Governor Brown has signed legislation (SB 1458) sponsored by Board of Equalization Member George Runner and authored by Senator Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) that expands eligibility for the state's property tax exemption to disabled military veterans who were discharged under “other than honorable conditions.”

“We should do everything we can to honor veterans injured as a result of their service,” said Runner. “By making this small change, more California veterans will be given access to a benefit offered to them by a state grateful for their sacrifices.”

Before this bill was signed, only veterans who received an honorable discharge were eligible for California's disabled veterans' property tax exemption. This includes veterans who have a service-related 100% disability rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and are receiving all federal benefits related to their service.

SB 1458 expands the disabled veterans' exemption eligibility by changing the state requirement that a veteran's character of discharge from military service be under “honorable” conditions to the standard of “other than dishonorable” conditions. This bill does not provide any benefit to those discharged under dishonorable conditions.

As a tax levy, SB 1458 becomes law immediately, but for practical reasons will not take effect until January 1, 2017.