BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1690|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1690
Author: Chesbro (D), et al
Amended: 8/19/10 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE REVENUE & TAXATION COMMITTEE : 3-0, 6/23/10
AYES: Wolk, Alquist, Padilla
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Ashburn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 11-0, 8/12/10
AYES: Kehoe, Ashburn, Alquist, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno,
Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/24/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Disaster relief: Humboldt County
SOURCE : Humboldt County
DIGEST : This bill adds the earthquake that occurred in
Humboldt County on January 9, 2010 (2010 Earthquake) to the
list of disasters eligible for full state reimbursement of
local property tax losses, beneficial homeowners' property
tax exemption treatment, and special "carry forward"
treatment of excess disaster losses.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/10 eliminates the
amendments move the protections against an assessor
revoking a homeowners' exemption for disaster-affected
properties and allowance of excess disaster losses for
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personal income and corporate taxpayers out of the
foundational code sections (Sections 218, 17207, and
24347.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code (RTC),
respectively) into new, nearby code sections (RTC Sections
218.2, 17207.2, and 24347.7) to ensure that other disaster
relief bills subsequently enacted do not inadvertently
chapter-out this bill's additions. The Legislature is
currently considering five other disaster relief bills, so
more typical chaptering-out, contingent enactment language
adding the provisions of each of the other bills into AB
1690 would result in an unwieldy bill.
ANALYSIS :
Specifics of AB 1690
1. Provides a mechanism for reimbursing Humboldt County for
property tax losses resulting from the reassessment of
properties damaged by the 2010 Earthquake.
2. Provides that any dwelling that qualified for a
homeowners' property tax exemption before January 9,
2010, that was damaged or destroyed by the 2010
Earthquake, and that has not changed ownership since
January 9, 2010, shall not be denied a homeowners'
exemption solely because that dwelling was temporarily
damaged or destroyed, or was being reconstructed by the
owner, or was temporarily uninhabited as a result of
restricted access.
3. Provides that any taxpayer's excess disaster loss
resulting from the 2010 Earthquake shall be carried
forward to each of the five taxable years following the
taxable year for which the loss is claimed. However, if
there is any excess disaster loss remaining after this
five-year period, then the applicable percentage of that
excess disaster loss shall be carried forward to each of
the next 10 taxable years.
4. Specifies that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this bill contains costs mandated by the
state, local agencies and school districts will be
reimbursed for those costs.
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Related Legislation
AB 1662 (Portantino) provides similar disaster relief in
connection with certain wildfires that occurred in Los
Angeles and Monterey Counties. The bill is pending in the
Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.
AB 1766 (Gaines) provides similar disaster relief in
connection with the 49 Fire that began in Placer County in
August 2009. The bill is pending in the Senate Revenue and
Taxation Committee.
AB 2136 (V. Manuel Perez) provides similar disaster relief
in connection with the earthquake that struck Imperial
County. The bill is pending in the Senate Revenue and
Taxation Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/19/10)
Humboldt County (source)
California Professional Firefighters
California Special Districts Association
California State Association of Counties
California State Legislature Rural Caucus
Regional Council of Rural Counties
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states that "AB 1690
would allow special tax treatment, called disaster loss
treatment, for losses sustained as a result of the January
9, 2010 earthquake in Humboldt County. The purpose of this
bill is to provide immediate tax relief to individuals and
businesses affected by the earthquake. Traditionally, when
a disaster has occurred in California, the state has
enacted legislation to keep counties whole with respect to
any loss of property tax revenue they experience from
reduced property values resulting from the disaster. This
bill follows a longstanding policy of backfilling county
losses resulting from reduced property values."
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen,
Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Eng, Evans, Hall, Hernandez,
Knight, Nava, Saldana, Villines, Vacancy
DLW:mwk 8/20/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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