BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2643|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                         |
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                                    CONSENT


          Bill No:  AB 2643
          Author:   Ma (D)
          Amended:  5/29/12 in Assembly
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 6/28/12
          AYES:  Wolk, Dutton, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hernandez, Kehoe, 
            La Malfa, Liu, Yee

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  76-0, 5/31/12 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Property taxation

           SOURCE  :     California Association of County Treasures Tax 
          Collectors


           DIGEST  :    This bill makes several changes to the statutes 
          related to property tax collection.

           ANALYSIS  :    

           Existing law  :

          1. Requires, when the amount of property taxes paid exceeds 
             the amount due by more than $10, the tax collector to 
             send notice of the overpayment to the taxpayer, and 
             provides that the notice must be mailed to the 
             taxpayer's last known address and state the amount of 
             overpayment and that a refund claim may be filed, as 
             specified. 
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          2. Allows the tax collector to apply any refund due a 
             taxpayer, or the taxpayer's agent, to any delinquent 
             taxes due on the same property for which the same 
             taxpayer or his/her agent is liable, except as specified 
             for the return of replicated property tax payments. 

          3. Limits, in the case in which a taxpayer has failed to 
             pay taxes on an assessment that is the subject of a 
             pending assessment appeal, as provided, the amount of 
             penalty relief to the difference between the final 
             determination of value by the county board, as defined, 
             and the value on the assessment roll for the fiscal year 
             covered by the application. 

          4. Requires the county board to provide a specified notice 
             to taxpayers impacted by the penalty provisions. 

          5. Requires the payment of interest on property tax refunds 
             at the greater of 3% per annum or the county pool 
             apportioned rate. 

          6. Requires the county treasurer to advise the State 
             Controller of the county pool apportioned rate and of 
             computations made in deriving that rate, no later than 
             60 days after the end of that fiscal year.

          This bill:

          1. Deletes the exception for the return of replicated 
             property tax payments, for purposes of allowing the tax 
             collector to apply any refund due to a taxpayer, or the 
             taxpayer's agent, to any delinquent taxes due for the 
             same property for which the same taxpayer, or his/her 
             agent, is liable, thereby applying the provisions 
             authorizing the tax collector to apply any refund to any 
             delinquent taxes. 

          2. Limits penalty relief, for cases in which a taxpayer has 
             failed to pay taxes on an assessment that is the subject 
             of a pending informal review due to a decline in value 
             as a result of damage, destruction, depreciation, 
             obsolescence, removal of property, or other factors 
             causing a decline in value, to the difference between 

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             the county assessor's final determination of value and 
             the value on the assessment roll for the fiscal year 
             covered by the application. 

          3. Restricts the penalty relief specified in 3. above to 
             those properties upon which an application for an 
             informal review is pending before the county assessor on 
             the effective date of the bill's implementation, or in 
             situations where those applications for an informal 
             review are filed with the county board after the date of 
             the bill's implementation. 

          4. Specifies for the penalty relief for any taxpayer that 
             has paid at least 80% of the amount of tax finally 
             determined due by the county assessor within 30 days of 
             filing an application for reassessment, that the tax 
             collector must accept payment of the balance of the tax 
             due without penalties or interest. 

          5. Requires the county tax collector to notify all 
             taxpayers that receive a tax bill of the provisions of 
             the bill related to penalty relief. 

          6. Provides that the provisions of the bill related to 
             penalty relief may only become operative if the board of 
             supervisors of a county, with the approval of the 
             county's tax collector and the county's auditor, adopts 
             a resolution or ordinance approving this section. 

          7. Extends, for purposes of calculating the interest on 
             property tax refunds, the time period the county 
             treasurer has to advise the State Controller of the 
             county pool apportioned rate and of computations made in 
             deriving that rate from 60 to 90 days. 

           Comments
           
          According to the author, "AB 2643 makes some important 
          changes to property tax collection procedures, to make the 
          law clearer for taxpayers. Current law does not explicitly 
          state what taxpayers' obligation is regarding property 
          taxes during an informal assessment appeal.  This bill will 
          clarify that taxpayers must pay their property taxes during 
          that time.    Secondly, this measure authorizes tax 

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          collectors to apply duplicate payments made on the same 
          property to delinquent bills, instead of returning the 
          duplicate payment and then sending the delinquent notice.   
           Finally, this bill clarifies that tax collectors may wait 
          90 days to report the pool rate, instead of the current 60 
          days.  This modest change in law is reflective of the time 
          needed to do the calculation.  These changes in law are 
          intended to improve the taxpayer's experience by making the 
          procedures clear and reducing confusion regarding the 
          status of property tax payments made."

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  No   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  7/2/12)

          California Association of County Treasurer-Tax Collectors
          California State Association of Counties


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  76-0, 5/31/12
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, 
            Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, 
            Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, 
            Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, 
            Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, 
            Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, 
            Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger 
            Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, 
            Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, 
            Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Olsen, 
            Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, 
            Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, 
            Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Mansoor, Mendoza, Norby, Valadao


          AB:d  7/3/12   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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