Introduction
An act to amend Section 5002.6 of the Public Resources Code, relating to state parks, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
Existing law requires the Director of Parks and Recreation, upon the adoption of a specified resolution by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles, to grant to the County of Los Angeles, in trust for the people of California, all of the rights, title, and interest of the State of California in specified state beach property, including a portion of Manhattan State Beach. Existing law requires the grant to be made upon the express condition that the County of Los Angeles use, operate, and maintain the granted lands and improvements only for public recreation and beach purposes in perpetuity. Existing law subjects the transfer of those rights, title, and interest in the granted lands to specified restrictions, including prohibitions on new or expanded commercial development on those granted lands and on the sale, transfer, or encumbrance of those granted lands.
This bill would exclude specified property located in Manhattan State Beach, commonly known as Bruce’s Beach, from the requirement that the property be used only for public recreation and beach purposes in perpetuity and from those specified restrictions. The bill would authorize the property to be sold, transferred, or encumbered upon terms and conditions determined by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles to be in the best interest of the county and the general public. The bill would require the Director of Parks and Recreation, on or before December 31, 2021, to execute an amendment to a specified deed that incorporates the exclusion of that property from that requirement and those restrictions.
Under the California Constitution, all property is taxable and must be assessed at the same percentage of fair market value, unless otherwise provided in the California Constitution or federal law. The California Constitution limits the maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property to 1% of its full cash value and defines “full cash value” for these purposes. Existing property tax law, in accordance with these provisions, defines “full cash value” of real property to mean the fair market value of the property as of the 1975 lien date or, for property which is purchased, is newly constructed, or changes ownership after the 1975 lien date, the date on which the purchase or change in ownership occurs, or the date on which new construction is completed, and if uncompleted, on the lien date. Under existing property tax law, the purchase price, as defined, of real property is rebuttably presumed to be the “full cash value” or “fair market value” if the terms of the transaction were negotiated at arms length between a knowledgeable transferor and transferee neither of which could take advantage of the exigencies of the other.
- This bill, for purposes of determining the full cash value of Bruce’s Beach upon its sale, transfer, or encumbrance as authorized by the bill’s provisions, would require that the fair market value of that land be its full cash value as of the 1975 lien date, adjusted by an inflation factor determined as provided.
- The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, generally define “gross income” as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income for purposes of computing tax liability.
- This bill, subject to certain limitations, would provide that, under both the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, a recipient’s gross income does not include any sale, transfer, or encumbrance of Bruce’s Beach, or income directly derived from that sale, transfer, or encumbrance, in accordance with the procedures described above for the taxable year in which the land is sold, transferred, or encumbered.
Existing law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the board of supervisors of any county or city and county, and the legislative body of any city within the county, to impose by ordinance a tax, at a specified rate, on each deed, instrument, or writing by which any lands, tenements, or other realty sold within the county is granted, assigned, transferred, or otherwise conveyed to, or vested in, the purchaser or any other person, if the consideration or value of the interest or property conveyed or vested exceeds $100. Existing law provides various exemptions from a tax imposed by a county, city and county, or city under these provisions.
- This bill would exempt any sale, transfer, or encumbrance of the portion of Bruce’s Beach in accordance with the procedures described above from a documentary transfer tax imposed pursuant to the Documentary Transfer Tax Act.
- This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
- This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Bruce’s Beach.
- This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
State Action
California
NBCSL Member Sponsor(s):- Sen. Steven Bradford (CA)
Summary: State of California- SB796 - Returning Bruce's Beach to its Rightful Owners
View/Download Bill open_in_new