Gov. Brown do the right thing

I did not vote Jerry Brown for governor last November. But, he does the right thing: cut off 48,000 state employee cell phones. According to AP article: "The contracts each cost taxpayers an average $36 a month, or $432 a year, according to the Department of Finance."

If an employee in private sector using their own phone at his or her own expense to response to a work related email, text message, phone call, why I need to pay an average $36 a month for state employee using state funded phone?

California Proposition 8: Decline-In-Value Reassessment

There are two great propositions in California regarding to property tax. When the real estate market goes up, proposition 13 voted in 1978 now is embodied in Article 13A of the Constitution of the State of California prevent local government assess the property tax more than 2%

Section 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed one percent (1%) of the full cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties.

When the real estate market goes down, the current market value of real property is less than the current assessed (taxable) factored base year value as of the lien date, January 1, the real property owners are entitled to the tax reduction. Proposition 8, passed by California voters in 1978, is codified by section 51(a)(2) of the Revenue and Taxation Code:

Its full cash value, as defined in Section 110, as of the lien date, taking into account reductions in value due to damage, destruction, depreciation, obsolescence, removal of property, or other factors causing a decline in value.

In the last two years, the market value of the real property have plummeted by more than 50%.  If you're not agree with assessed value, which reduced just 4 or 5 percent, you should appeal. In order to appeal, you need to do some research.

I was shocked with my finding. Five identical properties in the same community, built and purchased on the same year, and assume no additional improvement since purchase, four of them had substantial reduction in assessed value ranging from 17% to 24%. One had only 5% reduction. Why?

On the Net:

1. California State Board of Equalization Frequently Asked Questions – Proposition 8 / Decline in Value
2. Truth About Property Tax Prop 8 Decline in Value 
3. Brown Sues to Block Property Tax Rip-Off

New "Move Over" Traffic Law for Californian

According to California Department of Transportation:

Sacramento –Caltrans wants the public to know about a new law signed by the governor that requires motorists to move over or slow down when they see a Caltrans vehicle flashing warning lights.

The new law, Senate Bill 240 (State Senator Roderick Wright), adds Caltrans vehicles displaying flashing amber warning lights to the list of vehicles for which motorists must slow down and, if safe, move over to a lane not immediately adjacent to the stationary vehicle.

Read the copy of passed California Senate Bill 240 in PDF

Other related info: Move Over, America