2005 California Revenue and Taxation Code Sections 7270-7274 CHAPTER 3. ADMINISTRATION

7270.  (a) Prior to the operative date of any ordinance imposing a
transactions and use tax pursuant to this part, the district shall
contract with the board to perform all functions incident to the
administration and operation of the ordinance.  If the district has
not contracted with the board prior to the operative date of its
ordinance, it shall nevertheless so contract and, in that case, the
operative date shall be the first day of the first calendar quarter
following the execution of the contract.
   (b) The contract shall contain a provision that the district shall
reimburse the board for and hold the board harmless from any and all
costs, losses, or refunds of any kind whatsoever.
   (c) The contract shall also contain a provision that, in the event
that a legal action is commenced challenging the validity of the tax
in its entirety, as opposed to  its application to an individual
taxpayer, the district shall place the tax proceeds into an
interest-bearing escrow account until the legality of the tax is
finally resolved by a final and nonappealable decision rendered by a
court of competent jurisdiction.  That provision shall be enforceable
by any interested person in a proceeding for a writ of mandate.
   (d) The district shall be entitled to indemnity for any and all
costs, losses, or refunds from any entity, except the state, that
participated in the imposition of the tax.  For the purposes of this
part, "participated" means any involvement in procuring the
legislation that authorized the tax, or in enacting or administering
the ordinance imposing the tax.  Any organization that is a member of
the legislative body of the district imposing the tax has
participated in the imposition of the tax within the meaning of this
section.
7270.5.  Any action or proceeding filed on the basis that a tax
ordinance provided for in this part or Part 1.7 (commencing with
Section 7280) or the issuance of any bonds thereunder or any of the
proceedings in relation thereto is contested, questioned, or denied
on the basis that the tax ordinance is unconstitutional or otherwise
invalid and filed for the sole purpose of contesting the validity of
the district transactions and use tax, shall be commenced pursuant to
Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 860) of Title 10 of Part 2 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.  The state shall not be made a party to
the action or proceeding.  That action shall not be filed more than
60 days after the approval of the enabling ordinance by the voters
unless the authorizing legislation specifies a longer period.  If no
action is filed within that period, the tax, the bonds, and all
proceedings in relation thereto, including the adoption and approval
of the ordinance, shall be held to be valid and in every respect
legal and uncontestable.
7271.  All transactions and use taxes collected by the board
pursuant to contract with the district shall be transmitted by the
board to the district periodically as promptly as feasible.  The
transmittals shall be made at least twice in each calendar quarter.
7271.05.  (a) On or before March 1, 1992, the Controller shall
calculate the total amount that has been transmitted to the Santa
Cruz Metropolitan Transit District pursuant to Section 7271.03, and
provide those calculations to the State Board of Equalization.
   (b) Beginning on July 1, 1992, and for each year thereafter to
July 1, 1997, inclusive, the State Board of Equalization shall reduce
the amounts that would otherwise be transmitted to the Santa Cruz
Metropolitan Transit District pursuant to Section 7271 by an amount
sufficient to recover one-fifth of the amount transmitted to that
district pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 7271.03, plus
interest after January 1, 1992, or the other applicable date, at the
annual rate of 31/2 percent.  The board shall distribute the
reductions in transmittals over the fiscal year in the manner it
determines to be least disruptive to the district.
   (c) The board shall transmit the amounts withheld from the Santa
Cruz Metropolitan Transit District and the interest amounts pursuant
to subdivision (b) to the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties.
7271.1.  (a) For purposes of this section:
   (1) "Quarterly taxes" means the total amount of transactions and
use taxes transmitted by the board to a district for a calendar
quarter.
   (2) "Refund" means the amount of transactions and use taxes
deducted by the board from a district's quarterly taxes in order to
pay the district's share of a transactions and use tax refund due to
one taxpayer.
   (3) "Offset portion" means that portion of the refund which
exceeds the greater of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or 20 percent
of the district's quarterly taxes.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), if the board has
deducted a refund from a district's quarterly taxes which includes an
offset portion, then the following provisions apply:
   (1) Within three months after the board has deducted an offset
portion, the district may request the board to transmit the offset
portion to the district.
   (2) As promptly as feasible after the board receives the district'
s request, the board shall transmit to the district the offset
portion as part of the board's periodic transmittal of transactions
and use taxes.
