News & Events

These days it may seem like there is no end in sight to California’s housing crunch – particularly in the Bay Area. But a proposition on this November’s ballot aims to give some relief by enabling certain mature homeowners to downsize (or upsize) without the penalty of dramatic property tax reassessment. What is it? One of the initiatives voters will be asked to approve in November is Proposition 5, which allows homeowners 55 years and older to transfer the property tax base of their current home to a new home, regardless of whether the new home is more or less expensive. Prop. 5 is an extension of Prop. 60 and Prop. 90, which currently allow a person over age 55 to transfer their property tax base to a less expensive home within the same county or in another county that has authorized such a transfer by ordinance. The rationale behind Prop. 60 and Prop. 90 was to allow older homeowners to downsize without incurring a large property tax increase. Under the existing Prop. 90, counties can choose whether to accept intercounty transfers of property tax assessments. Counties that currently allow for an incoming transfer of a property tax base are Alameda, El Dorado, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Tuolumne, and Ventura. Currently, eligible homeowners can only transfer the tax value of a home one time. How It Will Work (According to Proponents) Prop. 5 will increase tax savings when purchasing a less expensive […]

Hoge Fenton Shareholder Alison Buchanan to speak on October 25, 2018 at the Santa Clara County Bar Association’s MCLE Seminar. Alison will discuss important changes about the revised (new) California Rules of Professional Conduct that will go into effect by order of the California Supreme Court. For additional information, click here

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Thus far, 2018 has proven to be the Year of Privacy. The year began with news that Facebook had allowed Cambridge Analytica, a political firm, to access private data of more than 50 million Facebook users. Then, on May 25, the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) went into force, overhauling 15 years of European privacy law. Not to be outdone, on June 28, the California Legislature passed a comprehensive consumer privacy law called The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). The Bill AB No. 375 is, in many ways, California’s response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a nod to many of the principles of the GDPR. AB No. 375 was drafted, debated, and adopted within seven days, so not surprisingly, much criticism and scrutiny in the privacy industry followed. And as expected, last Friday, August 31, the California Legislature passed SB 1121 to amend the CCPA. The CCPA applies to any for-profit legal entity doing business in California that meets any one of the following: has annual revenues in excess of $25 million; possesses the personal data of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices; or derives 50% or more of its annual revenues from selling consumers’ personal data. The CCPA provides new rights to California residents, including: the right to know what personal data is being collected and shared or disclosed with others; the right to object to the sale of personal information; and the right to access personal information that a company holds and to […]