Taxation.

The Committee on Revenue and Taxation, chaired by Senators McNerney, Ashby, Grayson, Umberg, and Valladares, advances a measure that reorganizes several tax- and revenue-related rules by revising remittance timing, adjusting the minimum bid mechanism for tax-defaulted property, and aligning the operative timing of local tax ordinances with election processes, while also extending certain treatment of disregarded single‑member LLCs in film credits and updating cigarette tax administration to reflect departmental responsibilities.

First, remittance timing would be clarified so that, in the absence of any specified dates, a remittance to a taxing agency is deemed received on the date it is received by the county treasurer-tax collector, with existing provisions for mail, delivery service, and electronic payments remaining in place as applicable. The property tax sale framework would add a new basis for reducing the minimum price at which a tax-defaulted property may be sold: if the total amount needed to redeem decreases because of the removal or reduction of defaulted taxes tied to the removal or reduction of a special assessment or a direct charge against the property, the minimum price may be reduced under the same conditions that already permit reductions for partial redemptions or cancellations.

Second, the measure would revise the operative timing for ordinances enacted under the Transactions and Use Tax Law to specify that such ordinances become operative on the first day of a calendar quarter and no earlier than after the election on the ordinance proposing the tax, reinforcing alignment with electoral timing. It would also modify provisions governing credits under the motion picture tax framework to allow credits generated by a disregarded single‑member LLC under the 3.0 program to be assignable to a corporation that directly or indirectly owns the LLC, or to an affiliated corporation, matching treatment already extended to other credits and maintaining the same limitation that such assignments be timely and within the statutory framework.

Lastly, the measure would codify reorganizational references in cigarette and tobacco tax regulatory provisions, replacing references to the State Board of Equalization with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to reflect the transfer of duties that occurred in 2017. It would also clarify definitions and delivery-sale requirements related to the federal PACT Act and state delivery-sale provisions, including requirements that delivery sellers obtain applicable licenses, comply with escrow or payment obligations, and report delivery sales to state authorities, with specified penalties for violations and enforcement by the Attorney General. The provisions on delivery sales establish conditions for compliance with federal and state law and set out a civil-penalty schedule for repeated violations.