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AP19:075
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Increases Funding for Public Schools, Community Colleges, And Local Government Services by Changing Tax Assessment of Commercial and Industrial Property. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.
SACRAMENTO, CA - Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that the proponents of a new initiative were cleared to begin collecting petition signatures today.
The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponents and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponents and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:
INCREASES FUNDING FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS, COMMUNITY COLLEGES, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES BY CHANGING TAX ASSESSMENT OF COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Increases funding for K-12 public schools, community colleges, and local governments by requiring that commercial and industrial real property be taxed based on current market value. Exempts from this change: residential properties; agricultural properties; and owners of commercial and industrial properties with combined value of $3 million or less. Increased education funding will supplement existing school funding guarantees. Exempts small businesses from personal property tax; for other businesses, exempts $500,000 worth of personal property. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Net increase in annual property tax revenues of $7.5 billion to $12 billion in most years, depending on the strength of real estate markets. After backfilling state income tax losses related to the measure and paying for county administrative costs, the remaining $6.5 billion to $11.5 billion would be allocated to schools (40 percent) and other local governments (60 percent). (19-0008.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1870 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 19-0008.
The proponents of the measure, Anthony Thigpenn, Carol Moon Goldberg, and Benjamin McBride, must collect signatures of 997,139 registered voters (eight percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2018 general election) in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponents have 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than April 14, 2020. The proponents can be reached c/o Lance H. Olson of Olson, Hagel & Fishburn, LLP at (916) 442-2952. The address for Olson et al., LLP is 555 Capitol Mall, Suite 400, Sacramento, CA 95814.
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