Bill for Collecting Taxes on New Houses Gains in Assembly

The Assembly Education Committee has breathed new life into a measure sought by five Santa Clarita Valley school districts to speed the collection of a voter-approved tax on new housing to pay for schools.

The committee on Monday approved, by a 12-0 vote, the measure by Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) and sent it to the Ways and Means Committee. The Education Committee last month rejected a tougher version of the bill, which would have allowed the taxes to be collected and held in a special escrow account pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by developers who object to the tax.

Under the compromise legislation approved Monday, the Legislature would direct the courts, including appellate courts, to give top priority to the case, scheduled to go to trial today in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The measure would not allow the schools to collect the taxes until the case is settled, said Charles Fennessey, an aide to Davis. “This was the best we could do in that committee,” Fennessey declared.

On June 2, voters in five school districts--William S. Hart, Newhall, Saugus, Castaic and Sulphur Springs--approved a tax of up to $6,300 per home for new schools in the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley. However, there was no legal mechanism to collect the tax.

Hence, the schools sought help from Davis, whose original bill, which would have established a method to collect the taxes, was approved by the state Senate. Meantime, builders filed suit to block the imposition of the tax and launched a lobbying drive against the bill.

The suit was brought by the California Building Industry Assn. and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, which maintain that voters do not have the authority to impose such taxes because Proposition 62, approved last November, took away from special districts the power to tax.