Bill Text: CA SCR25 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: The 35th anniversary of the enactment of Proposition 13.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 9)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-05-16 - Failed passage in committee. (Ayes 2. Noes 0. Page 937.) Reconsideration granted. [SCR25 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SCR25-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 25 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 7, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wyland
( Coauthors: Senators
Anderson, Berryhill, Fuller, Gaines,
Huff, Knight, Nielsen,
and Walters )
MARCH 14, 2013
Relative to the 35th anniversary of Proposition 13.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 25, as amended, Wyland. The 35th anniversary of the enactment
of Proposition 13.
This measure would commemorate June 6, 2013, as the 35th
anniversary of the approval of Proposition 13 by California voters.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, On June 6, 1978, Proposition 13, officially titled the
"People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation," and popularly known
as the "Jarvis-Gann Initiative," was overwhelmingly approved by
California's voters, reducing property tax rates on homes,
businesses, and farms, and capping the rate of increase in the
future; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, California's
raging inflation had sent property tax bills in California soaring so
high that many families had to sell their homes because they could
not afford to pay their taxes; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, property tax
assessments showed wider divergences than assessment disparities
under the current acquisition-value system; 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, In the 35 years following the passage of Proposition 13,
the average homeowner has saved tens of thousands of dollars in
property tax payments, money that, that
was able to be spent in the economy to create jobs and foster
economic development; and
WHEREAS, The volatility of income and sales tax revenue to the
state and local governments is a major flaw in California's tax
system, while Proposition 13 has rendered California's property taxes
as a stable and predictable source of public revenue, even during
economic downturns, that has provided a major benefit to local
governments throughout California; and
WHEREAS, Since the passage of Proposition 13, proposed
alternatives to Proposition 13 would have had a variety of unwelcome
effects, including substantial tax increases for low-income and
elderly homeowners; and
WHEREAS, Since the passage of Proposition 13, voters' 2-to-1
rejection in 1992 of Proposition 167 suggests that the split roll
alternative to the current system, in which business would pay
property taxes at a rate higher than that imposed on residential
properties, finds little favor with voters; and
WHEREAS, Proposition 13 has become a nationwide symbol for
taxpayer revolt and for citizens exercising control and power over
their governance; and
WHEREAS, Thursday, June 6, 2013, marks the 35th year following the
voters' approval of Proposition 13; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature, in recognition of the
impact Proposition 13 has had on the State of California, formally
commemorates June 6, 2013, as the 35th anniversary date of
Proposition 13; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature reaffirm its support for
Proposition 13 and the benefit that it provides to individual
homeowners and to the state's overall economy; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the Governor of the State of California, and to the
author for appropriate distribution.
