SB 1298 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Real property tax: exemptions: religious services: parking.

Summary

Existing property tax law exempts from tax any real property that is reasonably and necessarily required for the parking of automobiles by persons engaged in religious activities. Existing law extends this exemption to apply to land and improvements regardless of whether the fee interest in the land and improvements is held by the religious organization using the land and improvements for parking purposes if certain requirements are met, including a requirement that the congregation of the church is no greater than 500 members. This bill would remove the requirements relating to the size of the congregation. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action May 6, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

02/20/26 - Introduced → 03/23/26 - Amended Senate · 5 edits · Mar 23, 2026

MODERATE

The Senate amendment dramatically expands SB 1298 from a minor technical fix to the Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights into a substantive tax policy change that removes the 500-member congregation size limit on property tax exemptions for religious parking lots not owned by the church. The bill now also takes immediate effect as a tax levy and includes state mandate reimbursement provisions, making it a far more consequential piece of legislation.

Scope change

The bill's scope expands significantly. Originally it only made a nonsubstantive wording change to the Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights (Section 5904). The amended version adds a substantive tax exemption change (removing the 500-member congregation cap on religious parking lot exemptions under Section 206.1), state mandate reimbursement, and immediate effect as a tax levy.

SCOPE

A new provision amending Section 206.1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is added. It removes the requirement that a congregation be no greater than 500 members for the property tax exemption to apply to parking land not owned by the religious organization. Previously, only small congregations (500 or fewer) could claim the exemption on non-owned parking property; now any size congregation can.

The bill's stated purpose expands from amending only Section 5904 (Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights) to also amending Section 206.1 (religious parking property tax exemption). The legislative counsel digest is rewritten to reflect both changes.

FISCAL

A new section provides that if the Commission on State Mandates determines the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts shall be made under Government Code Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500).

Fiscal notes change from 'Fiscal committee: no' and 'State-mandated local program: no' to 'Fiscal committee: yes' and 'State-mandated local program: yes,' reflecting the new state mandate reimbursement obligation.

TIMELINE

A new section declares the act a tax levy under Article IV of the California Constitution, meaning it takes immediate effect upon passage rather than waiting until January 1.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on REV. & TAX.

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Mar 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors