BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2321


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          Date of Hearing:  May 11, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          2321 (Rodriguez) - As Amended April 20, 2016


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          |Policy       |Transportation                 |Vote:|16 - 0       |
          |Committee:   |                               |     |             |
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          |             |                               |     |             |
          |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
          |             |Revenue and Taxation           |     |9 - 0        |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill:


          1)Requires the DMV, in collecting use taxes, to code  
            transactions to specific addresses when vehicles or vessels  
            involved in private party transactions are registered in order  
            to ensure that remittance of tax revenue by the State Board of  
            Equalization (BOE) is made to the specific city or county in  








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            which the purchaser resides.  


          2)Requires the BOE to reimburse the DMV for costs associated  
            with this bill.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          One-time costs of around $225,000 for the DMV to reprogram its  
          collection of the use tax for private party transfers of  
          ownership. These costs will be reimbursed by the BOE pursuant to  
          an interagency agreement with the DMV. The BOE's costs are in  
          turn borne by local governments, which contract with the BOE to  
          administer local Sales and Use Tax (SUT) revenues. The BOE will  
          also incur minor absorbable administrative costs.


          As discussed below, this bill will result in some minor  
          reallocation among cities and counties of about $70 million in  
          SUT revenues.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Background. Currently, the BOE collects the SUT on a 7.5%  
            statewide base rate, composed of a state portion and a local  
            portion for cities and counties.  The local portion is  
            referred to as the Bradley-Burns Local SUT (Bradley-Burns) and  
            is fixed at 1.25% of the sales price of tangible personal  
            property. 


            The use tax is imposed in lieu of the sales tax for the  
            privilege of the property's storage, use, or other consumption  
            in California. The use tax is generally imposed on  
            out-of-state purchases brought into California, but also  








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            applies in private party transactions of vehicles and vessels.  



            For use tax transactions that cannot be easily identified to a  
            specific location, the BOE generally distributes the local  
            portion through countywide pools.  Under this process, local  
            use tax revenues are prorated into pools for each city in the  
            county and the unincorporated area of the county, at a ratio  
            based upon each jurisdiction's total share of local SUT  
            revenues generated in the county.


            Current law requires the purchaser of a vehicle or vessel in a  
            private party transaction to pay use tax, including both  
            Bradley-Burns and applicable district-specific taxes to the  
            DMV during registration of the vehicle or vessel. (As of April  
            1, 2016, 31 California counties, 132 cities, and 7 towns  
            impose SUT higher than the base rate due to voter approval of  
            additional district taxes.)  The DMV then transmits all use  
            tax collections to the BOE.  


            For the purposes of allocating Bradley-Burns, the DMV codes  
            taxes collected from the applicant to the county in which the  
            vehicle is being registered. The BOE then remits the taxes to  
            the county of jurisdiction for distribution through the  
            countywide pool.  The DMV collects approximately $70 million  
            annually in Bradley-Burns revenue on behalf of the BOE.


            For purposes of allocating district-specific taxes, the DMV  
            codes taxes collected from the applicant to the specific city  
            or county jurisdiction in which the vehicle is being  
            registered. 


          2)Purpose. This bill proposes that the DMV code, and the BOE  
            remit, Bradley-Burns revenues in a process similar to that  








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            established for district taxes, so that the 1.25% of  
            Bradley-Burns revenues can be directly allocated to fund  
            general purposes in the specific city or county where it is  
            paid. This bill is supported by the California State  
            Association of Counties and the League of California Cities.


          Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081