BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1690| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 CONTINUED AB 1690 Page 2 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. CONTINUED AB 1690 Page 3 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." CONTINUED AB 1690 Page 4 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 **** END **** CONTINUED