BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1888|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1888
Author: Ting (D)
Amended: 3/27/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 5/14/14
AYES: Wolk, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Knight
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/24/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Documentary transfer tax: document for recordation:
amount of tax due shown on separate paper
SOURCE : California Government Relations Subcommittee of the
Appraisal Institute
DIGEST : This bill deletes the requirement that county
recorders must, upon request, show the amount of documentary
transfer tax (DTT) due on a paper separate from the document
subject to the tax.
ANALYSIS : The Documentary Transfer Tax Act (Act) allows
counties to levy a tax upon the recording of documents that
transfer interests in real property. All 58 counties impose a
DTT, which is levied at a rate of $0.55 per $500 (or 0.11%) of
the value of the real property or interest being transferred.
The Act allows a city within a county that has adopted a DTT to
impose a DTT at one-half of the county rate. The amount of tax
paid to a city is a credit against the amount of the tax owed to
CONTINUED
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a county. More than 450 cities levy a DTT pursuant to the Act.
Under the "municipal affairs" doctrine established by Article
XI, Section 5 of the California Constitution, some charter
cities tax the transfer of ownership of real estate at rates
that exceed the statutory limit on the DTT.
This bill:
1.Repeals the requirement that a county recorder, upon the
request of a party submitting a document for recordation, must
show the amount of DTT due on a separate paper which must be
affixed to the document by the recorder after the permanent
record is made and before the original is returned.
2.Makes additional technical and conforming changes to state
law.
Background
County recorders administer DTT . State law prohibits a recorder
from recording a document subject to the DTT unless the tax is
paid at the time of recording. Generally, every document
subject to the DTT, when it is submitted for recordation, must
show on its face the amount of tax due. However, upon the
request of the party submitting a document, the amount of tax
due must be shown on a separate paper, which is not recorded but
is affixed to the document after the recorder makes the
permanent record. If the amount of tax paid is shown on a page
that is separate from the recorded document, nobody can find out
how much tax was paid simply by looking at the recorded copy of
the document. However, a 2007 Attorney General's opinion noted
that a county recorder will still have evidence of the amount of
tax paid in his/her accounting records. The AG's opinion
concluded that those records are subject to inspection pursuant
to the California Public Records Act (CPRA), which generally
requires that government records must be provided to the public
upon request, unless there is a reason specified in state law to
withhold a record.
An informal survey of county recorders indicates that recorders
are interpreting state law and the Attorney General's opinion in
a variety of ways, creating disparities from county to county in
how information about DTTs can be obtained. In some counties,
the recorder's office will disclose the amount of a DTT to
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anyone who requests that information for a
specifically-identified recorded document. In other counties, a
CPRA request must be filed to learn the amount of DTT paid on a
recorded document. In at least one county, the amount of tax
paid may not be provided even in response to a CPRA request.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/16/14)
California Government Relations Subcommittee of the Appraisal
Institute (source)
California Newspaper Publishers Association
County Recorders' Association of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states, "Every time a
property is sold an updated deed is filed with the county
recorder and transfer tax is paid. The change in ownership and
the amount of transfer tax paid is understood to be public
information. For decades an outdated statute has permitted
parties to request that transfer tax information be shown on a
separate document from the recorded deed transferring ownership
of the real property, effectively shielding the amount of
transfer tax paid from public inspection. The only purpose for
this provision is an attempt to keep others from knowing the
purchase price of the property, which can be reliably deduced
from the amount of transfer tax paid. AB 1888 updates the law
to provide for transparency in the administration of
California's DTT law, resolve an issue relating to the
availability of transfer tax information under the CPRA, and
ensure that real estate appraisers have access to transfer tax
information in order to accurately appraise real property."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/24/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nestande, Olsen, Pan,
Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
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Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gray, Harkey, Mansoor, Nazarian, Vacancy
AB:e 5/16/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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