BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2450|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2450
Author: Achadjian (R)
Amended: 8/2/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/29/16
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beall, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/19/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Property taxation
SOURCE: California Assessors Association
DIGEST: This bill requires public agencies that want to
acquire property also send to the assessor a notice currently
required to be sent to the tax collector, and requires specified
contracts with government agencies restricting the use of
property to be recorded.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Provides that all property is taxable unless explicitly
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exempted by the Constitution or federal law.
2)Exempts from property tax any property owned by the state or a
local government, unless the property is located outside the
boundaries of the local government that owns it, and the
property was taxable before its acquisition.
3)Sets forth a specific process for informing the appropriate
county officials to ensure that taxes are cancelled after a
public agency acquires property, including:
a) Notifying the county assessor and auditor by filing the
instrument evidencing the acquisition, which must show the
date of apportionment, as defined, a map of the property,
and a request to cancel the taxes; and
b) Sending notice to the tax collector as well as any other
public entity which will lose revenue from the property as
a result of becoming exempt. The notification must contain
specified contents, and to be sent within a reasonable time
following the initial budgeting of funds.
4)Requires assessors to consider enforceable restrictions, such
as zoning and environmental restrictions, as well as recorded
contracts with government entities when valuing property.
This bill:
1)Requires the notice that must currently be sent by the public
agency seeking to acquire property to the tax collector to
also be sent to the assessor.
2)Provides that any contract with a government agency
restricting the use of property for owner-occupied housing
available at an affordable cost must be recorded. However,
the recording requirement does not prevent the assessor from
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considering such a contract when determining value.
Background
AB 2450 requires agencies to record any contracts they enter
into that restrict the use of property for owner-occupied
housing available at an affordable cost. This change responds
to a recent case in the City of Gilroy where 216 families living
in below market rate housing had been over-assessed for up to 20
years because the assessor was not aware of the contract
restricting the use of the property. Upon discovery, the
assessor personally delivered a refund check to one family, and
the county issued $3 million in total refunds.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/9/16)
California Assessors Association (source)
Cities Association of Santa Clara County
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/9/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "Assessors
are required to consider the effect of any enforceable
restrictions on a property's value. For low-income housing,
also known as below market rate (BMR) properties, governmental
agencies execute contracts to restrict the use of the land for
owner occupied housing, which are sold at affordable or below
market prices. These contracts come with governmentally imposed
restrictions to ensure compliance with the terms of the
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affordable housing program. During the past several years, it
has been increasingly difficult for assessors to properly assess
BMR properties because property owners, and governmental
agencies do not always disclose the existence of BMR contracts
at the time of transfer. The result is low income homeowners
are incorrectly over taxed. Correcting an overpayment is
expensive, time consuming and may not result in a complete
refund. AB 2450 requires that contracts with governmental
agencies that restrict the use of the property to owner-occupied
housing available at an affordable housing cost, including those
under any locally adopted inclusionary program, must be
recorded."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/19/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Mathis, McCarty, Williams
Prepared by:Colin Grinnell / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
8/10/16 16:00:47
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