Bill Text: CA SB822 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Property taxation: local administration.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2009-10-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 204, Statutes of 2009. [SB822 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB822-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 822 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 204
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2009
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 11, 2009
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 23, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Revenue and Taxation (Senators Wolk
(Chair), Alquist, Ashburn, Florez, Runner, Walters, and Wiggins)
MARCH 10, 2009
An act to amend Sections 72, 155.20, 441.5, and 2823 of, and to
add Section 205.6 to, the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to
taxation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 822, Committee on Revenue and Taxation. Property taxation:
local administration.
(1) Existing law provides for the creation of an assessor's office
in each county, and requires the assessor's office to determine the
new base year value for taxable real property that has been newly
constructed. Existing law requires an assessee or his or her designee
to file with the city, county, or city and county, a scale copy of
the floor plans and exterior dimensions of the building designated
for the county assessor at the time the assessee files, or causes to
be filed, an approved set of building plans.
This bill would authorize the county assessor to require the floor
plans to be provided to the assessor in an electronic format, if
available.
(2) Existing property tax law authorizes each county board of
supervisors to exempt from property taxation those properties having
a full value too low to justify the costs of assessment and
collection, and limits any exemption granted by each county board of
supervisors to property with a value not exceeding $5,000.
This bill would increase the limit for this exemption from $5,000
to $10,000.
(3) The California Constitution authorizes the exemption from
property taxation of the principal residence of a disabled veteran,
or a veteran's spouse, in the case in which a person has, as a result
of a service-connected disease or injury, become disabled or died
while on active duty in military service. Existing property tax law
requires the State Board of Equalization to prescribe all procedures
and forms required to carry into effect any property tax exemption.
This bill would authorize county assessors to supply specified
information from disabled veterans' property tax exemption claims and
county records at the written request of the board, in order to
prevent duplications of the disabled veterans' property tax exemption
within the state and improper overlapping with other benefits
provided by law.
(4) Existing law requires taxpayers that meet certain criteria to
file a signed property statement with the county assessor. Existing
law authorizes a taxpayer, in lieu of completing the property
statement as printed by the assessor, to furnish the information
required as attachments to the property statement, provided that one
copy of the property statement is signed by the taxpayer and contains
an appropriate reference to the data attached, or the property
statement is filed electronically and authenticated, as specified.
This bill would authorize a taxpayer to complete a property
statement that is substantially similar to the property statement as
printed by the assessor, as provided, in lieu of completing the
property statement as printed by the assessor, and would authorize
the assessor to consider the information provided by the taxpayer, in
lieu of completing the property statement as printed by the
assessor, as the property statement.
(5) Existing law prohibits a county assessor from making a
separate valuation of any parcel covered by a subdivision map filed
for record after the lien date immediately preceding the current
fiscal year.
This bill would provide that this prohibition does not apply in
any county in which the board of supervisors provides for a separate
valuation pursuant to an ordinance adopted by a majority vote of the
board.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 72 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended
to read:
72. (a) A copy of any building permit issued by any city, county,
or city and county shall be transmitted by each issuing entity to
the county assessor as soon as possible after the date of issuance.
(b) A copy of any certificate of occupancy or other document that
shows the date of completion of new construction issued or finalized
by any city, county, or city and county, shall be transmitted by each
entity to the county assessor within 30 days after the date of
issuance or finalization.
(c) At the time an assessee files, or causes to be filed, an
approved set of building plans with the city, county, or city and
county, a scale copy of the floor plans and exterior dimensions of
the building designated for the county assessor shall be filed by the
assessee or his or her designee. The scale copy shall be in
sufficient detail to allow the assessor to determine the square
footage of the building and, in the case of a residential building,
the intended use of each room. The county assessor may require the
floor plans be provided to the county assessor in an electronic
format, if available. An assessee, or his or her designee, where
multiple units are to be constructed from the same set of building
plans, may file only one scale copy of floor plans and exterior
dimensions, so long as each application for a building permit with
respect to those building plans specifically identifies the scale
copy filed pursuant to this section. However, where the square
footage of any one of the multiple units is altered, an assessee, or
his or her designee, shall file a scale copy of the floor plan and
exterior dimensions that specifically identifies the alteration from
the previously filed scale copy. The receiving authority shall
transmit that copy to the county assessor as soon as possible after
the final plans are approved.
(d) The board of supervisors of a county may enact, by a majority
vote of its entire membership, an ordinance, resolution, or board
order that requires the local agency that approves the tentative map
or maps, and any conditions of approval for the tentative map or maps
that are filed with a county or a city in that county, to submit a
copy of the map or maps, and any conditions of approval for the
tentative map or maps, to the county assessor as soon as possible
after the map or maps are filed. The ordinance, resolution, or board
order may require that the map or maps be provided to the county
assessor in an electronic format, if available in that form.
SEC. 2. Section 155.20 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended
to read:
155.20. (a) Subject to the limitations listed in subdivisions
(b), (c), (d), and (e), a county board of supervisors may exempt from
property tax all real property with a base year value (as determined
pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 50) of Part 0.5), and
personal property with a full value so low that, if not exempt, the
total taxes, special assessments, and applicable subventions on the
property would amount to less than the cost of assessing and
collecting them.
(b) (1) The board of supervisors shall have no authority to exempt
property with a total base year value or full value of more than ten
thousand dollars ($10,000), except that this limitation is increased
to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in the case of a possessory
interest, for a temporary and transitory use, in a publicly owned
fairground, fairground facility, convention facility, or cultural
facility. For purposes of this paragraph, "publicly owned convention
or cultural facility" means a publicly owned convention center, civic
auditorium, theater, assembly hall, museum, or other civic building
that is used primarily for staging any of the following:
(A) Conventions, trade and consumer shows, or civic and community
events.
