BILL NUMBER: SB 1021	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 2, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wolk

                        FEBRUARY 14, 2014

   An act to amend Section 50079 of the Government Code, relating to
taxation.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1021, as amended, Wolk. 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   defines
"qualified  special taxes" as special taxes that apply uniformly
to all taxpayers or all real property within the school district and
may exempt certain persons.
   This bill would provide that special taxes that apply uniformly
include any special tax imposed on a per parcel basis, according to
the square footage of a parcel or the square footage of improvements
on a parcel, according to the  use  
classification  of a parcel, and at a lower rate on unimproved
property. This bill would authorize a school district to treat
multiple parcels of real property as one parcel of real property for
purposes of a qualified special tax, where the parcels are
contiguous, under common ownership, and constitute one economic unit.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 50079 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   50079.  (a) Subject to Section 4 of Article XIII A of the
California Constitution, any school district may impose qualified
special taxes within the district pursuant to the procedures
established in Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 50075) and any
other applicable procedures provided by law.
   (b) For purposes of this section, all of the following shall
apply:
    (1) "Qualified special taxes" means special taxes that apply
uniformly to all taxpayers or all real property within the school
district, except that "qualified special taxes" may include taxes
that provide for an exemption from those taxes for all of the
following taxpayers:
   (A) Persons who are 65 years of age or older.
   (B) Persons receiving Supplemental Security Income for a
disability, regardless of age.
   (C) Persons receiving Social Security Disability Insurance
benefits, regardless of age, whose yearly income does not exceed 250
percent of the 2012 federal poverty guidelines issued by the United
States Department of Health and Human Services.
   (2) "Qualified special taxes" do not include special taxes imposed
on a particular class of property or taxpayers.
   (3) "Special taxes that apply uniformly" include any special tax
imposed in accordance with  any   one or more
 of the following:
   (A) On a per parcel basis.
   (B) According to the square footage of a parcel or the square
footage of improvements on a parcel.
   (C) According to the  use of a parcel, so long as the same
  commercial, industrial, single family residential, or
multifamily residential classification of a parcel, so long as the
same rate of  tax is levied on all properties of the same
 use   classification  .
   (D) At a lower rate on unimproved property.
   (c) A school district may treat multiple parcels of real property
as one parcel of real property for purposes of a qualified special
tax where the parcels are contiguous, under common ownership, and
constitute one economic unit, meaning that the multiple parcels of
real property have the same primary purpose and are not separate and
distinct properties that may be independently developed and sold.
  SEC. 2.  No inference shall be drawn from the enactment of this act
with respect to the meaning of "uniformly" for purposes of special
taxes imposed by school districts pursuant to the authorization in
Section 50079 of the Government Code as it existed prior to the
enactment of this act.