BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 237
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
237 (Daly) - As Amended April 20, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY: This bill requires a local agency, within one week
following a legislative body's vote to place a proposed parcel
tax on the ballot, to provide specified notice to all property
owners affected by the tax. Specifically, this bill:
AB 237
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1)Defines "local agency" to mean a city, county, special
district, or school district authorized to impose a parcel
tax.
2)Requires the notice to include the amount or rate of the
proposed parcel tax, the method and frequency for collecting
the proposed parcel tax, the duration of time the parcel tax
will be imposed, the date that the proposed parcel tax will be
voted on, and the telephone number and address that interested
persons may contact to receive additional information about
the proposed parcel tax.
3)Requires the notice to be mailed, for all properties proposed
to be subject to the new parcel tax, to those persons whose
names and addresses appear on the last equalized county
assessment roll or the State Board of Equalization assessment
roll.
4)Authorizes the local agency to recover the reasonable costs of
the notice from the proceeds
of the parcel tax, but prohibits the recovered costs from
exceeding the reasonable costs of preparing and mailing the
notice.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)If the parcel tax is not approved by the voters, potentially
reimbursable mandate costs, potentially in the low millions of
dollars (GF) annually, for preparing and mailing the notices.
2)If the measure is approved, the bill allows a local agency to
recover reasonable costs of the notice requirement from the
proceeds of the parcel tax.
Note: Local costs will vary by jurisdiction depending on the
number of property owners affected. Assuming $2 per-property
AB 237
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owner cost of printing, postage and staff time, a jurisdiction
with 100,000 property owners would incur $200,000 in costs for
the notification per ballot measure. Between 2002 and November
2013, 45% of the 396 measures placed on the ballot were
approved (178 passed, 218 failed).
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Currently, despite the fact
that non-resident property owners pay parcel taxes approved at
the local level, they typically do not receive notice of a
pending vote, nor are they entitled to vote on whether any
proposed parcel tax should be adopted. It's the voters of the
local jurisdiction who determine whether a proposed parcel tax
be imposed on property owners. If a property owner is also a
resident of the local jurisdiction, they will be informed of a
pending parcel tax vote when they receive their ballot
pamphlet. However, if a property owner resides elsewhere,
they will not be notified that a vote on a proposed parcel tax
is looming."
This bill seeks to ensure that all property owners are
notified of a pending parcel tax vote, whether or not they are
entitled to vote on the measure.
2)Background. A parcel tax is a particular type of special tax
that is based on either a flat per-parcel rate or a rate that
varies depending upon use, size, and/or number of units on
each parcel. The California Constitution allows cities,
counties, and special districts to impose special taxes by a
two-thirds vote of the qualified electors in that
jurisdiction.
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To place a parcel tax measure on the ballot, a local agency
must adopt a resolution stating the type of tax and rate to be
levied, the method of collection, and the date of the
election. In addition, local agencies must issue a statement
indicating the specific purpose of the tax, create an account
in which to deposit proceeds, and issue an annual report that
includes the amount of funds collected and expended, and the
project status of any project required or authorized by the
tax measure.
A parcel tax measure levied by a local agency requires
approval by two-thirds of the qualified electors. The Court
has interpreted the phrase "qualified electors of such
district" to mean the registered voters voting in the election
concerning the proposed tax. Non-resident property owners who
are not registered voters within the district's boundaries do
not vote on the proposed parcel tax. Voters who do not own
real property, but are registered within the district's
boundaries, like renters or tenants, are able to vote on a
parcel tax. However, they are not included in the
notification requirement proposed by this bill.
3)Prior Legislation.
a) AB 2109 (Daly), Chapter 781, Statutes of 2014, required
the State Controller to report annually on the imposition
of each locally assessed parcel tax, and required each
county, city, and special district to provide any
information required by the Controller in order to complete
the report.
b) AB 892 (Daly) of 2013, would have required the Board of
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Equalization to report annually to the Governor on the
imposition of each locally assessed parcel tax. This bill
was held on this Committee's Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081