California’s unique real property tax system has been a regular feature in my blog since its beginnings.  In particular, the intricacies of Proposition 13 and the adjustments that have been made to that pioneering program over the years have invited a significant amount of focus.  As we approach the November 2020 election and the ballot measures to be voted on this year, I would like to draw your attention to Proposition 19, the…

Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB3088 on 8/31/20, setting forth guidelines for California residential landlords in order to preserve the right to later claim unpaid rent and/or evict tenants for unpaid rent, while protecting tenants demonstrating COVID-19 related financial hardship. The new law requires landlords who intend to seek damages from residential tenants who have missed rent between March 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020 to send the “covered period” notice on or before September 30,…

The potential tax deferral benefits of Opportunity Zones for capital gains from the disposition of commercial real estate as an alternative to Section 1031 exchanges has been a recurring topic in this blog ever since that program was passed into law by Congress with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in late 2017.  Since adoption of that tax plan, its details have been fleshed out in several iterations of rulemaking issued by the IRS. …

In the days since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Americans of all backgrounds have been weighing in on this sad event and its aftermath, reverberating across our country from the streets of Fargo, North Dakota and Long Beach, California, to the corporate boardrooms of New York City and Silicon Valley.  These responses seem to show that we may have found a thread of unity in the frayed fabric of our society, some measure…

It may now seem like a lifetime ago given the ubiquity and enormity of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on our everyday lives, but it has actually only been a few months since California’s chronic and acute shortage of housing had been monopolizing our attention.  While we shelter in place and try to imagine what the world will look like after things get back to “normal,” our housing crisis has not gone away, notwithstanding…

One of the critical lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is how quickly a situation can change, and how adaptable businesses must be in order to respond.  Just three months ago, we were watching the Dow hit 29,000 for its fastest 1,000 point gain ever, and wondering whether our Silicon Valley economy might begin to slow down.  Now, to halt the worldwide spread of this disease, social distancing and other effective yet drastic public…

One of the biggest news stories of 2020 thus far has been the worldwide outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic .  It seems that everywhere we look, the proliferation of this disease has caused more and more disruption in our everyday lives—from hundreds of cruise ship crewmembers and passengers becoming captive victims of the sickness, to the cancellation of major events such as South by Southwest, to record-setting stock market losses, the virus is…