WHEREAS, On June 6, 1978, Proposition 13 was approved by almost two-thirds of California’s voters reducing property tax rates on homes, businesses, and farms by 57 percent; and

WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, California property tax rates were, on average, computed at a rate of almost 3 percent of a property’s market value, and there were no limitations on the amount or the manner by which property taxes could be increased; and

WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, there were instances in which real property was reassessed in a manner that gave rise to increases in value ranging from 50 percent to 100 percent above that property’s assessed value for the previous year, resulting in corresponding increases in the property owner’s tax bill; and

WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, many senior citizens and middle-income families were forced to sell their homes because of prohibitively high property tax bills; and

WHEREAS, With the approval of Proposition 13, real property values were adjusted to a base value equal to the 1976 assessed value of that real property, thereby introducing an objective standard upon which real property would be taxed and ending the previous subjective standard for assessment that engendered the property tax assessment abuses that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s; and

WHEREAS, With the passage of Proposition 13, taxpayers, for the first time, were provided a measure of certainty with respect to their property taxes; and

WHEREAS, With the passage of Proposition 13, certainty in property taxation was shifted from the hands of the tax collector to the hands of the taxpayer, due to Proposition 13 establishing a predictable method of property tax assessment that removed the prior problems associated with subjective tax assessments by tax assessors and protected homeowners from prohibitively high tax property tax increases; and

WHEREAS, Since the passage of Proposition 13, California has outperformed all other states in almost every conceivable measure, including personal income growth, employment growth, and appreciation of real property values; and

WHEREAS, Proposition 13 has become a nationwide symbol for taxpayer revolt and for citizens exercising control and power over their governance; and

WHEREAS, Proposition 13 has been called California’s version of the Boston Tea Party; and

WHEREAS, Friday, June 6, 2003, marks the 25th year following the voter’s approval of Proposition 13; now, therefore, be it