Property taxes: welfare exemption: community land trust.

Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California Constitution, provides for a "welfare exemption" for property used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable purposes and that is owned or operated by certain types of nonprofit entities, if certain qualifying criteria are met. Existing law provides that property is within the welfare exemption if that property is owned by a community land trust, as defined, otherwise qualifying for the welfare exemption, and specified conditions are met, including that the property is being or will be developed or rehabilitated as housing, as specified. Existing law requires the exemption to apply for 5 lien dates, as provided. Existing law requires the community land trust to be liable for property tax for the years for which the property was exempt if the property was not developed or rehabilitated, or if the development or rehabilitation is not in the course of construction, within a specified timeframe, depending on when the community land trust acquired the property. Existing law requires the community land trust to notify the assessor if property owned by the community land trust is not in the course of construction by these dates. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2027. The bill would make various conforming changes, including with respect to the lien dates for which the exemption applies. The bill would extend the application of the exemption, in the case of property acquired by the community land trust before January 1, 2022, to lien dates occurring on and after January 1 2020, and before January 1, 2027. By extending the application of requirements on local government officials with respect to the exemption provided by this bill, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires that any bill introduced on or after January 1, 2020, that would authorize certain tax expenditures, as defined, or tax exemptions contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure or exemption will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. 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. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.