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AB-7 Vehicle license fees.(2003-2004)

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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2003–2004 5th Ext.

Assembly Bill
No. 7

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Lowenthal

December 03, 2003

An act to repeal Item 9100-102-0001 of Section 2.00 of Chapter 157 of the Statutes of 2003, relating to vehicle license fees, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 7, as introduced, Lowenthal. Vehicle license fees.
The Vehicle License Fee (VLF) Law establishes, in lieu of any ad valorem property tax upon vehicles, an annual license fee for any vehicle subject to registration in this state in the amount of 2% of the market value of that vehicle, as specified. The VLF Law offsets this amount by 67.5% for vehicle license fees with a final due date on or after July 1, 2001.
Existing law requires the Controller, upon receipt of monthly notification from the Department of Motor Vehicles, to transfer into specified funds in the General Fund an amount equal to those amounts necessary to reimburse local governments for losses resulting from the VLF offset. Existing law limits the amount of moneys available for reimbursement to local governments during the 2003–04 fiscal year to $1,000.
This bill would repeal the existing $1,000 reimbursement limitation and would instead appropriate $3,625,000,000 from the General Fund for reimbursement to local governments for revenue losses resulting from the application of the VLF offsets.
Existing law requires the VLF offsets to be proportionately reduced within 90 days of a finding that there are insufficient moneys available to be transferred from the General Fund to fully fund the vehicle license fee offsets. The vehicle license fee offset was reduced to zero for the period beginning on and after October 1, 2003. On November 17, 2003, that reduction of the vehicle license fee offset was rescinded.
This bill would appropriate $10,300,000 from the General Fund for allocation to the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of administering refunds to taxpayers that paid vehicle license fees with a final due date on and after October 1, 2003, for which vehicle license fee offsets were not allowed.
This bill will declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Item 9100-102-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2003 (Chapter 157 of the Statutes of 2003) is repealed.

SEC. 2.

 The sum of three billion six hundred twenty-five million dollars ($3,625,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund for allocation during the 2003–04 fiscal year by the Controller, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 11000, for the transfers required to be made to reimburse local governments for revenue losses resulting from the application of the vehicle license fee offsets authorized pursuant to Section 10754.

SEC. 3.

 (a) The sum of ten million three hundred thousand dollars ($10,300,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of administering vehicle license fees offset refunds issued to those taxpayers that paid vehicle license fees with a final due date on and after October 1, 2003, to which vehicle license fee offsets were not applied.
(b) The amount of moneys appropriated for the purpose set forth in subdivision (a) shall be available for expenditure only upon approval by the Department of Finance.

SEC. 4.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to reimburse local governments for the revenue losses associated with the vehicle license fee offset and to provide fair and equal treatment to California taxpayers, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.