BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 50|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 50
Author: Nava (D), et al
Amended: 8/20/10 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE : 10-0, 6/23/09
AYES: Wright, Harman, Benoit, Denham, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Padilla, Price, Wiggins, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Florez, Wyland
SENATE REVENUE & TAXATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 7/8/09
AYES: Wolk, Walters, Alquist, Ashburn, Florez, Padilla,
Runner, Wiggins
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-5, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Corbett, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza, Price, Wolk,
Yee
NOES: Cox, Denham, Runner, Walters, Wyland
SENATE FLOOR : 23-5, 9/9/09 (Fail)
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley,
Price, Romero, Simitian, Steinberg, Wiggins, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Cox, Denham, Dutton, Harman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn, Benoit, Cogdill, Florez,
Hollingsworth, Huff, Maldonado, Runner, Strickland,
Walters, Wright, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 6/2/09 - See last page for vote
CONTINUED
AB 50
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SUBJECT : Disaster relief
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : The bill deletes provisions in current law
that require the inclusion of certain elements in a local
hazard mitigation plan, including an initial earthquake
performance evaluation of public facilities that are
potentially hazardous, and a plan to reduce the potential
risk from private and government facilities in the event of
a disaster. This bill provides for backfill of revenue
losses to the counties of Santa Barbara, San Bernardino,
Orange, and Placer once the loss is certified by the
Department of Finance.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/20/10 (1) add the wildfires in
Kern County during July to be given disaster relief, (2)
eliminate conflicts with other disaster relief bill, and
(3) move the protections against an assessor revoking a
homeowners' exemption for disaster-affected properties and
allowance of excess disaster losses for personal income and
corporate taxpayers out of the foundational code sections
(R&T Section 218, 17207, and 24347.5, respectively) into
new, nearby code sections (R&T 218.1, 17207.1, and 24347.1)
to ensure that other disaster relief bills subsequently
enacted do not inadvertently chapter-out AB 50's additions.
The Legislature is currently considering several other
disaster relief bills, (AB 1662 [Portantino], AB 1690
[Chesbro], and AB 2136 [V. Manuel Perez]), so more typical
chaptering out, contingent enactment language adding the
provisions of each of the other bills into AB 50 will
result in an unwieldy bill.
Senate Floor Amendments of 4/22/10 (1) provide Placer
County with tax and disaster relief due to the wildfires
that commenced on August 2009; (2) move the deadline year
from 2009 to 2010 and 2011 for those counties to submit to
the state the estimate of the total amount of the reduction
in property tax revenues, due to damaged property from the
wildfires; (3) deletes the double-jointing language and
contingent language with AB 15 and AB 666, and SB 505 (AB
15 is on Senate 3rd Reading File and AB 666 and SB 505 were
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both vetoed), and (4) revises the increase tax and property
tax homeowner's tax relief provisions pertaining to
wildfires that occurred in the counties of Orange,
Riverside, San Bernardino, and Santa Barbara counties which
has been granted in AB 1568 (Salas) Chapter 299, Statutes
of 2009 Session.
ANALYSIS : Last year, the Legislature and the Governor
signed into law AB 1568 (Salas) which provided income and
corporation tax relief and homeowners' property tax
exemption relief to the counties of San Bernardino, Los
Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Orange due to
wildfires which occurred in November of 2008 and 2009.
That bill did not contain language providing for the state
to backfill revenue loses resulting from reassessment of
damaged property which AB 50 now contains for these
counties and also Placer County.
On August 30, 2009, a wildfire occurred in Auburn, Placer
County which the Governor declared a state of emergency
for. This bill now provides for disaster relief to Placer
County.
California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA) . Allows the
Legislature to provide for a state share of local costs
that exceeds 75 percent of total state eligible costs if
the city, county, or city and county has adopted a local
hazard mitigation plan in accordance with the federal
Disaster Mitigation Act (DMA) of 2000. Existing law
prohibits the state share of reimbursement for local costs
due to a disaster from exceeding 75 percent of total state
eligible costs, unless the local agency is located within a
city or county that has adopted a local HMP in accordance
with the federal DMA as part of the safety element.
