AB 59, as introduced, Bonta. School districts: parcel taxes.
Existing law authorizes any school district to impose qualified special taxes within the district pursuant to specified procedures. Existing law defines qualified special taxes as special taxes that apply uniformly to all taxpayers or all real property within the school district, as specified.
This bill would specify that the provisions requiring uniform application of taxes shall not be construed as limiting a school district from assessing taxes in accordance with rational classifications among taxpayers or types of property within the school district. The bill would specify that the provision is declaratory of existing law. The bill would also express the Legislature’s intent to clarify, and not change, existing law, and to abrogate the holding in Borikas v. Alameda Unified School District, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 50079 of the Government Code, as
2amended by Section 1 of Chapter 791 of Statutes of 2012, is
3amended to
read:
(a) Subject to Section 4 of Article XIII A of the
2California Constitution, any school district may impose qualified
3special taxes within the district pursuant to the procedures
4established in Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 50075) and
5any other applicable procedures provided by law.
6(b) (1) As used in this section, “qualified special taxes” means
7special taxes that apply uniformly to all taxpayers or all real
8property within the school district, except that “qualified special
9taxes” may include taxes that provide for an exemption from those
10taxes for all of the following taxpayers:
11(A) Persons who are 65 years of age or older.
12(B) Persons receiving Supplemental Security Income for a
13disability, regardless of age.
14(C) Persons receiving Social Security Disability Insurance
15benefits, regardless of age, whose yearly income does not exceed
16250 percent of the 2012 federal poverty guidelines issued by the
17United States Department of Health and Human Services.
18(2) “Qualified special taxes” do not include special taxes
19imposed on a particular class of property or taxpayers.
20(c) The provisions in this section requiring uniform application
21of taxes shall not be construed as limiting a school district from
22assessing taxes in accordance with rational classifications among
23taxpayers or types
of property within the school district. This
24subdivision is declaratory of existing law, and shall apply to
25transactions predating its enactment.
It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting Section
271 of this act, to clarify, and not change, existing law, by confirming
28that a school district may assess taxes in accordance with rational
29classifications among taxpayers or types of property, and
30nevertheless satisfy the requirement that the taxes apply uniformly
31to all taxpayers or all real property within the school district, so
32long as the taxes are applied uniformly within those classifications.
33It is further the intent of the Legislature to abrogate the holding in
34Borikas v. Alameda Unified School District 2012 WL 6084027 to
35the extent that the court’s holding restricts the right of the Alameda
36Unified School District to retain any of the qualified special taxes
37imposed pursuant to Measure H, as approved by the district’s
38voters on June 3,
2008.
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