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AB-3268 Property taxation: low-value exemption: possessory interests in publicly owned streets and sidewalks.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 04/18/2024 09:00 PM
AB3268:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 09, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 3268

Introduced by Assembly Member Low

February 16, 2024

An act to amend Section 155.20 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation. taxation, to take effect immediately, tax levy.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 3268, as amended, Low. Property taxation: low-value exemption: possessory interests in publicly owned streets and sidewalks.
The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, with the approval of 2/3 of the membership of each house, to allow a county board of supervisors to exempt from property taxation those properties having a value too low to justify the costs of assessment and collection. Existing property tax law implementing this authority generally limits any exemption granted under this constitutional provision by a county board of supervisors to real property with a total base year value, or personal property with a full value, not exceeding $10,000, or $50,000 for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, in the case of possessory interests and, in the case of certain possessory interests, as specified. for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2025.
This bill would authorize a county board of supervisors, for purposes of making an exemption as described above, to establish a rebuttable presumption that a possessory interest in a publicly owned street or sidewalk for the purpose of operating a parklet has a value too low to justify the costs of assessment and collection. would instead apply the above-described authority for an exemption of $50,000 to lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2030, in the case of possessory interests and, in the case of certain possessory interests, to lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2030.
Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements.
This bill would declare findings and reporting requirements in compliance with this requirement, including that each county assessor report to the State Board of Equalization, as specified, and post that information on its internet website. By imposing additional duties on each county assessor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation.
This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill.
This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NOYES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 155.20 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is amended to read:

155.20.
 (a) (1)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) as adjusted by an annual inflation factor pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 110.1, 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.

(2)For purposes of making an exemption pursuant to paragraph (1), a county board of supervisors may establish a rebuttable presumption that a possessory interest in a publicly owned street or sidewalk for purposes of operating a parklet has 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) (A) The board of supervisors shall have no authority to exempt property with a total base year value, as adjusted by an annual inflation factor pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 110.1, or full value of more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (B).
(B) The limitation specified in subparagraph (A) on the amount of the exemption authorized by this section shall be increased as follows:
(i) For lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, 2030, the limitation is increased to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) in the case of a possessory interest.
(ii) For lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2025, 2030, the 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:
(I) Conventions, trade and consumer shows, or civic and community events.
(II) Live theater, dance, or musical productions.
(III) 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.
(3) In administering the exemption authorized by this section, the assessor may opt either to not enroll the property on the assessment roll or to enroll the property and apply the exemption.
(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 a county board of supervisors to exempt new construction, unless the new total base year value, as adjusted by an annual inflation factor pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 110.1, of the property, including this new construction, is ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or less.

SEC. 2.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to apply the requirements of Section 41 of the Revenue and Taxation Code to this act. Therefore, the Legislature finds and declares the following with respect to the tax exemption provided by Section 155.20 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, as amended by Section 1 of this act:
(a) The specific goals, purposes, and objectives of expanding the low-value property tax exemption pursuant to this act are to provide county governments with the authority to increase the amount of low-value property exemption for possessory interests allowed under their ordinances up to the level that their cost-benefit analysis indicates in order to further the goal of cost-effective property tax administration.
(b) Detailed performance indicators for the Legislature to use in determining whether the expanded low-value property tax exemption meets the goals, purposes, and objectives described in subdivision (a) shall be the number of counties in this state that expand that exemption as authorized by this act.
(c) The data collection requirements for determining whether the expanded low-value property tax exemption is meeting, failing to meet, or exceeding the specific goals, purposes, and objectives described in subdivision (a) are as follows:
(1) Each county assessor shall report to the State Board of Equalization whether and by what amount the county has increased the low-value property tax exemption for possessory interests as authorized by this act.
(2) In order to make the information reported to pursuant to paragraph (1) widely available to the public, the State Board of Equalization shall post that information on its internet website.

SEC. 3.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

SEC. 4.

 Notwithstanding Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made by this act and the state shall not reimburse any local agency for any property tax revenues lost by it pursuant to this act.

SEC. 5.

 This act provides for a tax levy within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect.