Latest news with #CarolineMenjivar
Epoch Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
California Lawmakers to Consider Vacancy Tax on Commercial Property
A California state senator is proposing a tax on vacant commercial properties, saying empty buildings and storefronts reduce business vitality, lower tax revenue, and create public nuisances. Democratic state Sen. Caroline Menjivar of San Fernando Valley authored Menjivar sees the measure as a way to spur economic activity. 'Vacant commercial property represents a missed opportunity for community enrichment,' Menjivar said, according to a legislative analysis of the bill. 'Other times they contribute to the neighborhood's blight and can be areas of nuisance and public safety concerns. These underutilized spaces hold potential as storefronts for local entrepreneurs, innovative workspaces for growing businesses, or mixed-use projects combining housing with commercial amenities.' The measure requires all owners of commercial property in the state to register with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) each year, providing detailed information about their properties, including giving a reason why if a property is vacant. Anyone who doesn't file would be required to pay a penalty, according to the bill. Related Stories 4/22/2025 3/20/2025 Menjivar claims that without state oversight, the empty parcels can stay vacant for years and sometimes decades. 'In order to encourage development or penalize blighted vacant buildings, we need data to systematically track commercial vacancies, including their underlying causes like renovation delays, regulatory hurdles, or speculative holding patterns,' she said. The senator says the state would be able to streamline permit approvals if clusters of vacancies were caused by slow permitting, or consider a vacancy tax to incentivize productive use. The bill would also require that the state post on its public website detailed information about each commercial property, including the percentage of commercial properties that were vacant in a calendar year and the reason for the vacancy if the property was vacant for more than 182 days in a year. The state would have to post what percentage of commercial properties are located in a blighted area, among other information. The city and county of San Francisco approved a similar tax with Measure M in November 2022, but the ordinance was ruled unconstitutional. The measure imposed an annual tax of $2,500 to $5,000 per vacant unit, depending on the unit's size. The tax was allowed to increase annually to a maximum of $20,000 if the same owner keeps the unit vacant for multiple consecutive years. However, the San Francisco County Superior Court issued an order Nov. 26, 2024, in favor of taxpayers, finding that the tax violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court also found the tax violated property-owners' constitutional right to privacy under the California Constitution by compelling owners to share their property via application of the tax. The court also held that Measure M violated the California Ellis Act, which prohibits public entities from compelling residential property owners to rent or lease. Other cities have instituted similar vacancy taxes in recent years. Berkeley, east of San Francisco, imposes an empty homes tax on residential units that are vacant for more than 182 days per year. Empty residential units in duplexes, condos, single-family homes, and townhouses are charged $3,000 the first year and $6,000 for each subsequent year. All other empty residential properties pay $6,000 in the first year and $12,000 each year after that. Stacked shipping containers begin to surround People's Park in Berkeley, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP Oakland also charges an annual tax of $6,000 for residential, nonresidential, and undeveloped properties, and $3,000 a year for condos, duplexes, and townhomes. The tax applies to privately owned properties not occupied more than 50 days per year and has several exemptions. Menjivar's legislation faces tremendous opposition from commercial property owner associations, building owners and managers groups, taxpayer advocates, hotel and lodging associations, mortgage bankers and housing associations, retailers, and multiple chambers of commerce throughout the state. The California Business Properties Association 'Vacancy is largely driven by market forces—not neglect—especially as sectors like retail, office, and industrial continue to recover from the pandemic,' the association wrote in an opposition statement. 'This tax would penalize property owners during economic uncertainty and risk further destabilizing struggling markets. SB 789 would also undermine local property tax revenues, reducing property values and triggering reassessments under Prop. 8—resulting in permanent funding losses for schools, cities, and essential services.' The bill also imposes costly administrative burdens, the association says.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposed law would give relief to residents whose neighborhood is covered in thick layers of grime: 'You could literally taste it'
