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8A Page 7 cities and counties under the notorious 2004 "Triple-Flip" law. Under the "Triple-Flip,n cities and counties were compensated for a temporary reduction of a quarter-cent of the local Bradley- Burns sales and use tax with an equivalent amount of property tax revenue so the state sales tax rate could be temporarily increased an equivalent amount to be pledged for repayment of the state's economic recovery bonds. Anticipating this type of double-cross in the out-years, the League and its Prop. 1A partners insisted on explicit language prohibiting such a diversion of the property tax backfill. For those who would even think of this, we suggest you read subsections (4) and (5) of Section 25.5 of Article XIII of the California Constitution and think again. It is unquestionably unconstitutionaL For further information on Prop. 1A, see Michael Coleman's overview at: httpJlwww.califomiacitvfinance.com/Prop1A FAQ.pdt What's Next Today's Senate vote on President Pro Tem Perata's budget proposal (which included the three- year redevelopment hit and no reduction of the sales tax after the temporary three year-increase) failed on largely party line votes. However, as of this writing, the roll is still open for votes to be changed and the Senate and Assembly could continue meeting over the weekend. The Legislature is being told by local election officials that they need to act quickly to put any ballot measures like the proposed spending lid and the lottery expansion on the November 2008 ballot. It's anyone's guess whether they will stay in town. Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Merced) made a motion after the initial failure of the budget to waive the rules to allow a bill to be brought to the floor to make some interim appropriations to provide payments to health care providers and others until a budget is adopted. In Congress, this is called a .continuing resolution" because it appropriates a continuing base amount until Congress can reach agreement on a budget. What City Officials Should 00 City officials are urged to continue to call the Governor and Legislature to urge continued opposition to borrowing local government and transportation funds to balance the state budget and to oppose any seizure of redevelopment funds for the same purpose. 'B08f"d of Equalization' Continued rrom Page 1... As an effort to close the tax gap, the BOE is launching the Statewide Compliance and Outreach Program (SCOP). More than 8,000 businesses in seven different zip codes throughout California were notified the week of Aug. 18 about impending visits from BOE specialists. Slated to start once the state budget is finalized, the BOE representatives will be canvassing the identified areas to ensure that the businesses are properly registered and paying taxes. The representatives will conduct checks for seller's permits of all storefronts and other known business locations in each neighborhood. Initially, there will be seven teams doing door-to-door visits. The first area codes targeted by the program will be: 94608 (Emeryville), 95826 (Sacramento), 95110 (San Jose). 91406 (Van Nuys), 90505 (Torrance), 92701 (Santa Ana), and 92570 (Perris). Registered retailers will be checked for appropriate permits and licenses. In addition, service industry businesses will be surveyed, especially those which also sell taxable retail items. Those businesses found to be out of compliance will be given instructions on how to register with the BOE and given infonnation about other necessary licenses. BOE will be working with cities, counties, chambers of commerce, local organizations and chapters in its outreach effort. Please visit BOE's Web site for additional information (www.boe.ca.Qov). 3