Bill would extend deadline to record intergenerational transfers after disasters to protect family-held homes

Sen. (presenter identified in the hearing) presented SB 293, described as the Generational Homeownership Protection Act, to allow homeowners affected by a declared emergency more time to update property-transfer records necessary to preserve exclusions from reassessment.

The author said many family properties passed down without recorded title transfers risk losing preferred property-tax treatment after a disaster because the current law requires reassessment forms to be submitted within six months of an owner's passing or transfer date. “Without recorded property transfers, homeowners are ineligible to qualify for these property tax exemptions under current law,” the author said, citing examples from the Eaton Fire and Altadena communities.

SB 293 would extend the six-month filing deadline to three years for disaster-impacted homeowners, and would prevent retroactive reassessment if the property meets specified conditions: the property was damaged or destroyed in a qualifying declared emergency; the owner already has a clear title; and the property otherwise meets criteria for an intergenerational transfer under applicable statutes. Rob Grossglauser spoke for the California Assessors Association; Elise Forth of the California Community Foundation also testified in support.

Committee members expressed support and asked the author to work with the committee on clarifying technical provisions; the chair referred the bill to the committee suspense file. No vote to advance the bill was recorded at this hearing.