BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2756
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2756 (Revenue and Taxation Committee)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
REVENUE & TAXATION 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 12-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Bocanegra, Gordon, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Mullin, Pan, | |Bradford, |
| |V. Manuel P�rez, Ting | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Prohibits any state, county, or municipal employee
from making any decision regarding a "change in ownership" issue
or a property tax exemption, except a homeowners' exemption
claim, without holding a valid assessment analyst certificate
issued by the State Board of Equalization (BOE). Specifically,
this bill :
1)Includes the legislative findings and declarations stating
legislative intent to do all of the following:
a) Protect the interests of taxpayers by ensuring that
decisions regarding eligibility of a property for exemption
or whether a transaction constitutes a "change in
ownership" (COI) be made by staff who is certified;
b) Ensure that education and certification requirements be
implemented in the most efficient and economical manner,
utilizing existing resources of California county assessors
with advice and counsel of the Board of Equalization; and,
c) Clarify that this act shall be construed as an act
necessary for the implementation of California Constitution
Article XIII Section A and, as such, is not a program or
higher level of service mandated by the state.
2)Prohibits a person, who is an employee of the state, a county,
or a city and county, from making decisions regarding changes
AB 2756
Page 2
in ownership or a property tax exemption, other than a
homeowners' exemption, unless he or she is the holder of a
valid assessment analyst certificate issued by the BOE.
3)Requires the BOE to provide for the examination of applicants
for an assessment analyst certificate and authorizes the BOE
to contract with the Department of Human Resources to give the
examinations.
4)Provides that the examinations must be prepared by the BOE,
with the advice and assistance of a committee of five
assessors selected by the California Assessors' Association
for this purpose.
5)Prohibits the issuance of a certificate to a person who has
not attained a passing grade in the examination or
demonstrated that he or she is competent to make the CIO and
exemption decisions, as specified.
6)Grants any applicant who is denied a certificate the right to
a review of that denial in accordance with the Administrative
Procedure Act (APA) [Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500)
of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code
(GC)].
7)Does not apply to a person holding a valid appraiser's or
advanced appraiser's certificate issued by the BOE.
8)Prohibits the BOE from imposing any charge upon a county or
city and county or an applicant for an examination or
certification required by this bill or training conducted by
the BOE.
9)Requires the BOE to do both of the following:
a) Issue an advanced assessment analyst certificate for an
applicant that has held a valid assessment analyst
certificate for at least three years and has either
successfully completed an advanced study course or passed
an advanced level examination; and,
b) Prescribe an advanced course of study and prepare the
advanced level examination, with the advice and assistance
of five assessors selected by the California Assessors'
AB 2756
Page 3
Association.
10)Requires a certified assessment analyst, in order to retain a
valid certificate, to complete at least 24 hours of training
conducted or approved by the BOE in each one-year period.
Allows any training time in excess of the 24-hour minimum that
is accumulated in any one year to be carried over as credit
for future training requirements, with a limit of three years
in which the carryover time may be credited.
11)Requires an advanced assessment analyst to complete at least
12 hours of training in each one-year period in order to
retain a valid certificate and allows any training time that
is in excess of the 12-hour minimum accumulated in any one
year to be carried over as a credit for future training
requirements, with a limit of two years in which the carryover
time may be credited.
12)Requires training for both regular and advanced assessment
analyst certificates to include new developments in applicable
case law, statutory law, and administrative rules.
13)Specifies that failure to complete additional training, as
provided, shall constitute grounds for revocation of a
certificate. A proceeding to revoke shall be conducted in
accordance with the APA.
14)Requires each applicant to disclose, at the time of
certification, on forms provided by the BOE, his or her
financial interest in any legal entity.
15)Provides that, if an applicant is required to annually file
with the Fair Political Practices Commission pursuant to
Article 3 (commencing with Section 87300) of Chapter 7 of
Title 9 of the GC), a duplicate of that filing must meet the
requirements of this bill.
