Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to provide by ordinance for the reassessment of property that is damaged or destroyed, without fault on the part of the assessee, by a major misfortune or calamity, upon the application of the assessee or upon the action of the county assessor with the approval of the board of supervisors. With respect to an eligible county, defined to mean a county that, among other things, has adopted a reassessment ordinance as described above, existing law also authorizes owners of eligible property, as defined, who have applied for reassessment under that ordinance, to apply for and receive the deferral of the next installment of property taxes on the regular secured roll. It additionally authorizes an eligible county to adopt an ordinance allowing, upon the filing of a claim by an assessee, the deferral of that assessee’s unpaid and nondelinquent taxes on the supplemental roll. Existing law provides, as specified, for state allocations to eligible counties to reimburse those counties for the deferral of taxes on the regular secured and supplemental rolls, and requires eligible counties to in turn reimburse the state, as provided, for those allocations. Existing law also continuously appropriates, without regard to fiscal years, moneys in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties for purposes of the above provisions.

This bill would provide, as specified, for state allocations to eligible counties, declared by the Governor to be in a state of disaster as a result of storm, flooding, or any other related casualty that occurred in the county in 1995, of the estimated amounts of the reductions in property tax revenues on the regular secured and supplemental rolls as a result of reassessment of damaged properties under a reassessment ordinance, with the exception of any estimated property tax revenue reductions to school districts, as provided, and county offices of education. It would require those eligible counties receiving those allocations to reimburse the state for those amounts, where the estimated reductions in property tax revenues exceed actual reductions, excluding any property tax revenue lost by school districts, as provided, and county offices of education.

By requiring moneys continuously appropriated from the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties to be allocated by the Controller for the new purpose of reimbursing certain new eligible counties for the above property tax revenue reductions, this bill would make an appropriation.

The existing Personal Income Tax Law and the Bank and Corporation Tax Law provide for the carryover to specified taxable or income years of specified losses sustained as a result of various disasters occurring in California in an area determined by the President of the United States to warrant specified federal assistance, or proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of disaster.

This bill would extend those provisions to losses sustained as a result of storm, flooding, or any other related casualty that occurred in 1995, in any county of the state subject to a disaster declaration with respect to the storm and flooding. This bill would also authorize a taxpayer to make an election to claim a deduction for those losses on the tax return for the preceding year.

This bill would make certain legislative findings and declarations regarding a statewide public purpose of the bill.

This bill would provide that it would become operative only if AB 3 of the 1995–96 First Extraordinary Session and SB 2 of the 1995–96 First Extraordinary Session are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 1996. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.