Sun Valley residents have watched dust settle over their streets, their cars, and even the air they breathe for years. Thick layers of grime coat the neighborhood, kicked up by nearby industrial sites that process and store construction materials like concrete and asphalt. Complaints have piled up just as high as the dust, but little has changed — until now. State Senator Caroline Menjivar has introduced Senate Bill (SB) 526, pushing for stricter regulations on aggregate facilities so that neighborhoods can breathe easier, according to the San Fernando Valley Sun. "With each complaint having gone unresolved, residents have given up on hoping the government addresses their concerns," said Menjivar. "That ends today." These facilities release fine dust particles known as PM10, which can seep into homes, settle on playgrounds, and cause serious respiratory issues. Yet, the regulations meant to keep them in check haven't been updated since 2006. If passed, SB 526 would strengthen oversight and force these businesses to take real steps to control pollution. Facilities would need to install taller fencing to keep dust from escaping, limit the height of storage piles near homes and schools, and set up air quality monitoring systems at their boundaries. If they repeatedly exceed pollution limits, they'd be required to enclose their storage piles and undergo frequent inspections until they comply. Sun Valley is home to 11 aggregate facilities within a three-mile radius, including AMH Recycling, the largest in the San Fernando Valley, which sits directly across from homes, a park, and two elementary schools. Residents say the pollution is impossible to ignore. "Residents' cars were covered in a dust so thick you could literally taste it, and yet neighborhood kids were playing soccer in a park across the street from the facility," said Ian Bertrando, a UCLA law student who did research in the area. According to Mariam Moore, CEO of The Climate Corps Initiative, the "intrusion of industrial facilities" in Sun Valley has worsened the community's public health crisis. Long-term exposure to this type of pollution can lead to asthma, chronic respiratory diseases, and other serious health problems. Menjivar made it clear that the bill isn't about shutting down the industry but about forcing it to operate responsibly. "I'm not trying to get rid of them," she said. "But they need to be top-notch neighbors." The bill is advancing with a window for amendments, and Menjivar's team is focused on rallying support from community members and environmental justice groups. If passed, it could set a precedent for other communities facing similar environmental injustices, proving that residents don't have to accept pollution as an unavoidable part of life. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers push for unprecedented move to hold major industry accountable: 'It's past time'
Big Oil has been allowed to freely pollute the world with heat-trapping gases that lead to higher global temperatures and climate-driven disasters — but soon those companies may have to pay for the damage they've done because of a law on the table in California. The Center for Biological Diversity reported on the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, a bill recently introduced in the state legislature by Sen. Caroline Menjivar and Assemblymember Dawn Addis. If passed into law, it would create a program under the California Environmental Protection Agency that would require major oil companies operating in the state to pay into a fund that accounts for the more than 1 billion tons of heat-trapping air pollution they produced between 1990 and 2024. The money would be used to address the effects of that pollution. Those effects are extensive and critical. Higher global temperatures have contributed to wildfires, drought and flood cycles, more intense storms, heat waves, and rising sea levels — all of which come with human deaths and property damage. The superfund would help address those issues. It would fund disaster response and support the construction of infrastructure that would make communities more resilient against climate disasters. "The L.A. fires show with heartbreaking clarity how much we need this bill to make the biggest climate polluters pay for the astronomical damage they've caused," said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute. "The public shouldn't be shelling out billions of dollars every year to recover from severe and deadly climate disasters. By passing this commonsense bill, state lawmakers can put the financial burden of climate damage on giant polluting companies, where it belongs." California has already attempted to pass similar legislation, but this law could put the state in the driver's seat. It won't be the first to adopt such an approach; New York and Vermont have passed legislation to hold polluters accountable for their far-reaching effects. "Profiting off destruction has been the Big Oil playbook for far too long," Siegel said. "It's past time we took on these corporate behemoths who've sold off our future and our fragile planet to line their own pockets." Could America stop using oil and gas by 2050? For sure No way Only certain states could I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