(B) Live theater, dance, or musical productions.
(C) Artistic, historic, technological, or educational exhibits.
(2) In determining the level of the exemption, the board of
supervisors shall determine at what level of exemption the costs of
assessing the property and collecting taxes, assessments, and
subventions on the property exceeds the proceeds to be collected. The
board of supervisors shall establish the exemption level uniformly
for different classes of property. In making this determination, the
board of supervisors may consider the total taxes, special
assessments, and applicable subventions for the year of assessment
only or for the year of assessment and succeeding years where
cumulative revenues will not exceed the cost of assessments and
collections.
(c) This section does not apply to those real or personal
properties enumerated in Section 52.
(d) The exemption authorized by this section shall be adopted by
the board of supervisors on or before the lien date for the fiscal
year to which the exemption is to apply and may, at the option of the
board of supervisors, continue in effect for succeeding fiscal
years. Any revision or rescission of the exemption shall be adopted
by the board of supervisors on or before the lien date for the fiscal
year to which that revision or rescission is to apply.
(e) Nothing in this section shall authorize either of the
following:
(1) A county board of supervisors to exempt new construction,
unless the new total base year value of the property, including this
new construction, is ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or less.
(2) An assessor to exempt or not to enroll any property of any
value, unless specifically authorized by a county board of
supervisors, pursuant to this section.
SEC. 3. Section 205.6 is added to the Revenue and Taxation Code,
to read:
205.6. In order to prevent duplications of the disabled veterans'
property tax exemption within the state and improper overlapping
with other benefits provided by law, county assessors may supply
information from disabled veterans' property tax exemption claims and
county records as is specified by written request of the board
necessary to fully identify all disabled veterans' property tax
exemption claims allowed by the assessors. The board may specify that
the information include all or a part of the names and social
security numbers of claimants and spouses and the identity and
location of the dwelling to which the exemption applies. The
information may be required in the form of data-processing media or
other media and in such format as is compatible with the
recordkeeping processes of the counties and the auditing procedures
of the state.
SEC. 4. Section 441.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended
to read:
441.5. (a) In lieu of completing the property statement as
printed by the assessor pursuant to Section 452, the assessor may
accept the information required of the taxpayer by any of the
following methods:
(1) Attachments to the property statement, provided that the
attachments shall be in a format as specified by the assessor and one
copy of the property statement, as printed by the assessor, is
signed by the taxpayer and carries appropriate reference to the data
attached.
(2) An electronically filed property statement that is
authenticated as provided in subdivision (k) of Section 441.
(3) A property statement that is substantially similar to the
property statement as printed by the assessor that is signed by the
taxpayer.
(b) The assessor may consider information provided by any of the
methods specified in subdivision (a) as the property statement for
purposes of this division.
SEC. 5. Section 2823 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended
to read:
2823. (a) The county assessor shall determine a separate
valuation on the parcel, and shall determine the valuation of the
remaining parcel. The sum of the valuations of the parcels shall
equal their total valuation before separation.
(b) A separate valuation shall not be made of any parcel covered
by a subdivision map filed for record after the lien date immediately
preceding the current fiscal year. However, this prohibition shall
not apply in any county in which the board of supervisors provides
for a separate valuation pursuant to an ordinance adopted by a
majority vote of the board. In connection with the recording of a
final subdivision map a segregation may nevertheless be made so as to
include all of the land within the subdivision in a single parcel.
(c) A separate valuation shall not be made dividing any piece of
property separately assessed in the original assessment into more
than four parcels. However, this prohibition shall not apply in any
county in which the board of supervisors so provides in an ordinance
adopted by a majority vote of the board.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a separate
valuation to divide any existing residential structure into a
subdivision, as defined in Section 66424 of the Government Code,
shall not be made until a subdivision final map or parcel map, as
described in Sections 66434 and 66445, respectively, of the
Government Code has been recorded as required by law. If the
requirement for a parcel map is waived pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 66428 of the Government Code, then the assessor shall not
assign any parcel numbers or prepare a separate assessment or
separate valuation, unless the applicant provides a copy of the
finding made by the legislative body or advisory agency, as required
by that subdivision.
(e) With respect to nonresidential subdivisions, without regard to
the number of parcels involved, which are covered by special
assessment liens the bonds for which are owned by a county, the board
of supervisors of that county may authorize the county assessor,
auditor, and tax collector to prorate the amounts for past due
property taxes and assessment liens, plus any interest and penalties
that may have accrued thereon, among the various parcels in the
subdivision. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the tax
collector may then enter into an installment payment agreement with
respect to the pending subdivision map and thereupon the agreement
shall be deemed the equivalent of a certificate pursuant to Section
66492 of the Government Code for purposes of permitting the filing of
the final map and shall be recorded together with the final map,
provided that the past due property taxes, assessment liens, and the
special assessment lien shall not be discharged of record by the
agreement, but shall be prorated among the parcels created by the
final map.
(f) If the application requested that the tax created by the
assessment of personal property, or leasehold improvements, or
possessory interests be allowed to remain as a lien on the parcel
sought to be separately valued, and the assessor determines that the
value of the parcel is sufficient to secure the payment of the tax,
the assessor shall set forth the value of such personal property, or
leasehold improvements, or possessory interests opposite the assessor'
s determination of the value of the parcel.
