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SACRAMENTO – Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) introduced legislation that provides a simple solution to one of California's growing challenges: Regulating Online Vacation Rental Businesses.
The premise of Senate Bill 593 (SB 593) is simple. Where vacation rentals are legal, the bill will assist local jurisdictions in their regulation and collection of transit occupancy taxes (TOT).
More than 400 California cities and 55 counties impose a TOT. Where vacation rentals are illegal by local ordinance, the bill will prohibit online vacation rental platforms from making a rental.
SB 593 – the Thriving Communities and Sharing Economy Act – will empower local control by providing the data needed to gather desperately needed funding for parks, road improvements, fire and police services and promote safe neighborhoods.
In addition, SB 593 will empower communities to protect the quality of life of their residents by upholding local ordinances that protect against the degradation of neighborhoods, or in some cases, not allowing vacation rentals based off of local Online Vacation Rental Businesses (OVRB) ordinances.
“This bill is simple – it makes online vacation rental businesses follow local laws, just like the rest of us. Where vacation rentals are legal, this legislation will provide cities and counties the tools they need to collect bed taxes which help build stronger neighborhoods. Where vacation rentals are illegal - the bill prohibits the online platforms from making the rental,” Senator McGuire said. “The Sharing Economy is all about sharing in our state’s prosperity and that means taking care of our roads, parks and making sure our communities are safe.”
SB 593 reinforces local ordinances by requiring online Vacation Rental Businesses to disclose information (address of host rental, amount of nights stayed, and amount paid by the visitor) to the cities and counties (similar to the way hotels – and some law abiding rental owners – currently report their TOT). This information will allow cities and counties to ensure their local laws are being followed.
Recent studies and news articles have shown that the largely unregulated OVRBs have not only impacted neighborhoods with rowdy late night parties, public intoxication and noise complaints, many owners do not pay required bed-taxes and business license taxes.
OVRBs have also shifted residential units into tourist units, rapidly increasing neighborhood rents especially in large cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The legislation already has broad support from local elected officials, members of public safety organizations, business leaders and neighbors.
“I want to thank Senator McGuire for proposing this legislation,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin. “He and I worked closely on this issue when we served as Supervisors together, and I am proud to continue to partner with him at the State level. SB 593 will help Sonoma County effectively regulate its vacation rentals, while respecting the individual preferences of local jurisdictions.”
“The California State Association of Counties (CSAC) greatly appreciates Senator McGuire’s leadership in making sure local communities have the ability to regulate on-line hosting platforms,” said CSAC Executive Director, Matt Cate. “In particular, we support the senator’s legislation to ensure cities and counties can collect transient occupancy taxes that fund critical services in our communities.”
Geyserville resident Victoria Heiges lives in a rural residential neighborhood and has dealt with the impacts of having several nearby homes turned into party-style vacation rentals every weekend.
“There are limos clogging our country roads, renters partying late into the night, and hiking through our private property. These strangers have changed our bucolic neighborhood into party central, all while the landlords have raked in more than $100,000 a year and not paid a dime to make our community a better place,” Heiges said.
“We as county tax collectors must treat all tax payers equally under the law, including all short term lodging providers with regard to their obligation to pay transient occupancy tax,” said Humboldt County Treasurer-Tax Collector John Bartholomew. “However the explosion of short term lodging enabled through sharing economy companies online, with their necessarily opaque location listings, has made it nearly impossible for us to collect TOT from those owner operators. Therefore I fully support legislation which would enable us to efficiently collect TOT from operators of Internet sites and/or the lodging owners they represent.”
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EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Even though U.S. production hits record levels and global supplies are strong, gasoline prices moved higher this past month.
Tuesday's state prices are registering at $3.43 on average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline – that’s $0.78 more than prices since AAA Northern California’s latest monthly gas survey of February 10, 2015.
Northern California’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.37 – that’s $0.75 more than last month’s AAA reported price on Feb. 10.
The least expensive average price in Northern California can be found in Marysville, where regular unleaded gasoline is $3.21 per gallon.
Of all metro areas tracked by AAA in Northern California, San Mateo registers the highest price at $3.47 per gallon of unleaded regular.
