BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 947
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 15, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
SB 947 (Governance and Finance Committee) - As Amended: June
7, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Property taxation
SUMMARY : Makes various non-controversial changes to property
tax collection laws. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows the parent-child exclusion for transfers of interests
in cooperative housing corporations in order to correct an
inequity in current law.
2)Specifies, beginning in the 2012-13 fiscal year, that property
is "substantially damaged or destroyed" if either the land or
the improvements sustains physical damage amounting to more
than 50% of either the land's or the improvement's full cash
value immediately prior to the disaster.
3)Clarifies the definition of "substantially damaged or
destroyed" for consistency with sections of the Revenue and
Taxation Code (RTC).
4)Updates citations to the building codes for purposes of the
new construction exclusion for seismic safety to include
references to the current standards used by industry.
5)Amends several sections in the RTC to ensure that an unmarried
surviving spouse that is receiving the disabled veterans'
exemption will continue to receive the exemption if he or she
is confined to a hospital or care facility.
6)Clarifies that property tax exemptions cease as of the date of
sale or transfer of the property for consistency among
sections of the RTC.
7)Extends, in specified situations, the time a claimant may
apply for the disabled veterans' property tax exemption to
provide a reasonable time period to file a claim.
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8)Clarifies that the disabled veterans' exemption notice must be
mailed annually, prior to the lien date, to claimants who
received the exemption in the immediately preceding year.
9)Clarifies the local body through which an assessee must appeal
a penalty for failure to timely file a change in ownership
statement.
10)Allows partial abatement for state assessee penalties for
failure to timely provide information.
11)Allows floating homes and manufactured homes to receive a
decline in value after the roll has closed.
12)Requires BOE to make available, as a public record for ten
days, any refund in excess of $50,000 related to private
railroad car taxes, by raising the existing threshold from
$15,000 to $50,000, thus creating consistency for private
railroad car taxes with all other BOE tax and fee programs.
13)Contains other minor, technical and clarifying changes.
14)States that no reimbursement is required by this act because
costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district because the provisions of the bill create a new crime
or infraction, eliminate a crime or infraction, or change the
penalty for a crime or infraction.
15)Requires, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that
the bill's provisions contain other costs mandated by the
state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts
for those costs.
16)States that no appropriation is made by the bill's provisions
and that the state shall not reimburse any local agency for
any property tax revenues lost pursuant to the provisions.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires that state assessees annually provide specific
information to the Board of Equalization (BOE) and allows BOE
to abate penalties with a written application for abatement by
the applicant.
2)Prohibits the exclusion from reassessment for the transfers of
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a property from parent to child from applying to a unit of
cooperatively owned housing.
3)Defines "substantially damaged" as a 50% loss of the fair
market value of the property.
4)Provides specified exemptions from property taxes, such as
disabled veterans' and non-profit entities.
5)Allows eligible disabled veterans to apply for a property tax
exemption before January 1st of the calendar year for any
property acquired after the lien date.
6)Allows spouses to claim the disabled veterans' exemption from
property tax.
7)Requires the assessor to mail the annual notice of the
disabled veterans' exemption and its requirements only to the
disabled veterans.
8)Requires county boards of equalization or assessment appeals
boards to adjudicate property tax appeals and issue penalties
for failing to file specified information.
9)Allows assessors to correct the property tax roll for up to
four years after a valuation if he/she makes a mistake.
10)Requires BOE to make available as a public record for ten
days any refund in excess of $50,000 under all of its tax and
fee programs, except the Private Railroad Car Tax.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)In prior years the former Senate Revenue & Taxation Committee
has authored a measure annually to enact several changes to
property tax law that is sponsored and approved unanimously by
the State Board of Equalization. This bill, SB 947, is
authored by the newly created Senate Governance and Finance
Committee, and is intended to improve the administration of
property tax laws to help both taxpayers and tax
administration agencies. Consolidating the measures into a
single bill negates the need for individual bills to enact
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each change. As such, all items in the bill have been vetted
through interested parties and have universal agreement to be
included in the bill.
2)This bill is double-referred to the Assembly Revenue and
Taxation Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
State Board of Equalization �SPONSOR]
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958