CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2003–2004 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 109
Introduced by
Assembly Member
Samuelian
(Principal Coauthor(s):
Senator
McClintock)
(Coauthor(s):
Assembly Member
Aghazarian, Bates, Benoit, Bogh, Campbell, Cogdill, Cox, Daucher, Dutton, Garcia, Harman, Haynes, Shirley Horton, Houston, Keene, La Malfa, La Suer, Leslie, Maddox, Maldonado, Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy, Nakanishi, Pacheco, Plescia, Richman, Runner, Spitzer, Strickland, Wyland)
(Coauthor(s):
Senator
Aanestad, Ashburn, Denham, Hollingsworth, Johnson, Morrow, Oller)
|
May 28, 2003 |
Relative to the 25th Anniversary of Proposition 13.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 109, as introduced, Samuelian.
The 25th Anniversary of the Enactment of Proposition 13.
This measure would commemorate June 6, 2003, as the 25th anniversary of the approval of Proposition 13.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, On June 6, 1978, Proposition 13, which added Article XIII A to the California Constitution, was approved by almost two-thirds of California’s voters; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, there were no limitations on the amount or manner by which property taxes could be increased; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, under the “highest and best use” methodology for real property assessment, California’s property owners were taxed on the unrealized appreciation in the value of their property; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, many senior citizens and middle-income families were forced to sell their homes because of escalating property taxes that resulted from the “highest and best use” methodology for real property assessment; and
WHEREAS, With the approval of Proposition 13, the value of real property held on July 1, 1979, was adjusted to a base value equal to the 1975–76 assessed value of that real property; and
WHEREAS, Proposition 13 requires real property to be assessed, using an “acquisition value” methodology for real property assessment, measured by the market or ‛acquisition‛ value of that property; and
WHEREAS, Proposition 13 limits increases in assessments of property held by the same owner to 2 percent, or less, per year; and
WHEREAS, In 1992, the constitutionality of the “acquisition value” methodology for real property assessment instituted by Proposition 13 was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case of Nordlinger v. Hahn; and
WHEREAS, The passage of Proposition 13 has created certainty and predictability in the manner in which California’s real property taxes are assessed; and
WHEREAS, Studies have shown that since the adoption of Proposition 13, low- and middle-income taxpayers, on average, pay less property taxes under the “acquisition value” methodology for real property assessment than they would have paid under the former “highest and best use” methodology for real property assessment that was replaced by Proposition 13; and
WHEREAS, Studies have additionally shown that, since the adoption of Proposition 13, property tax revenues have increased, on average, by 9.8 percent per year; and
WHEREAS, In addition to stabilizing property tax assessments, Proposition 13 has also impacted the methodology by which state and local taxes are increased or added by requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for the enactment of state taxes that increase state revenues and by requiring a two-thirds vote of the electorate for the approval of taxes proposed by a local government that are earmarked or designated for special purposes; and
WHEREAS, Friday, June 6, 2003, marks the 25th year following the voters’ approval of Proposition 13; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature, in recognition of the impact Proposition 13 has had on the State of California, formally commemorates June 6, 2003, as the 25th anniversary date of Proposition 13; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.