“Retail gas prices typically trend higher this time of year as suppliers undergo maintenance and plan to reduce winter grade fuel in preparation for the changeover to summer-grade gasoline, which is more costly to produce.” said Cynthia Harris, AAA Northern California spokesperson. “State and regional refinery maintenance issues have contributed to rising pump prices as well.”
West Coast markets have seen dramatic run-ups over the last several weeks due to a number of supply issues.
An explosion last month at ExxonMobil’s refinery in Torrance, Calif., has kept that facility running at severely reduced rates.
Production at Tesoro’s refinery in Martinez, Calif., also remains limited as it aims to restart after recent planned maintenance.
According to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, the national average price is $2.45. The current average is the same as yesterday, $0.01 higher than a week ago, an increase of $0.26 from a month ago and $1.04 lower than a year ago.
California has the highest price in the country at $3.43 due to refinery problems and supply issues. Hawaii, at $3.14, and California are the only states reporting average prices over the $3 mark.
The global price of crude oil remains volatile due to speculations about possible production cuts due to oversupply and news of rising global demand.
Absent any intervention from OPEC, global prices are expected to continue to fluctuate as markets attempt to self-regulate and find balance. U.S. production continues to hit record levels, and stockpiles have climbed to their highest weekly levels since the Energy Information agency, EIA, started collecting statistical data on the subject in 1982.
Abundant domestic supply has also kept the spread between WTI and Brent crude relatively wide. The gap in price currently stands at about $10 per barrel.
Historically, when the global market is balanced, the disparity in benchmark pricing is around plus or minus $2 per barrel; however the spread has varied widely over the past several years.
At the close of Friday’s formal trading on the NYMEX, WTI closed down $1.15 settling at $49.61 per barrel.
To get the best mileage possible, AAA recommends keeping tires at the recommended pressure suggested by the vehicle manufacturer, performing routine maintenance and making sure fluids are clean and belts and hoses are in good repair.
The way you drive can also impact fuel economy. Smooth driving to avoid sudden stops and starts, combining trips and lightening a vehicle’s load also help to conserve gasoline.
AAA Fuel Gauge Report is the most comprehensive retail gasoline survey available, with over 100,000 self-serve stations surveyed every day, nationwide. Data is provided in cooperation with OPIS Energy Group and Wright Express, LLC.
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SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California Benjamin B. Wagner on Thursday announced that Alan Tikal, the principal operator of a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme, was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
“Alan Tikal’s actions were illegal and will not be tolerated in California. He and his partners defrauded hundreds of hard-working Californians who were fighting to keep their homes during our state’s foreclosure crisis,” Attorney General Harris said. “This predatory scheme robbed families of their life savings and in many cases, their homes. I thank our California Mortgage Fraud Strike Force and the U.S. Department of Justice for their work to bring these individuals to justice.”
“The financial crisis that hit our communities so hard made it very difficult for a lot of people to make ends meet,“ said U.S. Attorney Wagner. “Alan Tikal cynically took advantage of the desperation those people felt for his own profit, stealing payments meant to preserve family homes. Although we cannot undo the harm Tikal inflicted, today’s sentence provides a measure of justice.”
In September 2014, Alan David Tikal, 46, was convicted of 11 counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering by United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley. The case was jointly prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California and the California Attorney General’s Office.
Between Jan. 7, 2010, and Aug. 20, 2013, Tikal operated a business under the name KATN, which targeted vulnerable and non-English speaking homeowners looking for mortgage assistance in the wake of the financial meltdown.
According to evidence presented at trial, Tikal and his associates promised these homeowners that their outstanding mortgage debt would be reduced by 75 percent.
Tikal falsely claimed that he was a registered private banker with access to an enormous line of credit and was able to pay off homeowners’ debt in full.
In exchange for various fees and payments, the homeowners existing mortgages would be satisfied and replaced with new loans to Tikal at 25 percent of the original loan obligation.
There were no instances in which the homeowner’s mortgage was paid, forgiven, or extinguished. Instead Tikal pocketed the victim’s money and spent it on chartered airline travel, a $5,000 suit, new cars, and other extravagant living expenses.