   (3) The board shall thereafter deduct a pro rata share of the
offset portion from future transmittals of transactions and use taxes
to the district over a period to be determined by the board, but not
less than two calendar quarters and not more than eight calendar
quarters, until the entire amount of the offset portion has been
deducted.
   (c) The board shall not transmit the offset portion of the refund
to the district if that transmittal would reduce or delay either the
board's payment of the refund to the taxpayer or the board's periodic
transmittals of transactions and use taxes to other districts.
7272.  The district shall pay to the board its costs of preparation
to administer and operate the transactions and use taxes ordinance.
The district shall pay such costs monthly as incurred and billed by
the board.  Such costs include all preparatory costs, including costs
of developing procedures, programming for data processing,
developing and adopting appropriate regulations, designing and
printing of forms, developing instructions for the board's staff and
for taxpayers, and other necessary preparatory costs which shall
include the board's direct and indirect costs as specified by Section
11256 of the Government Code.  Any disputes as to the amount of
preparatory costs incurred shall be resolved by the Director of
Finance, and his or her decision shall be final.  The maximum amount
of all preparatory costs to be paid by the district shall not, in any
event, exceed one hundred seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,000).
7273.  In addition to the amounts otherwise provided for preparatory
costs, the board shall charge an amount for its services in
administering the transactions and use tax determined by the board,
with the concurrence of the Department of Finance, as follows:
   (a) Beginning with the 1993-94 fiscal year, the amount charged
shall be based on the total special taxing jurisdiction costs
reflected in the annual Budget Act.  This amount comprises the
categories of direct, shared, and central agency costs incurred by
the board and shall include the following:
   (1) The amount charged to each entity shall be based on the
recommendations incorporated in the March 1992, report by the Auditor
General entitled "The Board of Equalization Needs To Adjust Its
Model For Setting Reimbursement Rates For Special Tax Jurisdictions."
   (2) The amount charged may be adjusted in the current fiscal year
to reflect the difference between the board's budgeted costs and any
significant revised estimate of costs.  Any adjustment shall be
subject to budgetary controls included in the Budget Act.  Prior to
any adjustment, the Department of Finance shall notify the
Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee not later than
30 days prior to the effective date of the adjustment.
   (3) For the 1995-96 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter,
the amount charged shall be adjusted to reflect the difference
between the board's recovered costs and the actual costs incurred by
the board during the fiscal year two years prior.
   (b) The board shall, by June 1 of each year, notify districts of
the amount that it anticipates will be assessed for the next fiscal
year.  The districts shall be notified of the actual amounts that
will be assessed within 30 days after enactment of the Budget Act for
that fiscal year.
   (c) The amount charged a transactions and use tax district that
becomes operative during the fiscal year shall be estimated for that
fiscal year based on that district's proportionate share of direct,
indirect, and shared costs.
   (d) The amounts determined by subdivision (a) shall be deducted in
equal amounts from the quarterly allocation of taxes collected by
the board for a given district.
   (e) For the 1998-99 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter,
the amount charged to a district by the board shall not exceed the
lesser of the amount as a percentage of revenue the board would have
charged for the 1998-99 fiscal year, or the first full year of a new
district's operations under this section as it read prior to the
amendments made by the act adding this subdivision, or the following
percentages:
   (1) For districts imposing a transactions and use tax of one-half
of 1 percent or greater, the amount charged by the board shall not
exceed 1.5 percent, for the 1998-99 fiscal year and each fiscal year
thereafter.
   (2) Beginning with the 1998-99 fiscal year and in each fiscal year
thereafter, the amount charged to a district imposing a transactions
and use tax ranging from one-quarter of 1 percent up to but less
than one-half of 1 percent shall not exceed 3 percent.
   (3) Beginning with the 1998-99 fiscal year and in each fiscal year
thereafter, the amount charged to a district imposing a transactions
and use tax below one-quarter of 1 percent shall not exceed 5
percent.
7273.2.  The board shall annually prepare a report showing the
amount of both reimbursed and unreimbursed costs incurred by it in
administering transactions and use taxes imposed by districts
pursuant to this part.
7274.  The board shall make available to all licensed vehicle,
vessel, and aircraft dealers who hold seller's permits in this state
information concerning the cities and counties located within
districts which impose transactions and use tax ordinances and the
applicable tax rates in those cities and counties.