Proposition 19

Changes Certain Property Tax Rules

legislative constitutional amendment

Official Summary

Allows homeowners who are over 55, disabled, or wildfire/disaster victims to transfer primary residence’s tax base to replacement residence. Changes taxation of family-property transfers. Establishes fire protection services fund.

Fiscal Impact: Local governments could gain tens of millions of dollars of property tax revenue per year, probably growing over time to a few hundred million dollars per year. Schools could receive similar property tax gains.

• Official CA Voter Guide Summary ; text of proposed law

• Legislative Analyst Office Analysis

• Show Me The Money

  • support: $37,794,775 - CA Assn of Realtors

  • oppose: $45,050

• Ballotpedia Summary

• VotersEdge

Notes

Currently, homeowners who are over 55 or severely disabled or whose property has been impacted by a natural disaster / contamination can move within the same county (or to certain other counties) and keep paying the same amount of property taxes if their new home is not more expensive than their existing home. Homeowners who are over 55 or severely disabled generally can use these special rules only once in their lifetime.

New:

• Allows moves anywhere in the state, instead of just within the county or to a county that allows the transfer of cost basis.

• Allows the purchase of a more expensive home - their property tax bill would still go up but not by as much as it would for other homebuyers.

• Homeowners who are over 55 or severely disabled could use the special rules three times in their lifetime, instead of once.

Special rules also allow properties to pass between parents and children without an increase in the property tax bill. These rules also apply to grandparents and grandchildren if the grandchildren’s parents are deceased.

New:

• The special inheritance rules would apply only to a primary home or farm, and would go up if the value of the property exceeds the property’s taxable value by more than $1 million (adjusted for inflation every two years). In this case, the tax bill would go up but not as much as it would if the property were sold to someone else.

Also creates California Fire Response Fund (CFRF) and County Revenue Protection Fund (CRPF).