16)Allows the BOE to do both of the following:
a) Issue a temporary certificate to a person who is newly
employed by the state, a county, or a city and county in
order to afford the person the opportunity to apply for,
and take, an examination.
AB 2756
Page 4
b) Issue an interim certificate to a current employee of
the state, county, or a city and county, who is making CIO
or exemption decisions, in order to afford that person the
opportunity to apply for and take an exemption for a
certificate.
17)Prohibits the BOE from issuing a temporary or interim
certificate if its duration exceeds one year or four years,
respectively, unless the person has been duly elected or
appointed to the office of assessor.
18)Prohibits the BOE from renewing either a temporary or an
interim certificate.
19)Declares that this bill shall not be construed to impede an
assessor from managing his or her staff resources efficiently,
and in a manner that allows non-certificated staff to prepare
and work with exemption applications and change in ownership
documents, provided that the non-certificated staff are not
responsible for making exemption or change in ownership
decisions.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Estimated General Fund costs of approximately $175,000 in the
first year and $150,000 each year thereafter to the BOE to
establish and administer the certificate program.
2)Though this bill is not keyed a local mandate, there could be
substantial state-mandated reimbursement of local costs given
the number of local government employees who would be required
to undergo annual training and certification. If a mandate
claim were approved by the Commission on State Mandates,
reimbursable costs to the GF could run into the millions of
dollars a year.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill. Current law does not require any
certification or training for employees who make change in
ownership or exemption decisions. Yet, their decisions can
potentially add or eliminate millions of dollars each year from
tax rolls statewide. Both CIO and exemption decisions have
AB 2756
Page 5
become highly complex, requiring a deep understanding of many
different legal documents and a variety of statutes,
regulations, court decisions. This bill ensures that state and
local employees making CIO and property tax exemption decisions
are adequately trained and educated.
Arguments in support. The sponsor of this bill states that,
"Despite the extreme complexity of determining whether a
property has changed ownership, or is eligible for exemption,
and the millions of dollars in property tax value impact such
decisions have, no training is required for [employees making
those decisions]." The sponsor argues that it is time to
"recognize the need for these [employees] to be certified,"
especially in light of new legal and regulatory changes.
Current law already requires appraisers to be certified. This
bill is needed to create similar certification procedures for
state and local government employees making decisions with
regard to property tax exemptions and CIO transactions.
Background: Proposition 13 (1978) and "Change in Ownership".
The property tax applies to all classes of property and is one
of the major general revenue sources for local governments in
California. The property tax is imposed on the property owners
and is based on the value of the property. Much of the law
pertaining to taxation of property is prescribed by the
California Constitution, Article XIII and Article XIII A. Since
the adoption of Proposition 13 in 1978, real property has
generally been taxed based on its value at the time of its
acquisition, with increases for inflation limited to 2% per
year. The property is reassessed to its market value when the
ownership of property is changed. While the requirement to
reassess property upon a change in ownership is contained in the
California Constitution, the phrase "change in ownership" is not
defined. There have been hundreds of court cases relating to
interpretation of "change in ownership" and exemption issues,
and attorneys with years of training still scrutinize statutory
language and argue as to its meaning and intended
interpretation.
What does this bill do? This bill proposes to create a training
program required for any state, county, or municipal employee
who is involved in making decisions regarding a "change in
ownership" or property tax exemption, except for homeowners'
exemption claims. The annual training program will be
AB 2756
Page 6
administered by the BOE, which will provide for the training and
examination of applicants. Once certified, an employee will
also have to complete additional training, in order to retain a
valid certificate. Each year, a certified employee will have to
complete either 24 hours or 12 hours of training, depending on
whether he or she is an assessment analyst or an advanced
assessment analyst.
Analysis Prepared by : Oksana Jaffe / REV. & TAX. / (916)
319-2098
FN: 0003761