Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Approval of Electronic Signatures for Assessment Appeals Board Documents
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution authorizing the use of electronic signatures for the Assessment Appeals Board (AAB) to accept and process assessment appeals applications and all other necessary forms to process assessment appeals.
body
BACKGROUND:
Administrative Memo B-29, which was effective beginning July 1, 2013, encouraged County departments to use paperless electronic documents whenever appropriate and established a policy on when an electronic signature could replace a hand-written (wet) signature. Since the implementation of that policy, many County departments, including the Assessor's Office, have adopted the use of electronic signatures. Per the policy, official documents and forms, such as those utilized by the Assessment Appeals Board (AAB), may allow for an electronic signature as long as they are allowed by law.
In 2000, the State Board of Equalization (BOE) issued an opinion letter stating that there is no prohibition in the Revenue and Taxation Code against the use of electronic signatures in assessment appeal applications. The Revenue and Taxation Code was thereafter amended to include Section 1603(g), which provides:
The Clerk of a County Board of Equalization may accept an electronically filed application for changed assessment containing an electronic signature if all of the following criteria are met:
(1) The application complies with all other requirements for the filing of the application;
(2) The electronic signature is accompanied by the certification described in subdivision (f); and
(3) The electronic signature is authenticated in a manner that is approved by the County Board of Supervisors, which manner may include, but is not limited to, the use of personal identification numbers th...
Click here for full text