BILL ANALYSIS �
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 563|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 563
Author: Furutani (D)
Amended: 8/29/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-3, 6/29/11
AYES: Wolk, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Hernandez, Kehoe, Liu
NOES: Huff, Fuller, La Malfa
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 8/15/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-27, 5/31/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Property taxation: assessor: disclosure:
appraisal information
SOURCE : City of Los Angeles
DIGEST : This bill requires a county assessor to provide
information to city finance officials when conducting an
investigation related to the imposition of a documentary
transfer tax on an unrecorded change in control or
ownership of property and requires the city to reimburse
the assessor for any costs incurred in disclosing this
information.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/29/11 resolve conflict between
CONTINUED
AB 563
Page
2
AB 563 (Furutani) and SB 948 (Senate Governance and Finance
Committee).
AB 563 (Furutani) amends Section 408 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code to allow designated employees of a city's
finance office access to the County Assessor's records to
administer a city's documentary transfer tax. SB 948
amends the same section to allow County Treasurer-Tax
Collectors to make a written request to the County Assessor
to access records to administer tax sales, and allows the
Assessor to disclose the information. The 8/29/11
amendments resolve this conflict by striking this bill's
changes to Section 408 (the entirety of the bill) and
inserting identical language into new Section 408.4.
ANALYSIS : The California Constitution (Article XIIIA,
Section 4) prohibits the state from levying transaction
taxes or sales taxes on transfers of real property;
however, the Documentary Transfer Tax (DTT), enacted in
1967, allows cities and counties to enact taxes on deeds of
transfer of realty within that jurisdiction. Counties or
cities may use proceeds of the tax for general or specific
purposes, although all DTTs levied thus far are general
taxes. County recorders administer the tax, and cannot
record the property transfer until the purchaser pays the
tax. Counties collect the tax but remit the city tax to
the appropriate city. All of California's 58 counties and
hundreds of cities levy the tax, ranging from the general
law city rate of fifty-five cents per $1000 of value up to
$15.00 per $1,000 in the City of Oakland. In counties, the
rate is $0.55 for each $500 of value. The DTT is largely
modeled after the repealed Federal Documentary Stamp Tax.
This bill amends Section 408.4 of the Revenue and Taxation
Code to require the assessor to disclose information,
furnish abstracts, or permit access to all records in
his/her office to designated employees of a city's finance
office when conducting an investigation to determine
whether a documentary transaction tax should be imposed for
an unrecorded change in control or ownership of property
and requires the city to reimburse the assessor for any
costs incurred in disclosing this information. Upon
request, the assessors shall provide the information to the
designated employee, who must certify to the assessor that
the information is necessary to assist with the preparation
AB 563
Page
3
and enforcement of the DTT, and is not a public record that
is open to public inspection. This bill states that any
information provided cannot include social security
numbers.
Comments
Generally, any information and records in the assessor's
office are not public documents and are not open to public
inspection, unless allowed by law. Exemptions include
information for law enforcement agencies, county grand
jury, or the Board of Supervisors. Two years ago, the
Legislature required the assessor to disclose information,
furnish abstracts, and permit access to all records to the
County Recorder when conducting an investigation to
determine whether the documentary transfer tax is due. The
City of Los Angeles wants the Assessor to share this
information with city financial officials to help assess
the DTT.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Information sharing Unknown reimbursable costs
to assessors General
mandate to provide specified information to city
officials
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/29/11)
City of Los Angeles (source)
California Assessors' Association
California Nurses Association
California Tax Reform Association
City of Lakewood
AB 563
Page
4
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "AB 563
would allow for information sharing between County
Assessor's Offices' and cities to identity change of
ownership legal entity transfers and other real property
transfers that may not be currently captured. Enactment of
the proposed legislation is estimated to result in improved
and increased collection of the Documentary Transfer Tax at
a time of fiscal crisis for local governments."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-27, 5/31/11
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes,
Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Fletcher, Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller,
Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth,
Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell
AGB:kc 8/29/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****