BILL NUMBER: AB 2207	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gordon

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2012

   An act to amend Section 214.02 of the Revenue and Taxation Code,
relating to taxation.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2207, as introduced, Gordon. Property taxation: welfare
exemption: nature resources and open-space lands.
   Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California
Constitution, provides for a welfare exemption under which property
used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable
purposes and owned and operated by funds, foundations, or
corporations meeting certain statutory requirements is exempt from
taxation. Existing law also provides that property used exclusively
for the preservation of specified nature resources or open-space
lands meeting other specified criteria is deemed to be included
within the welfare exemption.
   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this
provision.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 214.02 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is
amended to read:
   214.02.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b) or (c),
property that is used exclusively for the preservation of native
plants or animals, biotic communities, geological or geographical
formations of scientific or educational interest, or open-space lands
used solely for recreation and for the enjoyment of scenic beauty,
is open to the general public subject to reasonable restrictions
concerning the needs of the land, and is owned and operated by a
scientific or charitable fund, foundation, limited liability company,
or corporation, the primary interest of which is to preserve those
natural areas, and that meets all the requirements of Section 214,
shall be deemed to be within the exemption provided for in
subdivision (b) of Sections 4 and 5 of Article XIII of the
Constitution of the State of California and Section 214.
   (b) The exemption provided by this section shall not apply to any
property of an organization that owns in the aggregate 30,000 acres
or more in one county that were exempt under this section prior to
March 1, 1983, or that are proposed to be exempt, unless the
nonprofit organization that holds the property is fully independent
of the owner of any taxable real property that is adjacent to the
property otherwise qualifying for tax exemption under this section.
For purposes of this section, the nonprofit organization that holds
the property shall be considered fully independent if the exempt
property is not used or operated by that organization or by any other
person so as to benefit any officer, trustee, director, shareholder,
member, employee, contributor or bondholder of the exempt
organization or operator, or the owner of any adjacent property, or
any other person, through the distribution of profits, payment of
excessive charges or compensations, or the more advantageous pursuit
of their business or profession.
   (c) The exemption provided by this section shall not apply to
property that is reserved for future development.
   (d) This section shall be operative from the lien date in 1983 to
and including the lien date in 2022, after which date this section
shall become inoperative, and as of January 1, 2023, this section is
repealed.
   (e) The amendments made by  the act adding this
subdivision   Section 4 of Chapter 354 of the Statutes
of 2004  shall apply with respect to lien dates occurring on and
after January 1, 2005.