State Controller: property tax postponement.

The Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law, until February 20, 2009, authorized a claimant, as defined, to file a claim with the Controller to postpone the payment of ad valorem property taxes, if household income, as defined, did not exceed specified amounts. That law authorized the Controller, upon approval of the claim, to either make a payment directly to specified entities, or to issue the claimant a certificate of eligibility that constituted a written promise of the state to pay the amount specified on the certificate, as provided. That law required these payments to be made out of specified funds appropriated to the Controller, and also required certain repaid property tax postponement payments to be paid into an impound account and transferred, as specified, to the General Fund. That law also required all sums paid by the Controller for postponed property taxes to be secured by a lien in favor of the State of California. Existing law, on and after February 20, 2009, prohibits a person from filing a claim for postponement, and prohibits the Controller from accepting applications for postponement, under the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law. This bill would make inoperative the prohibition against a person filing a claim for postponement and the Controller from accepting applications for postponement under the program as of July 1, 2016, and would repeal this prohibition on January 1, 2017. This bill would authorize a claim for postponement to be filed after September 1 of the fiscal year in which the postponement is claimed and on or before April 10 of that fiscal year, as specified. This bill would limit the household income amount of a claimant to $35,000 and would exclude losses and nonexpenses from "income" for purposes of these provisions. This bill would also exclude mobilehomes and houseboats from the scope of these provisions, and make conforming changes to related provisions. The Senior Citizens Mobilehome Property Tax Postponement Law provides for all amounts postponed in the case of a mobilehome to be due if the claimant dies, unless the surviving spouse or other person eligible to postpone continues to occupy the mobilehome. This bill would limit this exception to the circumstance in which the surviving spouse who was previously approved continues to occupy the mobilehome. This bill would create in the State Treasury a Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund and would require the fund to be interest-bearing at a specified rate. This bill would delete the requirement that funds be placed in an impound account and would, instead, require that repaid property tax postponement payments be directly deposited into the newly created fund. The bill would require the Controller to transfer any moneys in the fund in excess of specified amounts to the General Fund each year. The bill would require any impound account funds remaining upon the enactment of this bill to be transferred to the fund. The bill would continuously appropriate these funds to the Controller for purposes of administering the property tax postponement program, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Controller to establish a fee to implement these provisions, not to exceed $10. This bill would authorize the Controller to charge a fee not exceeding $30. Existing law authorizes the Controller to subordinate the lien for postponed property taxes if the Controller determines subordination is appropriate. This bill would eliminate that authorization and make other conforming changes. Existing law requires that the owner's equity interest in the residential dwelling be at least 20% of the full value of the property at the time the claimant files an initial postponement claim in order to be eligible to participate in the postponement program. This bill would increase the equity requirement to at least 40% for each postponement claim. Existing law requires the repayment of postponed taxes in specified circumstances. This bill would, in addition, require repayment if the claimant refinances the dwelling or has elected to participate in a revenue mortgage program for the dwelling. The bill would require the tax collector or the assessor to notify the Controller if assessment records applicable to property for which taxes have been postponed reveal a change in ownership within 60 days of processing that change, and require that the county tax collector or assessor notify the Controller within 60 days of all property subject to a "Notice of Lien for Postponed Property Taxes" and processed for notice of becoming tax defaulted or of the claimant for that property, if residential, transferring ownership or changing his or her mailing address, or having been determined to be deceased. Existing law requires a claim for postponement to be filed after May 15 of the calendar year in which the fiscal year for which postponement is claimed begins, and on or before December 10 of that fiscal year. This bill would instead require a claim for postponement to be filed after September 1 of the calendar year in which the fiscal year for which postponement is claimed begins, and on or before April 10 of that fiscal year. Existing law makes optional certain duties of local agencies related to recordation of the tax lien. This bill would delete that provision, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the notice of lien to be recorded within 14 days of the transfer of funds and notice of lien to the county by the Controller. The bill would impose additional requirements in the case of liens upon mobilehome loans established prior to February 20, 2009, and specify procedures to be followed by the Controller if the obligation secured by the lien is paid in full or otherwise discharged. Existing law requires, if a postponement claim, as specified, is filed timely but before the delinquency date of the first or 2nd installment of property taxes, that any delinquent penalties and interest for the fiscal year be canceled unless the failure to perfect the claim was due to willful neglect on the part of the claimant or representative, in which case the certificates of eligibility for the fiscal year can be used to pay delinquent taxes only if accompanied by sufficient amounts to pay the delinquent interest and penalties. This bill would instead require, if a postponement claim is filed timely before the delinquency date of the 2nd installment of property taxes on the secured roll, that any delinquent penalties, costs, fees, and interest accrued for the fiscal year be canceled. This bill would instead require, in the event of willful neglect to perfect the claim, that an electronic funds transfer for that current fiscal year be used to pay only the delinquent taxes. This bill would authorize the tax collector, if the payment amount sufficient to pay all of the delinquent penalties, costs, fees, and interest is not received by the tax collector within 30 days from the date of the electronic funds transfer, to return the electronic funds transfer to the Controller to deny the postponement claim. This bill would require the Controller to provide a specified notification to the claimant and a copy of the notification to the tax collector. This bill would also require the Controller, upon written request of the tax collector, to provide the tax collector with information that is required for the preparation and enforcement of the sale of tax-defaulted property. The bill would require the tax collector or assessor, in the case of a tax-defaulted property sale, to include the outstanding balance of the property tax postponement loan in the minimum bid. The bill would require that, in the event that the property fails to receive the minimum bid and the minimum bid is reduced, all moneys paid to the Controller's office and county tax collector be a proportionate allocation of the total moneys owed. The bill would also require the tax collector or his or her designee to certify, under penalty of perjury, that the information is requested for these purposes. This bill would also provide that any information provided to the tax collector is not a public record and is not open to public inspection. By requiring the tax collector to make a certification under penalty of perjury, this bill would expand the crime of perjury thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a tax collector, 5 years or more after a nonresidential commercial property has become tax defaulted, to sell the property, as specified. This bill would authorize a county to adopt conditions and procedures to delay the sale of property that it deems may be eligible to file a property tax postponement claim, as specified, and to cancel any delinquent penalties, costs, fees, and interest associated with these properties. Existing law requires the price at which certain tax-defaulted property may be offered for sale to be the total amount necessary to redeem the property, plus costs. This bill would require the outstanding balance, as defined, of any property tax postponement loan to also be included in the price described above. Existing law requires, after certain other amounts have been satisfied, the proceeds from the sale of tax-defaulted property to be distributed to taxing agencies in specified proportions to each assessment fund with the remaining balance to each tax fund. This bill would require the proceeds remaining after the distributions described above to be distributed to the State Controller for the outstanding balance of any property tax postponement loan. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.