Chapter 1.5 - Local Agency Levy Powers And Limitations
California Revenue and Taxation Code — §§ 7284-7284.7
Sections (14)
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 61, Sec. 1. (AB 1838) Effective June 28, 2018. Repealed as of January 1, 2031, pursuant to Section 7284.16.
(a)Notwithstanding any other law, and except as provided in this section, on or after the effective date of this chapter, a local agency shall not impose, increase, levy and collect, or enforce any tax, fee, or other assessment on groceries.
(b)A local agency may continue to levy and collect, enforce, or reauthorize any tax, fee, or other assessment on groceries imposed, extended, or
increased on or before January 1, 2018.
(c)Any tax, fee, or other assessment on groceries imposed by a local agency after January 1, 2018, and before the effective date of this section shall become inoperative as of the effective date of this section and shall cease to be imposed, levied and collected, and enforced as of that date.
(d)This section does not prohibit the imposition, extension, increase, levy and collection, or enforcement of a tax, fee, or other assessment on groceries if both of the following apply:
(1)The tax, fee, or other assessment is generally applicable to a broad range of businesses, business activity, or products.
(2)The tax, fee, or other assessment does not establish or rely on a classification related to or involving
groceries or a subset of groceries for purposes of establishing or otherwise resulting in a higher tax rate due to that classification.
(e)This section does not prohibit or limit any tax levied by a local agency pursuant to, or in accordance with, the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 7200)) or the Transactions and Use Tax Law (Part 1.6 (commencing with Section 7251)).
(f)The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration shall not administer and shall terminate its contract to administer any sales or use tax ordinance of a local agency under the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law (Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 7200)) if that local agency imposes, increases, levies and collects, or enforces any tax, fee, or other assessment on groceries, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 7284.10, for which a court
of competent jurisdiction has determined both of the following:
(1)The tax, fee, or other assessment is in conflict with the prohibition set forth in subdivision (a), and is not a tax, fee, or other assessment described in subdivision (b) or (d).
(2)The tax, fee, or other assessment is a valid exercise of a city’s authority under Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution with respect to the municipal affairs of that city.
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 61, Sec. 1. (AB 1838) Effective June 28, 2018. Repealed as of January 1, 2031, pursuant to Section 7284.16.
The provisions of this chapter are to be construed liberally so as to effectuate their intent, policy, and purposes.
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 61, Sec. 1. (AB 1838) Effective June 28, 2018. Repealed as of January 1, 2031, pursuant to Section 7284.16.
If any provision of this chapter or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the chapter or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 61, Sec. 1. (AB 1838) Effective June 28, 2018. Repealed as of January 1, 2031, pursuant to Section 7284.16.
(a)A civil action with respect to the application of this chapter to a tax, fee, or other assessment shall be given preference over all other civil actions before the court in the matter of setting the same for hearing or trial, and in hearing the same, to the end that the action shall be speedily heard and determined.
(b)Venue for a civil action given preference in subdivision (a) shall
be exclusively in Sacramento County.
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 61, Sec. 1. (AB 1838) Effective June 28, 2018. Repealed as of January 1, 2031, by its own provisions. Note: Repeal affects Chapter 1.8, commencing with Section 7284.8.
This chapter shall become inoperative on January 1, 2031, and shall be repealed as of that date.
Added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 466, Sec. 6.
(a)The board of supervisors of any county may license, for revenue and regulation, and fix the license tax upon, every kind of lawful business transacted in the unincorporated area of the county, including shows, exhibitions, and games. The board may provide for collection of the license tax by suit or otherwise.
(b)Any board which imposes a license tax pursuant to subdivision (a) upon a business operating both within and outside the board’s taxing jurisdiction shall levy the tax so that the measure of tax fairly reflects
that proportion of the taxed activity actually carried on within the taxing jurisdiction.
Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 692, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1997.
(a)No license tax or fee levied by a charter or general law county, city and county, or city, or by a district or any other local agency, that is measured by the licensee’s income or gross receipts, nor any flat business license tax or flat business license fee, shall apply to any minister, clergyman, Christian Science practitioner, rabbi, or priest of any religious organization that has been granted an exemption from federal income tax as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or a
successor to that section.
(b)No charter or general law county, city and county, or city, nor any district or any other local agency, may impose any business license tax or business license fee on any nonprofit organization that is exempted from taxes by Section 23701d and is an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or the successor to that section.
(c)Nothing in this section shall prohibit a charter or general law county, city and county, or city, or district or any other local agency from imposing a fee to cover the costs of a program or service.
Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 213, Sec. 2. (SB 1257) Effective January 1, 2013.
The board of supervisors of any county may levy a utility user tax on the consumption of electricity, gas, water, sewer, telephone, telegraph, and cable television services in the unincorporated area of the county.
Added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 213, Sec. 3. (SB 1257) Effective January 1, 2013.
(a)For the purposes of this section:
(1)“Local jurisdiction” means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city, county, or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
(2)“Public transit operator” means a local or regional transit agency or a joint powers agency operating bus transportation
service as described pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 99200) of Chapter 4 of Part 11 of Division 10 of the Public Utilities Code.
(b)There is exempt from any utility user tax, imposed by any local jurisdiction, a local agency’s or public transit operator’s consumption of compressed natural gas dispensed by a gas compressor, within a local jurisdiction, that is separately metered and is dedicated to providing compressed natural gas as a motor vehicle fuel for use by the local agency or public transit operator.
(c)There is exempt from any utility user tax on the consumption of electricity, imposed by any local jurisdiction, a local agency’s or public transit operator’s consumption of electricity used to charge electric bus propulsion batteries, within a local jurisdiction, that is separately metered and is dedicated to providing electricity as a motor vehicle fuel
for use by an electric public transit bus.
