, called disaster loss  
          treatment, for losses sustained as a result of the January  
          9, 2010 earthquake in Humboldt County. The purpose of this  
          bill is to provide immediate tax relief to individuals and  
          businesses affected by the earthquake.  Traditionally, when  
          a disaster has occurred in California, the state has  
          enacted legislation to keep counties whole with respect to  
          any loss of property tax revenue they experience from  
          reduced property values resulting from the disaster.  This  
          bill follows a longstanding policy of backfilling county  
          losses resulting from reduced property values."



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           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 
          AYES:  Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill  
            Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,  
            Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles  
            Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De  
            La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Feuer, Fletcher,  
            Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,  
            Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber,  
            Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,  
            Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen,  
            Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Silva,  
            Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,  
            Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Yamada, John A. Perez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Bass, Eng, Evans, Hall, Hernandez,  
            Knight, Nava, Saldana, Villines, Vacancy


          DLW:mwk  8/20/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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