Second House Party

The deadline for a non-urgency, non-tax bill to pass its house of origin has now passed, somewhat whittling down the number of active bills. Below is a list of some bills CSAC’s Revenue & Tax section is following that are still alive. For more information on any of these bills, use CSAC’s legislative tracking tool here. http://www.csac.counties.org/default.asp?id=15

Senate bills

SB 3 (Padilla) – Telecommunications: universal service – Support
SB 191 (Committee on Governance & Finance) – Validations – Support (see the article in this week’s Bulletin)
SB 192 (Committee on Governance & Finance) – Validations – Support
SB 193 (Committee on Governance & Finance) – Validations – Support
SB 223 (Leno) – Voter-approved local assessment: vehicles – Support
SB 234 (Hancock) – State Board of Equalization: administration: use tax – Support
SB 507 (DeSaulnier) – Property taxation: change in ownership statement – Support
SB 641 (Calderon) – Voter registration – Pending
SB 653 (Steinberg) – Local taxation: counties: school districts: community college districts: county offices of education: general authorization – Support
SB 686 (Padilla) – Sales and use taxes: exemption: biotechnology manufacturing – Oppose Unless Amended
SCA 4 (DeSaulnier) – Initiative measures: funding source – Support

Assembly bills

AB 80 (Fong) – Presidential primary: election date – Support (see below)
AB 153 (Skinner) – State Board of Equalization: administration: retailer engaged in business in this state – Support
AB 155 (Calderon) – Use tax: retailer engaged in business – Support
AB 187 (Lara) – State Auditor: audits: high-risk local government agency audit program – Concerns
AB 328 (Smyth) – Inverse condemnation: comparative fault – Support
AB 506 (Wieckowski) – Local government: bankruptcy: neutral evaluation – Oppose
AB 686 (Huffman) – Local sales and use taxes: transaction and use taxes – Support
AB 820 (Gordon) – Property taxation: fee: preparation of certificate – Support
AB 902 (Alejo) – Taxation: property tax delinquency and sales – Support
AB 1021 (Gordon) – Ballot measures: fiscal analysis – Support
AB 1050 (Ma) – Telecommunications: taxes and fees – Pending
AB 1090 (Blumenfield) – Taxation: property tax deferment – Support in Concept
AB 1250 (Alejo) – Redevelopment – Pending
ACA 4 (Blumenfield) – Local government financing: voter approval – Support
ACA 6 (Gatto) – Initiative measures: funding source – Support

Presidential Primary

AB 80 (Fong) – Support
As Amended March 3, 2011

AB 80, by Assembly Member Paul Fong, would consolidate the presidential primary with the statewide direct primary, to take place in June.

In the wake of so many states moving their primaries earlier attempting to influence presidential nominations, the two major national committees instituted new rules that penalize state parties if they hold their primaries before specified dates. What’s more, having separate elections cost several tens of millions of dollars and reduced voter participation at the non-presidential June primary to record low levels.

CSAC supports consolidating the elections for cost reasons, and supports the June date because having the primary in March would impact deadlines for local redistricting.

The Senate Elections & Constitutional Amendments Committee passed AB 80 5-0 at its meeting on Wednesday, June 8.

Taxes

AB 686 (Huffman) – Support
As Amended March 9, 2011

AB 686, by Assembly Member Jared Huffman, would allow counties and cities to set their transactions and use taxes in increments of an eighth of a percent, instead of a quarter.

Under AB 686, county and city tax increases and extensions will still need to comply with all constitutional voting requirements. However, allowing local agencies to more precisely set their tax rates will give them more flexibility in matching the tax rate with a community’s specific need.

The Senate Governance & Finance Committee will consider AB 686 at its meeting next Wednesday, June 15.

AB 820 (Gordon) – Support
As Introduced February 17, 2011

AB 820, by Assembly Member Rich Gordon, would require county officials to charge a sufficient fee for certificates of payment showing taxes paid.

Most requests for these certificate requests are for the current year, and easily provided. However, those that are for probate court, for subdivision maps, or from long ago can require significant research. The establishment of new fees must go through the review procedures proscribed by Government Code Section 54986 and must comply with the provisions of Proposition 26. Charging actual costs will reduce pressure on county finances.

The Senate Governance & Finance Committee will consider AB 820 at its meeting next Wednesday, June 15.

AB 902 (Alejo) – Support
As Introduced on February 17, 2011

AB 902, by Assembly Member Luis Alejo, would require county tax collectors to recover their reasonable and actual costs related to making personal contact with the owner-occupants of the proposed sale of their tax-defaulted property. It does the same for the costs of notifying parties of interest in tax-defaulted property sales.

The costs of personally notifying owner-occupants of the impending sale of their tax-defaulted property vary widely from county to county. The costs can be quite large in large rural counties, especially as costs such as gas prices rise. County revenues continue to fall, even as other government agencies’ revenues begin to recover. Allowing counties to recover actual costs in cases where those costs are known, discrete, and recoverable helps to maintain core services.

The Senate Governance & Finance Committee will consider AB 902 at its meeting next Wednesday, June 15.