Added by renumbering Section 7286 (as added by Stats. 1990, Ch. 466) by Stats. 1991, Ch. 1091, Sec. 146.
Any tax levied pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to any applicable voter approval requirement imposed by any other provision of law. Revenues collected pursuant to any tax imposed pursuant to this chapter may be reserved for local purposes as determined by the board of supervisors of the county imposing the tax.
Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 238, Sec. 1. (AB 1208) Effective January 1, 2020. Repealed as of January 1, 2027, by its own provisions.
(a)For the purposes of this section:
(1)“Local jurisdiction” means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city, county, or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
(2)“Clean energy resource” means either of the
following:
(A)A device or technology used for a renewable electrical generation facility, as set forth in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code.
(B)A technology that meets all of the following requirements:
(i)The emissions standards adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the distributed generation certification program requirements of Article 3 (commencing with Section 94200) of Subchapter 8 of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.
(ii) Produces de minimis emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides.
(iii) The greenhouse gases emission performance standard established by the Public Utilities
Commission pursuant to Section 8341 of the Public Utilities Code.
(iv) Has a total electrical efficiency of no less than 45 percent.
(v)Is sized to meet the generator’s onsite electrical demand.
(vi) Has parallel operation to the electrical distribution grid.
(vii) Utilizes renewable or nonrenewable fuel.
(viii) Pays any applicable utility users tax for nonrenewable fuels used in electricity generation.
(b)(1) There is exempt from any utility user tax on the consumption of electricity, imposed by any local jurisdiction, a customer’s consumption of electricity generated by a clean energy resource that
is located on the customer’s premises and used solely for the customer or the customer’s tenants.
(2)This section does not exempt from any utility users tax imposed by any local jurisdiction any electricity or gas, not described in paragraph (1), that is provided to a customer by an electrical corporation, publicly owned utility, electrical cooperative, or irrigation district.
(c)This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed.
Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 615, Sec. 413. (AB 474) Effective January 1, 2022. Operative January 1, 2023, pursuant to Sec. 463 of Stats. 2021, Ch. 615.
(a)It is unlawful for any local jurisdiction, including any employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction, to permit any utility user’s tax return or copy thereof, or any records of any payment of utility user’s tax, to be seen or examined by, or disclosed to, any person who is not one of the following:
(1)An employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction with administrative or compliance responsibilities relating to the utility user’s tax ordinance.
(2)An employee of the utility or other company that is required to report or
pay a utility user’s tax to the local jurisdiction, and that furnished the records or information.
(b)Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this section does not prohibit a local jurisdiction from doing any of the following:
(1)Disclosing to a taxpayer information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the utility user’s tax of that taxpayer; or, disclosing that information in a tax collection action, provided that that information is subject to a protective order issued by a court.
(2)Disclosing to a tax officer of the state or federal government, pursuant to a written reciprocal agreement, information derived from the records of a utility or other
utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the local utility user’s tax.
(3)Disclosing the gross utility user’s tax revenues collected from the customers of a utility that is owned or operated by the local jurisdiction that imposes the utility user’s tax.
(c)For purposes of this section:
(1)“Local jurisdiction” means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
(2)“District” means any agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or a special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries.
(d)Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both, in the discretion of the court.
(e)This section shall not be construed to prohibit the divulging of information to the State Board of Equalization for the purposes of its administration of the Energy Resources Surcharge Law (Part 19 (commencing with Section 40001) of Division 2).
(f)Any information subject to subdivision (a) shall be exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code), except that nothing in this section shall be construed
to prohibit the disclosure of records pursuant to Section 7927.410 of the Government Code.
Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 615, Sec. 414. (AB 474) Effective January 1, 2022. Operative January 1, 2023, pursuant to Sec. 463 of Stats. 2021, Ch. 615.
(a)It is unlawful for any employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of a local jurisdiction levying a utility user’s tax, that obtains access to information contained in utility user tax records of a local jurisdiction, to disclose any information obtained from the records of a utility or other company required to report or pay a utility user’s tax to the local jurisdiction as a result of an audit, or any other information obtained in the course of an on-site audit, to any person who is not an employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of the local jurisdiction with administrative or compliance responsibilities relating to the utility user’s tax ordinance.
(b)Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both, in the discretion of the court.
(c)This section shall not be construed to prohibit the divulging of information to the State Board of Equalization for the purposes of its administration of the Energy Resources Surcharge Law (Part 19 (commencing with Section 40001) of Division 2).
(d)Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), this section shall not be construed to prohibit an employee, officer, authorized agent, or contractor of a local jurisdiction levying a utility user’s tax from doing any of the following:
(1)Disclosing to a taxpayer information derived from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the utility user’s tax of that taxpayer; or, disclosing that information in a tax collection action, provided that the information is subject to a protective order issued by a court.
(2)Disclosing to a tax officer of the state or federal government, pursuant to a written reciprocal agreement, information obtained from the records of a utility or other utility service provider, if the information is used to calculate the local utility user’s tax.
(3)Disclosing the gross utility user’s tax revenues collected from the customers of a utility that is owned or operated by the local
jurisdiction that imposes the utility user’s tax.
(e)For purposes of this section:
(1)“Local jurisdiction” means any city, county, city and county, including any chartered city or city and county, district, or public or municipal corporation.
(2)“District” means any agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or a special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries.
(f)Nothing in this section shall be construed to create an exemption from disclosure under Section 7927.705 of the Government Code, or to prohibit the disclosure of records pursuant to Section 7925.000 or 7927.410 of the Government
Code.