AB 1194: Elections: local bond measures: tax rate statement.

Existing law requires local government agencies, when submitting for voter approval bond measures that will be secured by an ad valorem tax, to provide the voters, along with a sample ballot, a statement that includes estimates of tax rates and debt service in connection with the measure, including estimates of the tax rates required to fund the bond issue during the first fiscal year after the first sale of the bonds and the first fiscal year after the last sale of the bonds. This statement must be included in voter information guides for those bond measures, as specified.

This bill would require the statement to include an estimate of the average annual tax rate required to fund the proposed bond measure for the duration of its debt service, and to identify the final fiscal year in which the tax is anticipated to be collected. By expanding the scope of information that local government agencies must provide in the statement, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.