(a) The Aircraft Advisory Subcommittee of the California Assessors’ Association shall, after soliciting input from commercial air carriers operating in the state, do both of the following:

(1) On or before March 1, 2020, and on or before each March 1 thereafter, designate a lead county assessor’s office for each commercial air carrier operating certificated aircraft in this state in that assessment year.

(2) Every third year thereafter, redesignate a lead county assessor’s office for each of these air carriers, unless an air carrier and its existing lead county assessor’s office concur to waive this redesignation.

(b) The lead county assessor’s office described in subdivision (a) shall do all of the following:

(1) Calculate an unallocated value of the certificated aircraft of each commercial air carrier to which that assessor is designated.

(2) Electronically transmit to the assessor of each county in which the property described in paragraph (1) has situs for the assessment year the values determined by the lead county assessor’s office under paragraph (1).

(3) Receive the property statement, as described in subdivision (m) of Section 441, of each commercial air carrier to which the assessor is designated.

(4) Receive and electronically transmit to the assessor of each affected county flight data received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (m) of Section 441.

(5) Lead the audit team described in subdivision (d) when that team is conducting an audit of a commercial air carrier to which the assessor is designated.

(6) Notify, in writing, each commercial air carrier for which the assessor has been designated of this designation on or before the first March 15 that follows that designation.

(c) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the county assessor of each county in which the personal property of a commercial air carrier has situs for an assessment year is solely responsible for assessing that property, applying the allocation formula set forth in Section 1152, and enrolling the value of the property in that county, but, in determining the allocated fleet value for each make, model, and series of certificated aircraft of a commercial air carrier, the assessor may consult with the lead county assessor’s office designated for that commercial air carrier.

(2) The lead county assessor’s office is subject to Section 322 of Title 18 of the California Code of Regulations and Sections 408, 451, and 1606 to the same extent as the assessor described in paragraph (1).

(d) (1) Notwithstanding Section 469, an audit of a commercial air carrier shall be conducted once every four years on a centralized basis by an audit team of auditor-appraisers from at least one, but not more than three, counties, as determined by the Aircraft Advisory Subcommittee of the California Assessors’ Association. An audit, so conducted, shall encompass all of the California Personal Property and fixtures of the air carrier and is deemed to be made on behalf of each county for which an audit would otherwise be required under Section 469.

(2) The audit team described in paragraph (1) shall do both of the following:

(A) Be the point of contact for all aircraft-related questions to or from each county and the commercial air carrier.

(B) Ensure that all aircraft-related concerns regarding the taxable value of the aircraft and aircraft parts are resolved with each county before finalizing the aircraft assessment with the commercial air carrier.

(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 333, Sec. 5. (SB 791) Effective September 20, 2019.)