A newly elected assemblymember has introduced a beak that could make parcel taxes more attractive to school districts by allowing  them to impose different tax rates on residential and commercial properties.

The bill, AB 59, by Assemblymember Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, would nullify a country Appeals Court ruling in December overturning an Alameda Unified Schoolhouse District bundle tax that levied i rate for residential and small commercial properties, and another for larger commercial properties. Bonta also represents Alameda.

A product of Proposition 13, package taxes typically are a flat tax imposed on every real estate parcel regardless of its size or use. They are i of the few means school districts tin raise additional revenues on their own. Packet taxes require a two-thirds majority to pass, although this year the Legislature volition consider a constitutional amendment lowering the requirement to 55 percent.

Fewer than a dozen school districts, mainly in the Bay Surface area, take package taxes with generally

Assemblymember Rob Bonta represents Oakland and Alameda.

Assemblymember Rob Bonta represents Oakland and Alameda.

higher rates for commercial properties; some have set lower rates for vacant state and distinguished between single-family and multi-residential unit properties. All of these taxes were jeopardized past the state Beginning District Court of Appeals ruling that rejected Alameda Unified'due south Measure H. Passed in 2008 and in effect for three years, it levied $120 per package for residential and small commercial backdrop, and fifteen cents per square foot on commercial properties larger than 2,000 square feet, up to a cap of $9,500 per yr.

The appeals courtroom said that a 1986 country statute clarifying Proffer 13 required that all bundle taxes be uniform. Districts like Alameda had interpreted the law to let compatible rates within classes of properties. And that's what AB 59 would do. Along with allowing "assessing taxes in accordance with rational classifications among taxpayers or types of holding within the schoolhouse district," the new statute would apply retroactively to districts that already have passed packet taxes similar to Alameda's – and spare the Alameda Unified district several meg dollars it would have had to reimburse property owners charged under Measure out H. In Nov, five districts in Los Angeles County, including Centinela Valley Union Loftier School District, jointly canonical a parcel revenue enhancement that charged 2 cents per square foot for residential properties and vii.five cents per square foot for other classes of holding. San Leandro Unified passed a measure taxing single-family, multi-family and business backdrop at dissimilar rates. San Francisco charges $xvi.10 per unit in multi-family parcels and $32.xx for unmarried-family and nonresidential properties, while Davis Joint Unified, reflecting a college town with many apartments, charges $20 per dwelling unit and $200 for all other parcels.

Because Proffer 13 prohibits imposing parcel taxes based on a property's value, advocates come across charging commercial and residential properties by the square human foot or at dissimilar rates every bit a fairer form of a package revenue enhancement. However, Loren Kaye, president of the California Foundation for Commerce and Education,* which is affiliated with the California Bedchamber of Commerce, said that his organization would strongly oppose AB 59 as imposing discriminatory taxes.

In Dec, the Alameda Unified Schoolhouse Board voted to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court. Passage of AB 59 would preempt the court process, which could have more than a year.

AB 59 would require only a bulk vote in the Legislature. SCA three, sponsored by Sen. Marker Leno, lowering the threshold for districts to pass a parcel tax to 55 percent, would require a two-thirds vote because it's a ramble amendment. As a alter to Proposition thirteen, information technology would be one of the first big tests of the power of the new Autonomous supermajority in the Legislature. If canonical, it would require voter approval on the Nov 2022 election ballot.

*Kaye also serves on the EdSource board of directors.

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