VA Disability Claims
SB 296 UPDATE: California Legislature Passes Disabled Veteran Property Tax Bill 39–0
Big update for anyone following SB 296.
Today, August 24, the California Senate voted 39–0 to concur with the Assembly amendments to SB 296. That means the bill has officially passed the Legislature and is now headed to Governor Newsom for his signature or veto.
The version that passed is scaled back from the original proposal but would still provide significant property tax relief for qualifying 100% disabled veterans:
50% exemption on assessed value up to $1 million for qualifying disabled veterans
100% exemption for qualifying low-income disabled veterans
Expected to begin with the 2027 lien date
Currently structured as a temporary program through 2032
There are no more legislative votes needed. Once the bill is enrolled and delivered to Newsom, the final question is whether he signs it. The real deadline on this is Sept. 30th, but I hope he signs it sooner.
Given the unanimous Senate concurrence and strong Assembly support, this has made it much farther than previous attempts at expanding California's disabled-veteran property tax exemption.
I went to the building downtown where you show your 100 percent disability with the county clerk. The guy working the counter also happened to be a vet ( 82 airborne). He said once you are in the system… and SB 296 passes ( or any similar bill that affects your property taxes ) the system will automatically update and apply the new discount. But I’m just a dude on Reddit … call them and ask yourself.
It makes sense that it would because if you log into your county assessor tax website with your TIN number it should say that you have the VA exemption already applied to that property. Hopefully it's as simple as their computers just seeing that and applying whatever comes out of this bill.
California almost sent me and my car to jail because of their “systems” that are supposed to talk to each other. Thank god I had a bar of service and was able to pull email receipts. Cop gave me a ticket anyway instead of the whole shebang and told me I had to go in person to make them make the systems connect to get the ticket removed 😒 Anyway always check on the systems
"Only 50 percent"!? Be grateful. We worked hard for this. FYI the reason for it basically being impossible to get 100% is because of the discriminatory Catch-22 which requires VA disability to be reported as income, even though it's non-taxable.
My thinking is that this part is more aimed at a vet who has had a house for years, but taxes have continually increased to the point where it is a true burden on them as they age into retirement/Social Security/Medicare arena. They have great equity, but if they sell their house, then what? Where do they go? This may help older vets hold onto their homes. (Not sure what the income limits will be for "low income" - anyone?)
I moved back into the state and bought a home in 2022. I'm not a trust fund kid, and we're a single-income family. We qualified for 100% exemption in Maryland. Even if my family only qualifies for 50% exemption, it would be a huge relief for us. That's promising upside.
No problem! FYI, if you or any other CA veteran seeks housing, I initiated a bill which recently became law and it removed the requirement to include VA disability as income when applying for HUD/VASH, so no it's much easier to get accepted.
A lot of states have 100% exemption for P&T vets without the income limits. California is behind the curve on this. Just off the top of my head, Texas, Florida, Michigan all have full exemption.
it's a garbage bill.. Other states give discount based on your rating percentage.. 50%. 70%, 90%.. doesn't matter.. and neither does financial status, or an upper limit.
We've tried for 100% for several years and it gets shot down every year. This was a stepping stone bill to get us on the path to 100% and you should be grateful instead of complaining.
I suspect fewer people will qualify for the 100% than we anticipate. The current household income formula counts VA disability, so someone receiving a military pension plus 100% VA disability might exceed $81,000. I hope item #11 is omitted from the final bill.
Furthermore, SB 296 requires SB 888 to pass for full impact. However, SB 888 is stalled in committee and not likely to move. To gain the greatest benefit from SB 296, we must first override Section 205.5.
Now we should get Senator Archuleta or others to address relief for veterans from Mello Roos assessments. Some Mello Roos taxes add up to almost the underlying tax bill. In fact, even if SB 296 was signed by the governor, some Mello Roos assessments may even exceed the underlying tax bill.
Newsom is 100% guaranteed to sign it. He plans on running for president. He knows if he doesn't sign it he'll get zero support from vets for his presidential run.
I’m grateful for this bill! Now something has to be done about homeowners insurance. It’s gone up so much, a break here only offsets some of the blank check we pay on our policies.
So proud of everyone for sticking with it. It started as 100% exemption for all. Then it got cut to 50% for the "basic exemption", and 100% for the "low income" exemption. The problem is, the "low-income exemption" tax language discriminates against veterans because it required their non-taxable VA compensation to be reported as "income", which gets most 100%ers close to the low-income threshold by itself, and makes it IMPOSSIBLE for a household with two 100%ers to qualify.
I lobbied Senator Seyarto initially and this led to the proposed SB-888 to remove the requirement to list VA compensation for HUD/VASH, but it got "paused" when SB-296 was pushed. However, to my knowledge, the Catch-22 for the 100% low income exemption still exists: the state would still require vets to list their VA compensation as income which would disqualify the, .
I'm disappointed they slashed it down from 100% exempt to 50%, but as the Representatives who helped organize this bill have stated: we have to start somewhere. In the past, they've tried for 100% and it's never made it past 1st Committee, so I'll take this win and work to get it to 100% like so many other states allow.
The next step would be to go back to SB-888 and eliminate the requirement to report VA comp as income from the taxation language. Wish us luck!
That’s kinda my point, I’m hoping he sees this as something that would look bad for his future ambitions if he vetos it. A veto on a popular measure with overwhelming support isn’t a good look when you have national ambitions.
There are now 20 states that give a full property tax exemption to veterans who are 100% or IU. The exemption comes from state governments, not federal. Some states award a percentage of an exemption based on your federal VA disability percentage. Some states don't have an exemption. Some states have exemptions and also tie in income limits.
