Property taxation: county assessment appeals boards: assessment appeals commissioners.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text does not specify the exact process by which an appellant authorizes the commissioner to hear their appeal.

Property Tax Appeals: Single Commissioner Option

This law allows large counties to use one person, called an assessment appeals commissioner, to handle property tax appeal cases instead of a board with multiple members starting in January 2027 until January 2034.

What This Bill Does

• Allows counties with more than 500,000 people to choose if they want to have one person decide property tax appeals instead of a group of three or five people starting in January 2027 until January 1, 2034.
• Sets rules for who can be an assessment appeals commissioner and what qualifications they need.
• Requires the State Board of Equalization to make sure all commissioners follow fair hearing procedures, are open to public input, and use consistent decision-making standards.
• Limits when a commissioner can hear new cases, stopping after December 31, 2031, but allows them to finish any cases started before that date.

Who It Names or Affects

• Counties with more than 500,000 people
• People who file property tax appeals in those counties

Terms To Know

Assessment Appeals Commissioner

A single person appointed to hear and decide property tax appeal cases instead of a board.

State Board of Equalization

The state agency that oversees the fair distribution of taxes in California.

Limits and Unknowns

• It is not clear how many counties will choose to use this single commissioner option.
• The bill does not specify what happens if a county decides against using commissioners after January 1, 2034.

Official Summary Text

AB 2172, as amended, Gipson.
Property taxation: county assessment appeals boards: assessment appeals commissioners.
Existing property tax law authorizes a county board of supervisors to create assessment appeals boards for the county to equalize the valuation of taxable property within the county for purposes of taxation. Existing property tax law requires an assessment appeals board to consist of 3 members or of 5 members acting as a 3-member panel, selected as specified. Existing law also sets forth minimum qualifications for a member of an assessment appeals board.
This bill, commencing January 1, 2027, and until January 1, 2034, would authorize the county board of supervisors
of a county containing a population of 500,000 or more
to alternatively provide by ordinance that all property tax assessment appeals in the county be heard and decided by a
single-member appeals board, the single member of which would be known as an assessment appeals commissioner. The bill would set forth minimum qualifications for the commissioner, as specified. The bill would require the State Board of Equalization to adopt rules and guidelines necessary to ensure consistent hearing procedures, public access, and decisionmaking standards for these commissioners. The bill would prohibit a commissioner from hearing any new appeals after December 31, 2031, but would permit the commissioner to continue to hear and decide appeals received after January 1, 2027, but on or before December 31, 2031, following December 31, 2031. This bill would additionally require, if a county
authorizes
appoints
commissioners to hear and decide assessment appeals, the county to provide a process by which the
appellant may
request that
authorize the commissioner to hear and decide
their
appeal
appeal. The board would require the county, in the case that an appellant does not make that authorization, to ensure the appeal
is heard by a 3- or 5-member board.
This bill would specify that, for purposes of implementing the bill’s provisions with respect to other provisions relating to assessment appeals boards, a reference to an assessment appeals board also includes a single-member appeals board, as applicable, and a reference to member means a commissioner with respect to a single-member appeals board. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF