Property taxation: valuation: certificated aircraft.

Existing property tax law requires the personal property of an air carrier to be taxed at its fair market value, and the California Constitution requires property subject to ad valorem property taxation to be assessed in the county in which it is situated. Existing property tax law, for the 2005–06 fiscal year to the 2016–17 fiscal year, inclusive, specified a formula to determine the preallocated fair market value of certificated aircraft of a commercial air carrier. Existing property tax law provides an allocation formula to be used by each assessor that is generally based on the proportionate amount of time that certificated aircraft spend within the state and within each county during a representative period designated by the State Board of Equalization, as provided. This bill would specify that this allocation formula applies only to fiscal years before the 2020–21 fiscal year and repeals the requirement that the State Board of Equalization designate a representative period. The bill, for the 2020–21 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, would establish a new formula for allocating the taxable value of certificated aircraft based on the time spent in the state in the previous calendar year, with appropriate adjustments for time spent in maintenance in this state. The bill would require the board, after consultation with the California Assessors' Association and representatives of commercial air carriers, to promulgate emergency regulations and produce forms and instructions necessary to implement the allocation formula established by the bill. Previously existing law, until December 31, 2016, required the Aircraft Advisory Subcommittee of the California Assessors' Association to designate, after soliciting input from commercial air carriers operating in the state, a lead county assessor's office for each commercial air carrier operating certificated aircraft in this state in an assessment year, and required the lead county assessor to calculate, based on the above-described statutory formula, the value of the air carrier's personal property and to transmit these calculations to other county assessors, but specified that each county assessor was responsible for assessing and enrolling the taxable value of the property in the assessor's county, as provided. Previously existing law, until December 31, 2016, also required the lead county assessor's office to lead a team to audit the books and records of commercial air carriers, and also required a commercial air carrier that received a notice of the designation of a lead county assessor's office to file one signed property statement with the lead county assessor's office for its personal property at all airport locations and fixtures at all airport locations. This bill would require the Aircraft Advisory Subcommittee of the California Assessor's Association, after soliciting input from commercial air carriers operating in the state, on or before March 1, 2020, and on or before each March 1 thereafter, to designate a lead county assessor's office for each commercial air carrier operating certificated aircraft. The bill would also require the Aircraft Advisory Subcommittee of the California Assessor's Association, every 3rd year thereafter, to redesignate a lead county assessor's office for these air carriers. The bill, similar to the above-described provisions, would require the lead county assessor's office to, among other things, calculate the unallocated value of the certificated aircraft of each commercial air carrier to which that assessor is designated and transmit these calculations to other county assessors, as provided, and lead a team to audit the commercial air carriers. The bill would reenact the above-described provisions requiring a commercial air carrier to file one property statement with the lead county assessor's office. By adding to the duties of an assessor designated as a lead county assessor for purposes of certificated aircraft valuation for property taxation, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.