BILL NUMBER: SCR 25INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Wyland MARCH 14, 2013 Relative to the 35th anniversary of Proposition 13. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 25, as introduced, Wyland. The 35th anniversary of the enactment of Proposition 13. This measure would commemorate June 6, 2013, as the 35th anniversary of the approval of Proposition 13 by California voters. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, On June 6, 1978, Proposition 13, officially titled the "People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation," and popularly known as the "Jarvis-Gann Initiative," was overwhelmingly approved by California's voters, reducing property tax rates on homes, businesses, and farms, and capping the rate of increase in the future; and WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, California's raging inflation had sent property tax bills in California soaring so high that many families had to sell their homes because they could not afford to pay their taxes; and WHEREAS, Prior to the adoption of Proposition 13, property tax assessments showed wider divergences than assessment disparities under the current acquisition-value system; and WHEREAS, With the approval of Proposition 13, real property values were adjusted to a base value equal to the 1976 assessed value of that real property, thereby introducing an objective standard upon which real property would be taxed and ending the previous subjective standard for assessment that engendered the property tax assessment abuses that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s; and WHEREAS, With the passage of Proposition 13, taxpayers, for the first time, were provided a measure of certainty with respect to their property taxes; and WHEREAS, In the 35 years following the passage of Proposition 13, the average homeowner has saved tens of thousands of dollars in property tax payments, money that, was able to be spent in the economy to create jobs and foster economic development; and WHEREAS, Since the passage of Proposition 13, proposed alternatives to Proposition 13 would have had a variety of unwelcome effects, including substantial tax increases for low-income and elderly homeowners; and WHEREAS, Since the passage of Proposition 13, voters' 2-to-1 rejection in 1992 of Proposition 167 suggests that the split roll alternative to the current system, in which business would pay property taxes at a rate higher than that imposed on residential properties, finds little favor with voters; and WHEREAS, Proposition 13 has become a nationwide symbol for taxpayer revolt and for citizens exercising control and power over their governance; and WHEREAS, Thursday, June 6, 2013, marks the 35th year following the voters' approval of Proposition 13; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature, in recognition of the impact Proposition 13 has had on the State of California, formally commemorates June 6, 2013, as the 35th anniversary date of Proposition 13; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature reaffirm its support for Proposition 13 and the benefit that it provides to individual homeowners and to the state's overall economy; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the Governor of the State of California, and to the author for appropriate distribution.