Senate OKs Bill Easing Property Tax Rules for Disabled

The Senate, moving to add another exemption to the property tax system created by Proposition 13 in 1978, easily approved legislation on Thursday that would ask California voters to allow “severely disabled” people to buy and sell homes without facing higher property tax assessments.

Even as the Senate voted 30 to 3 to send the proposed constitutional amendment to the Assembly, some senators questioned who would benefit from the measure, which its author, Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), hopes to submit to voters in November.

While an aide to Lockyer predicted that the measure would fare well in the lower house, he acknowledged that it could be tough to get it past Gov. George Deukmejian, whose Department of Finance is worried about revenue loss to the state. Local government organizations likewise are opposed.

Equal or Lesser Value

Under Lockyer’s proposal, anyone considered severely disabled would be allowed to sell a home and buy another of equal or lesser value within the same county while keeping the property tax assessment base of the old home. Disabled people also could add such features as wheelchair ramps and extra-wide doors without triggering a higher assessment.

Under Proposition 13, a home is reappraised for tax purposes whenever it is sold or remodeled.

Critics of the Lockyer measure noted that it makes no attempt to specify which types and degrees of disabilities would qualify for the exemption and makes no exception for the affluent.

“I know a number of very, very wealthy individuals who would qualify as disabled,” said Sen. Marian Bergeson of Newport Beach, one of the three Republicans to cast the only votes against the Lockyer measure.

Different Viewpoint

Sen. Newton Russell of Glendale, who along with Sen. Becky Morgan of Los Altos Hills also voted no, said he is concerned that other groups will seek similar exemptions.

“We’re going to open up a Pandora’s box that will really have an adverse impact upon each county as we widen” the exemptions, Newton said.

But Lockyer, charging that most of the property tax relief of Proposition 13 “went to the wealthy organizations, people and businesses,” said his measure would merely extend to a worthy group exceptions already granted to people over 55 and to those whose homes are damaged by fires or other disasters.

Specifics Later

He said the specifics of who would be considered “severely disabled” would be spelled out in companion legislation that would be implemented if voters authorize the Legislature to enact such an exemption.

Companion legislation by Sen. Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland) that is currently before the Senate Appropriations Committee already has drawn the ire of the governor’s Department of Finance. Officials there said the Petris measure’s definitions of disabled are so ambiguous that they could result in “significant” costs to the state.

For fiscal year 1989-90, the department estimated that the measure would result in a $4.3-million local property tax loss. For fiscal 1990-91, the property tax loss would rise to more than $12 million, the department estimated.