BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 902| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 902 Author: Alejo (D) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-3, 06/29/11 AYES: Wolk, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Hernandez, Kehoe, Liu NOES: Huff, Fuller, La Malfa ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-24, 5/12/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Taxation: property tax delinquency and sales SOURCE : California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors DIGEST : This bill deletes the fixed fee amounts that tax collectors may charge out of tax sale proceeds for making reasonable efforts to contact last known assesses, obtaining names and last known mailing addresses, and sending and providing notices as part of tax sales. This bill instead provides that county boards of supervisors may fix the fees to reimburse the tax collector's actual and reasonable costs. ANALYSIS : County boards of supervisors can levy authorized fees or charges in amounts reasonably necessary to recover the costs of providing products or services or the cost of enforcing regulations ÝAB 151 (Hannigan), 1983]. The fees or charges may reflect the average cost of CONTINUED AB 902 Page 2 providing products or services or enforcing regulations, plus limited indirect costs. If any person disputes the fee, then the board of supervisors may request the auditor to study whether the fee is reasonable. Despite generally deregulating county fees 25 years ago, state law set a large number of fees, including civil fees, county recorder fees, and fees charged by agricultural commissioners in absolute amounts until the Legislature updated many of these by tying them instead to the county's reasonable costs ÝSB 676 (Wolk), Chapter 606, Statutes of 2009]. This bill deletes the fixed fee amounts that tax collectors may charge out of tax sale proceeds for making reasonable efforts to contact last known assesses, obtaining names and last known mailing addresses, and sending and providing notices as part of tax sales. This bill instead provides that county boards of supervisors may fix the fees to reimburse the tax collector's actual and reasonable costs. This bill specifies that the fee for reimbursing the expense for obtaining names and last known mailing addresses, and for sending notices required by law to persons of interest in the initial tax sale when someone redeems the tax-defaulted property must be distributed to the county general fund. This bill also makes conforming changes. Related legislation . AB 820 (Gordon) deletes the current statutory cap of $1 for assessors, tax collectors, or auditors to prepare certificates of taxes paid, providing instead for recovery of reasonable costs as established by the board of supervisors. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/30/11) California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors (source) Board of Supervisors, County of Fresno Board of Supervisors, Monterey County California State Association of Counties CONTINUED AB 902 Page 3 County of San Luis Obispo Dave Cortese, President, Board of Supervisors, Santa Clara County Mary Lou Andrade, Treasurer-Tax Collector, County of San Benito Regional Council of Rural Counties ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "Under current law, a county with plans to offer at tax sale residential, tax-defaulted property must make a reasonable effort to contact the delinquent owner in person before proceeding with a sale. A county is required to charge a party of interest up to $100 to reimburse the costs of locating and personally serving him or her, although costs typically run higher than this cap. Cost drivers, such as fuel, insurance and inflation, have eroded the ability of tax collectors to recover their expenses above the $100 cap currently in statute. AB 902 will remove the statutory cap and instead tie the fee to the actual cost of providing services. AB 902 removes the unfair financial burden from counties by allowing reimbursement for costs incurred." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-24, 5/12/11 AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Cook, Donnelly, Fletcher, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Silva, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Conway, Garrick, Gorell, Olsen, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Torres AGB:mw 6/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED AB 902 Page 4 **** END **** CONTINUED