Tikal and his associates convinced more than 1,000 homeowners in California and other states to participate in this fraudulent scam.
Homeowners collectively paid more than $5,800,000 in fees and monthly payments to Tikal and his associates.
The results were catastrophic for many families, the scam drained the victims’ bank accounts and ultimately led to the loss of their homes.
In February, co-defendant Ray Kornfeld was sentenced to five years for his role in the scheme and ordered to pay over $3 million in restitution to the victims. Co-defendant Tamara Tikal previously entered a guilty plea and will be sentenced on April 23, 2015.
Tikal’s arrest arose from an investigation by Special Inspector General for the Trouble Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) and Attorney General Harris’ Mortgage Fraud Strike Force with assistance from the Stanislaus and Alameda County District Attorney’s Offices.
The Mortgage Fraud Strike Force was formed in May 2011 to comprehensively investigate and prosecute misconduct in the mortgage industry.
The attorney general's efforts include securing approximately $20 billion for California in the National Mortgage Settlement and sponsoring the California Homeowner Bill of Rights, a package of laws instituting permanent mortgage-related reforms.
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SACRAMENTO – On Tuesday, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) unveiled legislation aimed at maintaining consumer confidence in charitable giving.
The bill would close a loophole in disclosure requirements for paid commercial fundraising campaigns and include for-profit fundraising firms and other third parties who engage in misconduct in the Attorney General’s 10-year statute of limitations.
“Californians should have complete confidence that the donation they make to a charitable organization will go toward the cause they support, and feel secure knowing their gift won’t be diverted to the pockets of a third-party, for-profit fundraiser,” said Attorney General Harris. “I thank Assemblymember Irwin for standing with me to increase transparency and empower Californians with the information they need to donate wisely.”
Assembly Bill 556 closes a loophole in existing charitable giving transparency requirements that currently allows third parties to solicit funds from donors without disclosing whether a portion of their gift will be diverted to a paid company by establishing their operations as “fundraising counsel” instead of “commercial fundraisers.”
Attorney General Harris’ office recently released a report summarizing the results of charitable solicitation campaigns conducted by commercial fundraisers in 2013, which reveals the alarming extent to which charitable donations are often diverted to for-profit companies.
For-profit third party fundraisers played a role in a recent charity enforcement case, People v. Help Hospitalized Veterans, where a charitable fraud scheme included directing nearly three-quarters of the gross revenue made to for-profit fundraising campaigns in which the charity’s “fundraising counsel” was not required to disclose in their direct mail pieces that a paid professional fundraiser was profiting from each donation.
In addition, because of a gap in the Government Code’s statute of limitations for charitable misconduct lawsuits, not all parties responsible for the fraud in the Help Hospitalized Veterans case were able to be held accountable.
AB 556 will expand the statute to include enforcement actions against commercial fundraisers, fundraising counsel, and other third party entities that aid and abet the exploitation of charitable assets.
This ten-year window is often necessary in such cases, which are complex, fact-intensive, and cover misconduct occurring over an extended period of time.
“As a city councilmember and board member of local nonprofits in Ventura County, I saw the enormous positive impact that charities have on our communities,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks). “AB 556 will help keep bad behavior by a few from undermining the confidence that Californians have in the more than 70,000 active nonprofit organizations doing great work in California. I commend Attorney General Kamala Harris for her work on this issue and look forward to working with her on AB 556.”
In late 2014, a comprehensive report on California’s non-profit sector, Causes Count, was issued by the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits), a “chamber of commerce” representing 9,200 nonprofits. According to the report, California’s charitable organizations contribute 15 percent — or one-sixth — of California’s Gross State Product.
“California nonprofits are trusted institutions,” said Jan Masaoka, CEO of CalNonprofits. “We support legislation like AB 556 that closes gaps in the law that no legitimate charity needs to exploit to fulfill its mission. We appreciate that Attorney General Harris and Assemblymember Irwin support the non-profit sector’s role in California as an economic driver, an innovation leader, and a champion for hope and opportunity, always looking toward a better future.”
Legislative text is available at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB556 .
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