BILL NUMBER: ABX1 34 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE JUNE 11, 2011
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JUNE 15, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blumenfield
MAY 19, 2011
An act to amend Section 16213 of, and to repeal and add Section
16180 of, the Government Code, and to amend and repeal Section 20623
of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to state government,
making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill
related to the budget.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 34, Blumenfield. State Controller: property tax postponement.
(1) The Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax
Postponement Law, until February 20, 2009, authorized a claimant, as
defined, to file a claim with the Controller to postpone the payment
of ad valorem property taxes, where household income, as defined, did
not exceed specified amounts. Existing law authorized the
Controller, upon approval of the claim, to either make payment
directly to specified entities, or to issue the claimant a
certificate of eligibility that constituted a written promise of the
state to pay the amount specified on the certificate, as provided.
Existing law required these payments to be made out of specified
funds appropriated to the Controller, as specified, and also required
repaid property tax postponement payments to be paid into an impound
account and transferred, as specified, to the General Fund.
Existing law, on and after February 20, 2009, prohibits a person
from filing a claim for postponement, and prohibits the Controller
from accepting applications for postponement, under the Senior
Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law.
This bill would repeal the prohibition against a person filing a
claim for postponement and the Controller from accepting applications
for postponement under the program as of July 1, 2012.
This bill would create in the State Treasury a Senior Citizens and
Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund. The bill would
require that repaid property tax postponement payments be transferred
from the impound account to, or be directly deposited into, the
newly created fund. The bill would continuously appropriate these
funds to the Controller for purposes of administering the property
tax postponement program, as specified.
(2) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare
a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session
for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation
declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this
purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on
January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency
exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier
proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision.
This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency
declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on
January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution.
(3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Appropriation: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 16180 of the Government Code is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 16180 is added to the Government Code, to read:
16180. (a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a Senior
Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund.
Subject to subdivision (b) and notwithstanding Section 13340, the
fund is continuously appropriated to the Controller, commencing July
1, 2011, for purposes of administering this chapter, including, but
not limited to, necessary administrative costs and disbursements
relating to the postponement of property taxes pursuant to the Senior
Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law
(Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 20581) of Part 10.5 of Division 2
of the Revenue and Taxation Code).
(b) The Controller shall transfer any moneys in the fund in excess
of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) to the General Fund.
(c) Any loan repayments relating to the Senior Citizens and
Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law that are not
deposited into an impound account, as described in Section 16210 or
16211.5, shall be deposited into the Senior Citizens and Disabled
Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund.
SEC. 3. Section 16213 of the Government Code is amended to read:
16213. At the end of the six-month period specified in Section
16210 or the six-month period specified in Section 16211.5, all funds
remaining in an impound account shall be transferred to the Senior
Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund,
established pursuant to Section 16180.
SEC. 4. Section 20623 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended
to read:
20623. (a) No person shall file a claim for postponement under
this chapter on or after the effective date of the act adding this
section, and the Controller shall not accept applications for
postponement under this chapter on or after that date.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2012, and, as
of January 1, 2013, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends the dates on
which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 5. This act addresses the fiscal emergency declared and
reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation on January 20, 2011,
pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 10 of Article IV of the
California Constitution.
SEC. 6. This act is a bill providing for appropriations related to
the Budget Bill within the meaning of subdivision (e) of Section 12
of Article IV of the California Constitution, has been identified as
related to the budget in the Budget Bill, and shall take effect
immediately.