BILL NUMBER: AB 483 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 13, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 26, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ting
FEBRUARY 19, 2013
An act to amend Section 12463 of the Government Code, and
to amend Sections 95.3 and 402.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code,
relating to taxation. An act to add Section 53758 to
th e Government Code, relating to local government, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 483, as amended, Ting. Property taxation.
Local government: taxes, fees, assessments, and charges:
definitions.
Article XIII C of the California Constitution generally requires a
majority vote of the electorate for a local government to impose,
extend, or increase any general tax and a 2/3 vote of the electorate
to impose, extend, or increase any special tax, and permits the use
of the initiative to affect local taxes, assessments, fees, and
charges. Article XIII C of the California Constitution also defines a
local tax and sets out the categories of charges that are excluded
from that definition. Article XIII D of the California Constitution
generally requires that assessments, fees, and charges be submitted
to property owners for approval or rejection after the provision of
written notice and the holding of a public hearing. Existing law, the
Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act, prescribes specific
procedures and parameters for local jurisdictions to comply with
Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution, and
defines various terms for these purposes.
This bill would additionally define the terms "specific benefit,"
and "specific government service" for purposes of the Proposition 218
Omnibus Implementation Act.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to a specified
formula, for a county auditor's determination of those proportionate
shares of the county's property tax administrative costs that are
attributable to the other jurisdictions in the county, and further
provides for a county's recovery from all other jurisdictions within
the county, except for school entities or an Educational Revenue
Augmentation Fund (ERAF), of those proportionate shares of the county'
s property tax administrative costs.
This bill would authorize a county, by resolution of its board of
supervisors, to recover, at any time commencing with the 2013-14
fiscal year and through the 2023-24 fiscal year, the property tax
administrative cost shares attributable to school entities or an
ERAF, but would reduce the amounts recoverable for the 2013-14 fiscal
year and the 2014-15 fiscal year, as provided.
This bill would require any county that recovers these additional
cost shares to maintain a base level of staffing and total funding
for the administration of the property tax system that is equal to or
greater than the level of staffing or funding provided in the
2012-13 fiscal year. The bill would require a county that recovers
the additional cost shares to use the additional amounts recovered to
enhance the property tax administration system, and would prohibit
the use of additional amounts recovered to supplant the level of
funding that was provided for property tax administration in the
2012-13 fiscal year.
The bill would also require a county that recovers the additional
cost shares to provide the Controller with information that indicates
what percentage of general ad valorem property tax is allocated to
each local government jurisdiction, and a comprehensive account of
all of the local government services funded by general ad valorem
property tax revenues. The bill would require the Controller,
commencing in the 2014-15 fiscal year, to publish on its Internet Web
site, with respect to each county, the percentage of general ad
valorem property tax allocated to each local government jurisdiction,
and for the 2015-16 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, to
make the information available to taxpayers via an interactive,
searchable database on its Internet Web site, a specified.
Existing property tax law requires, when valuing property by
comparison with sales of other properties, in order to be considered
comparable, the sales to be sufficiently near in time to the
valuation date, and the properties sold to be located sufficiently
near, and sufficiently alike, to the property being valued, as
specified.
This bill would make a clarifying change to this provision.
The bill would also require the State Board of Equalization to
annually conduct a survey of counties, the results of which shall be
presented in a report that is made available to the Legislature and
the Department of Finance, on the operation of the provisions of this
act.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes no .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 53758 is added to the
Government Code , to read:
53758. For purposes of Articles XIII C and XIII D of the
California Constitution and this article:
(a) "Specific benefit" means a benefit that is provided directly
to a payor and is not provided to those not charged. Ancillary or
other benefits to nonpayors may be created in the course of providing
the specific benefit to payors. A benefit is not excluded from
classification as a "specific benefit" by reason of a complete or
partial exemption from the levy, charge, or exaction imposed for that
benefit, provided that a levy, charge, or exaction paid for that
benefit is used to provide that benefit only to the payor.
(b) "Specific government service" means a service that is provided
by an agency directly to the payor and is not provided to those not
charged. A "specific government service" may include, but is not
limited to, safety, maintenance, landscaping, marketing, events,
capital improvements, and promotions. A service is not excluded from
classification as a "specific government service" by reason of a
complete or partial exemption from the levy, charge, or exaction
imposed for that service, provided that a levy, charge, or exaction
paid for that service is used to provide that service only to the
payor.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to ensure compliance with the California Constitution it
is necessary that this act take effect immediately. All matter
omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in
the Senate, June 26, 2013. (JR11)