BILL NUMBER: AB 1351	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 4, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 22, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Logue

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to  amend Sections 50113.1 and 50117 of 
 add Section 50117.5 to  the Revenue and Taxation Code,
relating to underground storage tanks.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1351, as amended, Logue. Underground storage tanks: fees:
deficiency determinations.
   Existing law requires the owner or operator of an underground
petroleum storage tank, or other responsible party, to pay a
specified maintenance fee for each gallon of petroleum placed in an
underground storage tank that he or she owns, and to take corrective
action, as defined, in response to an unauthorized release of
petroleum from the tank. Existing law, the Underground Storage Tank
Maintenance Fee Law, requires that the State Board of Equalization
administer and collect those underground storage tank fees and
prescribes procedures for the administration and collection of those
fees. Existing law authorizes the board, if it is dissatisfied with a
specified report file or the amount of fee paid to the board under
those provisions, or if no report has been filed or no payment or
payments of fees have been made to the state by any fee payer, to
compute and determine the amount of fees to be paid, based on any
information available to it. In the case of the failure to make a
related report or return, existing law requires every notice of
determination of an amount due to be given within 8 years after the
date that the report or return was due.
   This  bill would require, if the board finds that the
person who owns an underground storage tank failed to make a report
or return because he or she was a qualified absentee owner of an
underground storage tank, the notice of determination to be mailed
within 3 years after the date the amount was required to have been
paid or the report was due. The  bill would  require
  allow the board  , if the board finds that
 the   a  person  does not own the
underground storage tank and  failed to make a report or
return because he or she was a qualified absentee owner of an
underground storage tank,  the notice of determination to be
mailed within 8 years after the amount was required to have been paid
or the report or return was due, but would require the notice of
determination to include only amounts due that arose during the owner'
s final 3 years of owning the underground storage tank  
to reduce the period of liability for those fees from more than 12
quarters of liability within an 8-year period to 3 years, unless the
board had contact with the owner, as specified  . The bill would
define the term "qualified absentee owner" for purposes of those
provisions. 
   Existing law authorizes the board to decrease or increase the
amount of a deficiency determination before it becomes final, but
only permits the amount to be increased if a claim for the increase
is asserted by the board at or before the determination hearing.
 
   This bill would authorize the board, in the case of a deficiency
determination issued for failure to make a report or return, as
described, to decrease the amount of that determination if the board
makes specified findings. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 50117.5 is added to the 
 Revenue and Taxation Code   , to read:  
   50117.5.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 50113.1, in the case of
failure to make a report or return, where a feepayer has incurred
more than 12 quarters' liability for the underground storage tank fee
within the eight-year period after the date the report or return was
due, when the board issues a notice of determination for an
additional amount due pursuant to Section 50113, the board may reduce
the period of liability for the fee to three years, if the board
finds that the feepayer's failure to make a report or return was
because the feepayer was a qualified absentee owner of the
underground storage tank, as defined in subdivision (b).
   (b) For purposes of this section, "qualified absentee owner" means
the owner of an underground storage tank at the time the report or
return was due who meets all of the following criteria:
   (1) The owner was not the operator, as defined in Section 25299.20
of the Health and Safety Code, of the underground storage tank
system.
   (2) The owner had no ownership interest in the person who was the
operator of the underground storage tank system.
   (3) The owner establishes that he or she did not know of, and had
no reason to know of, the requirement that the owner register with
the board as an owner of an underground storage tank.
   (4) The board did not have contact with the owner of the
underground storage tank regarding the requirement that the owner
register with the board prior to the date of the contact that
prompted the board to issue the notice of determination.
   (c) If the board did have contact with the owner of the
underground storage tank prior to the three-year period of liability
described in subdivision (a), the owner is also liable for the fee
for the period beginning on the date of that contact and until the
date the report or return was due.
   (d) The board may reduce the period of liability to three years
only for notices of determination issued on or after January 1, 2013.
 
  SECTION 1.    Section 50113.1 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code is amended to read:
   50113.1.  (a) Except in the case of fraud, intent to evade this
part or the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this part, or
failure to make a report or return, every notice of a determination
of an additional amount due shall be given within three years after
the date when the amount was required to have been paid or the report
or return was due, or within three years after the report or return
was filed, whichever period expires later.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), in the case of failure
to make a report or return, the notice of determination shall be
mailed within eight years after the date the report or return was
due.
   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), either of the following shall
apply:
   (1) If the board finds that the person owns the underground
storage tank and failed to make a report or return because he or she
was a qualified absentee owner of the underground storage tank, the
notice of determination shall be mailed within three years after the
date the amount was required to have been paid or the report or
return was due.
   (2) If the board finds that the person does not own the
underground storage tank and failed to make a report or return
because he or she was a qualified absentee owner of the underground
storage tank at the time the report or return was due, the notice of
determination shall be mailed within eight years after the date the
amount was required to have been paid or the report or return was
due, but the notice of determination shall only include amounts due
that arose during the owner's final three years of underground
storage tank ownership.
   (3) For purposes of this section, "qualified absentee owner" means
the owner of an underground storage tank at the time the report or
return was due who meets all of the following criteria:
   (A) The owner was not the operator, as defined by Section 25299.20
of the Health and Safety Code, of the underground storage tank
system.
   (B) The owner had no ownership interest in the person who was the
operator of the underground storage tank system.
   (C) The owner establishes that he or she did not know of, and
could not have reasonably known of, the requirement to register with
the board as an owner of an underground storage tank.
   (D) (i) The board did not have contact with the owner of the
underground storage tank regarding the requirement that the owner
register with the board prior to the relevant time period described
in paragraph (1) or (2).
   (ii) If the board did have contact with the owner of the
underground storage tank prior to the relevant time period described
in paragraph (1) or (2), the owner is liable for the fee for the
period beginning on the date of that contact to the date the notice
of determination was mailed.
   (d) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (c) shall apply if
either of the following occur:
   (1) A notice of determination is issued pursuant to subdivision
(b) on or after January 1, 2012.
   (2) Prior to the issuance of a notice of determination, either of
the following occurs on or after January 1, 2012:
   (A) First contact is made between the board and the owner.
   (B) The board mails returns to the owner for the periods during
which, up to eight years, the owner owned the underground storage
tank.  
  SEC. 2.    Section 50117 of the Revenue and
Taxation Code is amended to read:
   50117.  (a) The board may decrease or increase the amount of the
determination before it becomes final, but the amount may be
increased only if a claim for the increase is asserted by the board
at or before the hearing.
   (b) (1) In the case of a deficiency determination issued for
failure to make a report or return pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 50113.1, the board may decrease the amount of that
determination as described in subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section
50113.1, if the board finds that an owner's failure to make a report
or return is due to the owner being a qualified absentee owner of an
underground storage tank, as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision
(c) of Section 50113.1.
   (2) The board may decrease the amount of the determination only
for notices of determination issued on or after January 1, 2012.