BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
SB 234 (Wolk) - Wildlife management areas: payments
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|Version: February 13, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: Yes |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 13, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 1410 would make a one-time appropriation of $19
million from the General Fund to the Department of Fish and
Wildlife (DFW) to pay for outstanding obligations for "payments
in-lieu of taxes" to counties.
Fiscal
Impact: One-time cost of $19 million (General Fund) for past
PILT obligations.
Background: State lands, including wildlife management areas, are exempt
from property tax under the state constitution. However,
existing law (FGC §1504) requires DFW to compensate counties for
loss property taxes and assessments as a result of the
establishment of a wildlife management area. These "payments
in-lieu of taxes" (PILT) are equal to the county taxes levied
upon the property at the time the state acquired the property
plus any assessments levied upon the property by any irrigation,
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drainage, or reclamation district. State PILT payments have been
completely suspended since FY 2002-03 and were only partially
paid since FY 1998-99.
Proposed Law:
This bill would make a one-time appropriation of $19 million
to fulfill the state's outstanding obligations of PILT to
counties. This bill is an urgency measure.
Related
Legislation: SB 1410 (Wolk, 2014) would have appropriated $19
million to pay the PILT arrears and continuously appropriated $2
million annually for future PILT payments (held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee).
AB 1452 (Wolk, 2007) would have appropriated $7,415,000 to pay
PILT arrears (bill was subsequently amended to a different
subject area)
Staff
Comments: The PILT arrears to the counties also has been a
discussion topic through the budget. According to the LAO, the
actual PILT arrears is approximately $8 million. The arrears
amount was reduced because there has been overlap in PILT
payments and Proposition 98 payments made to counties for school
funding that is not covered by property tax revenues.
Essentially, in the past, when the state was receiving a PILT
and Proposition 98 payments, the lost tax revenue from wildlife
management areas for education was being paid twice. If the
Proposition 98 payments are accounted for, the amount due to
counties is approximately $8 million.
At its April 9, 2015 hearing, the Senate Budget subcommittee #2
passed a motion that added an $8 million appropriation to the
2015-16 budget to pay PILT arrears. Should this budget action
stand in the final budget, this bill would provide an
unnecessary payment.
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