Split roll measure not only a costly job-killer, but difficult to implement - California Homeowners AssociationCalifornia Homeowners Association

By The Editorial Board at The OC Register

June 11, 2020

The California Assessors’ Association has come out in opposition to a recently qualified November ballot initiative that would change Proposition 13 to require the reassessment of many commercial and industrial properties to current market value.

In a letter to state lawmakers, CAA President Don Gaekle, assessor for Stanislaus County, cited the “immense anticipated statewide implementation costs and complexities, as well as the disparate impacts to the various California counties as the reasons the assessors felt “compelled” to oppose the measure that proponents have named The California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act of 2020.

Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone told lawmakers during an informational hearing on June 4 that the California Assessors’ Association completed a comprehensive analysis of the so-called “split roll” initiative with the goal of answering one question: Can assessors implement the initiative?

“Our conclusion is we cannot,” he testified, “It would be impossible — not difficult, but impossible — to administer all of the provisions of the measure as it is written.”