BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 948|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 948
Author: Senate Governance and Finance Committee
Amended: 6/30/11
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 9-0, 5/4/11
AYES: Wolk, Huff, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hancock, Hernandez,
Kehoe, La Malfa, Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 5/23/11 (Consent)
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Dutton,
Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Hernandez,
Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal,
Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Runner,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk,
Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/25/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Property taxation
SOURCE : California Association of County Treasurer-Tax
Collectors
DIGEST : This bill consolidates items that make minor,
CONTINUED
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technical changes to property tax law.
Assembly Amendments delete the provision dealing with
tax-collectors to publish public notices and make other
clarifying changes.
ANALYSIS : Existing Law :
1.Requires the treasurer-tax collector to publish various
notices in a newspaper or three public places including,
among others, notice of impending default for failure to
pay taxes on real property and notice of intended sale of
tax-defaulted property by the tax collector. Authorizes
a treasurer-tax collector, in the case of an error in a
publication, to correct the error in a supplementary
publication lasting at least ten days in the same manner
as the original publication.
2.Requires assessors to keep certain information
confidential. Provides an exception to the general rule
of confidentiality for certain governmental agencies or
representatives. Requires the county assessor to
disclose information, furnish abstracts, or permit access
to all records in his/her office to law enforcement
agencies, the county grand jury, and other specified
entities, including the county recorder in the case of an
investigation to determine whether a documentary transfer
tax (DTT) is imposed.
3.Establishes a procedure by which an assessee of property
taxes may pay taxes under protest in cases in which the
assessor does not, upon or prior to completion of the
local tax roll, send a notice to an assessee whose
property was not on the prior year's secured roll, or to
an assessee of real property on the local secured roll
whose property's full value has increased. Requires a
protest to be filed with the tax collector, together with
the payment of taxes, as specified.
4.Allows any county department, officer, or employee who
collects taxes, penalties, or other costs to file an
application for a "discharge of accountability" whenever
the costs of collection exceed the revenue collected.
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5.Authorizes a county tax collector to sell tax-defaulted
property after a specified amount of time. Allows the
treasurer-tax collector, whenever a treasurer-tax
collector proposes property for a tax sale, to remove the
parcel upon recommendation from the county counsel, that
the removal is in the best interest of the county, and
requires the treasurer-tax collector to notify the State
Controller of the removal of the parcel for sale.
6.Allows a party of interest in the tax-defaulted property
sold at a tax sale to file a claim for the excess
proceeds from the sale, as specified. Allows third party
agents to recover excess tax proceeds on behalf of a
party of interest, as specified.
7.Requires a county to provide notice, including publishing
notice in a newspaper, of the right to claim the excess
proceeds from the sale of a tax-defaulted property.
8.Allows the treasurer-tax collector, in the case where a
taxpayer makes a payment on the wrong property, to cancel
the credit on the unintended property and apply it to the
correct property within a specified time period. If
there is no property to which the credit may be applied,
the tax collector is required, upon being convinced by
substantial evidence of a mistake, to refund the payment.
9.Requires treasurer-tax collectors to provide notice of
the right to claim proceeds to the last known address of
parties of interest in a tax sale that exceeds $150, and
specifies that if the treasurer-tax collector cannot
obtain the address, he/she must publish notice in a
newspaper of general circulation in the county of the
tax-defaulted property.
10.Requires that property taxes be refunded if the payments
exceed the equalized value of the property, as determined
by the county Board of Equalization, and authorizes a
county tax collector or county auditor to refund taxes
within four years of payment if the amount paid exceeds
the amount due on the property as shown on the tax roll.
11.Requires counties to pay interest to taxpayers when a
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court allows the taxpayer to recover a penalty previously
assessed under specified sections of R&TC Section 830.
This bill:
1.Requires a local county assessor to provide to the tax
collector, upon written request from the tax collector,
certain confidential information for the preparation and
enforcement of tax sales, as specified. Specifies that
this information will remain confidential, not subject to
public inspection, and requires the tax collector to
reimburse the assessor for the actual and reasonable
costs incurred by the assessor in providing this
information.
2.Modifies the procedure of filing property tax protests by
specifying that taxpayers must file a protest with the
county clerk, and pay taxes to the treasurer-tax
collector.
3.Amends Revenue and Taxation Code Section 2611.1, relating
to discharges of accountability by a county department,
officer, or employee who collects taxes, to require
discharges under that section to comply with updated
Government Code sections that describe the process for
county officials to file an application for a "discharge
of accountability on the grounds that the amount owed is
too small to justify the costs of collection."
4.Deletes the requirement to notify the State Controller in
the situation when a treasurer-tax collector proposes
property for a tax sale but then later removes it from
the sale upon the recommendation from the county counsel.
5.Requires third-party agents, who are acting on behalf of
any party of interest with respect to filing a claim for
any excess proceeds from the tax sale, to submit proof
that the source of those proceeds have been disclosed to
the party of interest and that a claim to recover those
proceeds may be filed by the party of interest directly
with the county at no cost.
6.Allows treasurer-tax collectors, when they are required
to provide notice of the right to claim proceeds that
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exceed $150 to the last known mailing address of the
parties of interest in a tax sale but cannot obtain the
address, to forego the requirement to publish the notice
in a newspaper of general circulation if the costs of
publication exceed the amount of the tax sale proceeds.
7.Revises the provision dealing with the correction of
errors in publications published by a treasurer-tax
collector to specify that the treasurer-tax collector has
60 days after the original publication to republish, and
specifies that the re-publication may not affect the
right of a taxpayer, assessee, or other private party in
a material way.
8.Requires the treasurer-tax collector, when taxpayers or
their agents make payments on the wrong property, to
transfer the payment to the intended property or refund
the payment to the taxpayer within 60 days of verifying
the mistake, or the date when the payment is not subject
to chargeback, dishonor, or reversal. Specifies that
interest shall only be paid if the treasurer-tax
collector has failed to transfer or refund the payment as
required.
9.Makes other technical corrections to property tax
collection laws to update incorrect cross- references and
correct outdated code sections.
10.Provides that no reimbursement is required by the
provisions of this bill for specified reasons.
Comments
Each year, the former Revenue and Taxation Committee
authored a bill to enact several changes to Property Tax
Law sponsored by the California Association of County
Treasurer-Tax Collectors, who collect property tax
payments, execute tax sales, and manage local agencies'
money. Many of these bills are technical in nature, and
enacting them in separate measures isn't warranted.
Although this bill may not be germane under a strict
interpretation of the single-subject and germaneness rules
presented in Californians for an Open Primary v. McPherson
(2006), it implements important and necessary changes to
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property tax laws without taxing legislative resources.
Related Legislation.
AB 563 (Furutani), introduced in the current legislative
session, authorizes designated city employees to obtain or
access otherwise confidential information from the county
assessor when the city is conducting an investigation to
determine whether the DTT should be imposed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/11)
California Association of County Treasurer-Tax Collectors
(source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0,8/25/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter,
Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Gorell
AGB:do 8/26/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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