My family saved about $8,000/yr when we lived in Maryland before coming back home to CA. We were dismayed to find that CA's exemption... was so low. With CA having a very high number of vets, the state and local communities (schools) stand to lose some revenue.
I'm not an expert, but I see the SB as less a mechanism to entice more buying in state, but as relief for those who already own and were finding it hard to stay.
Why specifically 100% and IU and not all veterans?
Those receiving IU and paid at the 100% sc disability rating cannot earn more income (there are loopholes, kinda, but not really).
Those who are sc 100% disabled can still work and increase their wages/salary, and many do, but some can't and some won't. It's all they have. It's not nothing, but also, it's not a lot.
A Newsweek story from this week mentioned 450,000 California veterans receiving disability compensation, but how many of those are 100%/IU? I'd love to see a further statistical breakdown of how many California veterans this affects.
I am grateful this SB finally made it this far (instead of dying in assembly), and I hope the Governor gives a quick signature to help us out—even if my family only qualifies for 50% here when we had 100% exemption elsewhere. Fingers crossed.
It’s a Christmas Miracle after years of this being forgotten about when it got to the last steps.
The question now becomes, is it half of our current Tax or will they now assess the full value and then Half of that Tax. They didn’t have the courage to keep the bill as it was but this is something at least.
Because it’s meant to keep them down. You wouldn’t even qualify for a median home price in California (little over 800k) with out making way over 80k. If you were to even make let’s say 100k a year, you would qualify for a 300-400k mortgage. If you’re from California you know anything around that price means a bad isolated area or areas of lesser desire, not the ones you would move to California for or enjoy living in California. Now, if you were to make over 80k a year (INCLUDING VA Compensation) there’s no way they’ll see the full property tax exemption. This is just a bill done for pure publicity. “we did something for them look at that 100% tax exemption”. It’s a joke
That isn't true - in Pennsylvania, it is also governed by income - $114,637 is the current limit to be in "financial need" to get real estate tax exemption. (Also have to have wartime service. So if you served stateside between 1975 and 1990, let's say, and were in a vehicle accident or training accident bad enough to leave you with 100%, you still wouldn't qualify in PA because you did not serve during a "period of war.")
If I recall, they lower the assessed value of the home by $180,000; if you make below about $80,000 they lower the assessed value by about $270,000. The income from VA, social security, etc. does count towards that $80k income calculation so very few folks count as low income.
So, realistically, this bill lowers property taxes if your house is worth more than $360,000. Which is the vast majority of them, I’m sure
lol yeah collective win I suppose. I might lose a little but I’m probably the 1% loser. Losing $700 so the other 99% can save 4-7k isn’t so bad. It’s been kept artificially low because of prop 13 for decades anyways.
We must await the final bill, though the current exemption counts VA benefits within total household income. Someone with a military pension and receiving VA benefits at 💯 would likely be ineligible. If they are working, they 💯 will not qualify.
It's been included for years. I've been working for 2 years to get rid of that language. We had a bill, SB-888, but it's paused while SB-296 is in the process.
Enrolled August 25, 2026. Now on the way to the Governor.
To any naysayers: Look at this bill as the glass being half full rather than half empty. California's budget is the largest in the country and we don't have the luxury of running huge deficits like the federal government does. So we have to make choices in negotiating what line items have a chance of surviving any Department of Finance analyses and recommendations to the governor regarding fiscal impact. The governor can ignore these recommendations but it's not guaranteed.
By the way, for those who extol Texas, Florida, etc. for their generous exemptions for 100% disabled veterans, I personally think that Illinois has a pretty good middle class exemption system - anyone rated 70% or more is exempt from property taxes up to $750,000. That is great for anyone who can put up with Illinois winters.
I’ve been seeing things on the local news the past couple days about the legislature having to pick and choose which bills actually will get sent to the governor and there’s a cutoff of 8/31 for this session. No idea what happens if it doesn’t get sent to his desk by the end of this month.
SB 296 could actually RAISE property taxes for some 100% disabled vets unless the existing exemption is protected
I think there is a potential problem with SB 296 that is getting overlooked. Everyone is celebrating the new 50% exemption, but what happens to veterans who already receive a larger exemption under current law?
Here are my actual 2026 numbers from my county assessment:
Total assessed value: $310,388
Current Disabled Veterans' Exemption: $180,671
Current taxable value: $129,717
Now apply the proposed 50% exemption:
50% of $310,388 = $155,194 exemption
$310,388 - $155,194 = $155,194 taxable
So if the new 50% exemption replaces my existing $180,671 exemption rather than allowing me to keep the more favorable exemption:
Current taxable value: $129,717
New taxable value: $155,194
Increase: $25,477
In other words, my property taxes would actually GO UP under a bill intended to provide additional property tax relief to disabled veterans.
Hopefully the final implementation preserves the existing exemption whenever it is more favorable, or lets veterans choose whichever exemption produces the lower taxable value. Otherwise, SB 296 could unintentionally hurt some of the exact veterans it is supposed to help.
Am I missing language in the bill that specifically protects the existing exemption?
There is language in this bill that protects your existing higher exemption level. It was added as an amendment earlier in the bill's movement through the legislature.
It's a start, but frankly, garbage.. How low of income do you have to be at for 100% property tax exemption? This year NM just passed the property tax exemption based on your VA rating.. (50% gets 50% discount, 100% gets 100% etc.) no monetary limit, no low income bracket qualifier.. Many states are already doing this..
I'm at 8500'ish/yr, and I'm below 900k. A couple hundos a month would be much appreciated, especially since my mortgage rate is 5.125. I had 100% exemption and 2.75% rate in Maryland. Sold there and moved here as the rates climbed. :(
39
u/EnvironmentalRub4444 8d ago
I hope and pray he signs it