BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE REVENUE & TAXATION COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
SB 1493 -
Committee on Revenue and Taxation
Amended: As Introduced March 15, 2010
Hearing: April 14, 2010 Fiscal: Yes
SUMMARY: Enacts Five Changes to Property Tax Law
I. Assessors Sending Information Via Email
EXISTING LAW requires the Assessor to mail all notices
via the U.S. Postal Service to taxpayers.
THIS BILL allows assessors to instead send base year
value notices (R&T 75.31), and property tax valuation
information (R&T 619) via electronic mail at the written
request of the taxpayer.
II. Assessors Posting Information on the Internet
EXISTING LAW requires the Assessor to annually inform
property taxpayers of the value of their property, as well
as its increase or decline over the previous year, and its
Proposition 13 value, based on the 1975-76 value or the
most recent sale, plus a maximum 2% growth for each
succeeding year (SB 1105, Committee on Revenue and
Taxation, 1997). The Legislature added this requirement as
a result of market declines, when property values fall
below the Proposition 13 value, triggering Proposition 8
(November 1978), which requires the County Assessor to
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assess the property at its fair market value. In
subsequent annual assessments, such fair market value can
rise up by an unlimited amount until it reaches the
Proposition 13 level, at which time the 2% limit caps the
property's taxable value. Assessors may send the
information to the taxpayer via mail, or having published
lists in newspapers, or both.
THIS BILL allows assessors to publish relevant lists
on the assessor's website upon approval of the county board
of supervisors.
III. Clarifying Inflation Adjustment for Low-Value
Exception
EXISTING LAW refers to the "base year value" when
determining whether the low-value exception from assessment
applies. However, the term is ambiguous: it could mean the
original base year value or the factored base year value.
Section 155.20 refers to Section 50, which in turn ties to
Section 110.1, which refers to Section 51, both of which
include an inflation adjustment, implying that the factored
base year value is appropriate.
THIS BILL codifies the inflation adjustment, thereby
removing the ambiguity.
IV. Destroying Scanned Records
EXISTING LAW requires assessors to keep paper
documents for six years even though they have been scanned
and stored on microfilm and microfiche.
THIS BILL allows counties to destroy documents if they
have been preserved in a medium that provides access to the
documents such as microfilm, microfiche, electronic
document imaging, or other such media that captures a true
image of the document that may be later retrieved.
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IV. Price Adjustments During Tax Sales of Welfare Exempt
Property
EXISTING LAW (R&T 3698.5) allows treasurer-tax
collectors at a lower minimum price at the same or the next
scheduled tax sale if no acceptable bids are received.
However, the treasurer-tax collector does not have the same
discretion for welfare-exempt properties (R&T 3698.7),
only allowing the treasurer-tax collector to offer the
welfare-exempt property at a lower minimum price at the
next sale.
THIS BILL reconciles the conflict, thereby allowing
the treasurer-tax collector to treat both kinds of
properties similarly.
FISCAL EFFECT:
According to Committee Staff, SB 1493 would not impact
state or local tax revenues.
COMMENTS:
A. Purpose of the Bill
Sponsored by the California Assessors' Association and
the California Association of County Treasurer-Tax
Collectors, SB 822 is a technical, non-controversial bill
that improves local administration of property tax laws for
the benefit of taxpayers and assessors alike.
Consolidating the measures into a single bill negates the
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need for individual bills to enact each change.
Additionally, the measure only contains items with
universal agreement; items that are controversial or
problematic will be removed from the bill.
Support and Opposition
Support:California Assessors Association (Sponsor),
California Association of County Treasurer-Tax Collectors
(Sponsor)
Oppose:None received.
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Consultant: Colin Grinnell