UPDATE: Split Roll Bill Revived - AB 2492

BOMA San Francisco Members:

We've learned from our tireless Sacramento advocates at BOMA California that AB 2492, the Split Roll measure authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D - San Francisco), was heard 'off the Floor' which means that there wasn't an opportunity for discussion or testimony by opponents.  The measure was being held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee before this unusual move.

Wasting no time, BOMA California coordinated a grass roots effort to convince members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee that the bill was bad public policy, although the die had already cast: The bill passed on what is known as a 'B Roll Call Vote – all Democrats in support and all Republicans opposed.  One Democrat, Jose Solario (D-Santa Ana), withheld his vote in support of our position.  As the vote moves to the Assembly Floor, such support from a moderate Democrat will be paramount.

AB 2492 purports to 'close a loophole' in Proposition 13, but BOMA disputes that.  Every example of a problem the author/sponsors of the bill have used has been shown to be counterfactual.  Indeed, testimony in an earlier Assembly committee by San Francisco Assessor Phil Ting incorrectly claimed that businesses are purposefully avoiding reassessment acquisitions and mergers.  Yet his own investigation on this issue reviled that this is simply not the case in San Francisco.  After he held a press conference to highlight the 'problem' the San Francisco Chronicle investigated this issue and found that many of Mr. Ting's claims about corporations not being reassessed were simply not true.  Many of these debunked examples are again being used to bolster AB 2492, although they don’t have a direct correlation to what the bill language suggests will happen if the measure was to be signed into law.  Click here to read the full Chronicle story.

The CalChamber, California Taxpayers Association, California Bankers Association, TechAmerica, and the California Manufacturers and Technology Associations, along with a huge coalition of member companies that lent their name to this effort, have all been essential in this battle, and we also want to acknowledge and thank all of our allies.