"We have a responsibility to serve those who have served our country and defended our liberty" said Assemblyman Donnelly as he rallied support for AB 2250.

This measure allows United States veterans and their spouses and the spouses of active-duty military members to pay the in-state tuition rate at the California State Universities and the California Community Colleges. Assemblyman Donnelly joined Assembly members Gaines & Norby as a Co-Author of AB 2250, it will be heard in appropriations next; no date has been set at this time. 

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly's AB 2048 passed out of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee Monday with unanimous support!

This bill, sponsored by the California Board of Equalization (BOE), will ensure that government has to pay the same interest rate on tax overpayments as it requires of citizens for tax underpayments. Currently, citizens pay 7% interest, while the government pays 0% interest.

Following Committee, Assemblyman Donnelly released the following statement:

"AB 2048 moves us in the right direction to ensure government lives under its own rules. Government exists only by the consent of the governed, but for far too long it has required more of us than it is willing to do itself. With this measure we took a critical step toward remedying this disparity in the system.

"I am grateful to the Members of the Board of Equalization for their responsible fight on this issue. They have been critical partners in moving this bill forward."

From 1937 to 1991, the interest either party owed was calculated the same way. In 1991, however, the Legislature created the current bureaucratic inequity. Since that time the Board of Equalization has sponsored similar measures eleven times unsuccessfully.

This measure is supported by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Taxpayers Association. It will be heard next in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Implementing the California Fire Tax would require numerous new positions at the Board of Equalization and nearly half of the money that would be brought in would be spent on administering the illegal tax.  

This week, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 3 voted to deny the funding needed to provide these positions. While this does not repeal the fire tax, and there is plenty of work still to be done, it takes a step in the right direction.

AB 1506, of which Assemblyman Donnelly is a co-author, will be voted on in the Assembly Appropriations Committee next month. If passed, it will repeal the unconstitutional fire tax immediately.