In This Issue:

• SPLIT ROLL ATTEMPT OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

• SPLIT ROLL WON'T SOLVE STATE'S BUDGET WOES

• THE STATE’S GROWING SPENDING

• CALIFORNIA COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SUMMIT 2009 -- RESERVE YOUR PLACE NOW

• CBPA 2009 CALENDAR

SPLIT ROLL ATTEMPT OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

A new group calling itself the “Close the Proposition 13 Loophole Committee” has been registered with the Secretary of State’s Office. This action, taken by San Francisco Assessor Philip Ting, is the first step to running a state wide proposition to create a “Split Roll Property Tax,” which would remove current Proposition 13 protections from business properties and allow them to be taxed at a higher rate and/or be assessed differently than residential properties. According to an op/ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last week, Ting wants to amend the 1978 initiative to allow increased taxes on commercial property.

Click here to read a story about the formation of this group.

SPLIT ROLL WON'T SOLVE STATE'S BUDGET WOES

Rex Hime, President and CEO of the California Business Properties Association, and Tup Fisher, Chairman of the California Mortgage Bankers Association, responded today in the pages of the S.F. Chronicle to last week’s call for higher property taxes on business. The response states, in part, that “what is most striking about these misguided proposals, so soon after the special election, is that creating a split-roll tax structure would undermine any efforts to stabilize the state's budget, particularly as leaders look for steady revenue sources. Prop. 13 stabilized the flow of property tax revenues by locking in acquisition values and allowing those values to increase slowly from year to year. The overall result has been a 7 percent average annual increase in property tax revenues.”

Click here to read the full article.
 

THE STATE’S GROWING SPENDING

Capitol Weekly takes a look at the state’s spending pattern, “looking at the numbers, one might surmise that California is not in much of a crisis at all. In fact, new revenue estimates released by the Department of Finance this week place the state’s general fund revenues at $85.9 billion – nearly $4 billion higher than they were just five years ago.

Even with the depleted funds caused by plunging home prices and a global economic slowdown, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s budget is still larger than his first budget in the 2004-05 budget year.

But in that first budget year state spending was at $79.8 billion. Over the next two years, state spending jumped by more than 21 percent, to more than $101.4 billion in the 2006-07 budget year.”

Click here to read the full story.

CALIFORNIA COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SUMMIT 2009 -- RESERVE YOUR PLACE NOW

The California Commercial Real Estate Summit (CCRES) will be held in Sacramento on June 9 & 10, 2009. This event is the one time of year that industry leaders converge on California's Capitol to discuss with policymakers issues impacting commercial real estate. The summit will give you an opportunity to meet industry leaders from across the nation, high-level staff from Governor Schwarzenegger's Administration, and California State Legislators.

For hotel accommodations, please contact the Hyatt Regency directly, 1-800-233-1234, and ask for the "CBPA" block of rooms.

The Commercial Real Estate Summit is organized by California Business Properties Association (CBPA) which is the recognized voice of all aspects of the commercial retail industrial real estate industry in California and is the designated legislative advocate for: International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the California Chapters of the Commercial Real Estate Developers Association (NAIOP), Building Owners and Managers Association of California (BOMA Cal), Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), California Downtown Association (CDA), Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), the Association of Commercial Real Estate – Southern California (ACRE) and the Certified Commercial Investment Members Institute (CCIM).

Click here for all the details.
 

CBPA 2009 CALENDAR

June 9-10, 2009
CBPA Board Meeting and
California Commercial Real Estate Summit (CCRES)
Sacramento, CA

November 5-6, 2009
CBPA Board Meeting and
Real Estate Industry Strategic Issues Conference
Napa, CA (Meritage)