By Alexei Koseff in The Sacramento Bee

January 12, 2016

Amending the property tax limits of California’s watershed Proposition 13 is a perennial topic at the Capitol – but it’s rare you hear the conversation initiated by a Republican.

Addressing criticism that businesses are able to avoid reassessment of their commercial properties by creatively structuring changes in ownership, state Sen. Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, is pursuing a bill this session she says would close that loophole. The measure would trigger review when more than 90 percent of ownership interests are sold or transferred to related parties over the course of three years. Senate Bill 259 will be heard in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, 9:30 a.m. in Room 112.