Existing law requires the HMP to include:
1. An initial earthquake performance evaluation of public
facilities that provide essential services, shelter, and
critical government functions.
2. An inventory of private facilities that are potentially
hazardous, including, but not limited to, multi-unit,
soft story, concrete tilt-up, and concrete frame
buildings.
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3. A plan to reduce the potential risk from private and
governmental facilities in the event of a disaster.
This bill deletes the required contents of the HMP.
Income and Corporation Taxes . Existing state and federal
law allows taxpayers to deduct disaster losses in the year
the loss occurs or in the preceding year by filing an
amended return. Disaster losses result from fires, storms,
floods or other natural events proclaimed a disaster by the
president or the Governor. Disaster losses are the amounts
not compensated for by insurance or other means.
Existing federal law, which California conforms to, only
allows loss deductions for personal income taxes that
exceed $100 per taxpayer and 10 percent of their adjusted
gross income for the year.
Existing law limits disaster losses for corporate taxpayers
to the amounts set by stat law for net operating losses, 55
percent for 2000 and 2001, 60 percent for 2002 and 2003,
and 100 percent for 2004 and thereafter and the
carry-forward to five years. State law allows a limited
percentage to be carried forward up to 10 years.
Starting with the forest fires in 1985, and approximately
30 times thereafter for various disasters, the Legislature
enacted measures that allow a 100 percent carry-forward of
excess disaster losses for up to five years and a
carry-forward of the excess disaster losses under the above
percentages for up to an additional 10 years.
This bill enacts identical allowances for taxpayers with
excess disaster losses in Placer County resulting from the
Auburn wildfire on August 30, 2009.
Property Taxes . Existing law allows counties to adopt
ordinances allowing taxpayers to apply for a reassessment
of property destroyed or damaged by "a major misfortune or
calamity" if the governor proclaims a disaster. Taxes
that had previously been paid are deemed "excess" as a
result of a downward reassessment and are refunded to the
taxpayer. County Assessors must defer the payment of
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property taxes when they receive a timely filed application
from an affected taxpayer.
Beginning in 1990, the Legislature provided state
reimbursement of property tax revenue losses to local
governments resulting from the downward-reassessment of
damaged or destroyed properties for most disasters for one
year.
The bill enacts identical provisions that require the state
to backfill first-year local revenue losses resulting form
the reassessment of property in Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino and Placer counties resulting from wildfires and
those counties occurring in 2008, and also for Santa Barbra
County for wildfires in 2008 and 2009.
The bill requires that each affected county certify to the
Director of Finance an estimate of the amount of reduced
2008-09 property tax revenues resulting from reassessment
by October 30, 2010. The Director of Finance then verifies
and certifies the revenue loss estimate to the Controller,
who then sends the certified amount to the affected county.
In the case of Placer County they have until June 30,
2011. If the loss was underestimated; the Controller must
return the difference to the affected county.
Property Taxes (Homeowners' Exemption) . Existing law
provides a homeowners' exemption from property taxes equal
to $7,000 in assessed value (at a one percent property tax
rate, the exemption reduces property taxes by roughly $70)
for owner-occupied home. Once granted, homeowner's'
exemption are generally permanent. However, an Assessor
may deny a homeowner's exemption if the property becomes
vacant or is under construction as of the January 1st lien
date.
The bill provides that Assessors may not disqualify an
otherwise qualified residence for a homeowners;' exemption
solely on the basis that the dwelling was temporarily
damage, destroyed, under reconstruction by the owner, or
temporarily uninhabited as a result of restricted access to
the property due to the Auburn wildfire in Placer County on
August 30, 2009.
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Kern County added by 8/20/10 amendments . On July 27, 2010
the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency for Kern
County as a result of the Bull Fire in the Sequoia National
Forest and the West Fire in Tehachapi which destroyed over
15, 000 acres, destroyed homes and covered the evacuation
of 2,300 people in the area.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/10)
California Professional firefighters
California State Association of Counties
Counties of Orange, Placer, Santa Barbara
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/30/10)
Regional Council of Rural Counties
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block
TSM:do 8/30/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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