Local Taxes

AB 1050 (Ma) – Pending
As Amended September 8, 2012

AB 1050, by Assembly Member Fiona Ma, would create a structure for collecting various state charges from prepaid wireless customers. Before the most recent amendments, the bill also would have provided for the collection of utility users taxes, but it now contains only language expressing the intent of the Legislature to come up with a way to collect the local taxes on prepaid wireless sometime in the future.

The Senate Governance and Finance Committee will consider this amended version of AB 1050 soon.

Elections

SB 1331 (Kehoe) – Support
As Introduced on February 23, 2012

SB 1331, by Senator Kehoe, would create an independent redistricting commission to draw the supervisorial districts in the County of San Diego.

The citizens of San Diego County and that county’s Board of Supervisors have requests an independent redistricting process for their county. The commission contemplated by SB 1331 would ensure transparency by subjecting the commission to the Brown Act and requiring public hearings throughout the county. It requires the county to provide financial support and would be made up of retired judges.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1331 on a 12-5, party-line vote. This is the first time a vote on this bill has been partisan.

SB 1272 (Kehoe) – Support
As Amended August 6, 2012

SB 1272, also by Senator Christine Kehoe, would extend the term of central committee members to four years from two. This change, though apparently minor, would be a major benefit for county election offices, for two main reasons.

First, under the new top two primary system, the only partisan races remaining on the ballot are for U.S. President and for central committee members. Therefore, in years of gubernatorial elections, with no presidential contest, central committees would be the sole partisan contests, and would force major cost increases associated with preparing and printing partisan ballots.

Second, central committee candidates constitute a disproportionately large percentage of the candidates to whom election officials must provide service. In most counties, they constitute at least half of candidates, and in several counties they are two-thirds to three-fourths of the total. Many central committee contests do not end up on the ballot because the number of candidates is fewer than the number of available spots. However, the central committees still have the option of forcing the question on the ballot, requiring the space for listing the candidates and a number of write-in spaces. Furthermore, many voters do not even vote on the question of central committee members.

Counties pay all the costs of central committee elections with county general funds, even though central committees are private entities.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1272 unanimously this week, and the bill will be on the Assembly’s consent calendar.

Local Revenue

SB 954 (Liu) – Support
As Amended on March 1, 2012

SB 954, by Senator Carol Liu, would authorize the State Controller to, at the request of a county or city, offset any payments due to people from the unclaimed property held by the state in order to pay debts those people owe the county or city.

This authority already exists for offsetting tax refunds and lottery winnings. The bill would provide an appeal process for people who believe the billing was in error, ensuring the process is fair to all parties. All current protections for those billed would be retained from the current process.

SB 954 extends a proven, efficient system for recovery of money due to local agencies, and in doing so will ensure millions of dollars owed to counties and cities are paid.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 954 this week with a vote of 15-1. The bill now moves to the Assembly floor.