Cory v. Security Pacific National Bank

Opinion

HANING, J. Floyd Martin died testate on December 2, 1980, leaving his estate to his wife, children and several other parties. The report of the inheritance tax referee listed the taxable estate at $805,598 and the amount of inheritance tax due as $58,516, of which $32,946 was due from Martin’s surviving spouse.

Appellant, Security Pacific National Bank, executor of Martin’s estate, objected to the taxes due from the surviving spouse and from each other beneficiary on the ground that as a result of the enactment of Assembly Bill No. 2092 (A.B. 2092) (Stats. 1980, ch. 634, §§ 1-46, pp. 1737-1760),1 no tax was due from the surviving spouse and larger exemptions should be applied to decedent’s other legatees. The superior court overruled the objections to the tax referee’s report. We affirm.

Appellant argues that article IV, section 8, subdivision (c) of the California Constitution requires that tax levy statutes operate immediately upon their enactment. That section reads: “(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subdivision, a statute enacted at a regular session shall go into effect on January 1 next following a 90-day period from the date of enactment of the statute and a statute enacted at a special session shall go into effect on the 91st day after adjournment of the special session at which the bill was passed. [¶] (2) Statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies or appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, and urgency statutes shall go into effect immediately upon their enactment.” (Italics added.)

Appellant misinterprets the requirement set out in section 8, subdivision (c)(2). The section simply requires that tax levy statutes “go into effect” immediately upon enactment; it does not require that such statutes become operative immediately upon enactment. People v. Henderson (1980) 107 Cal.App.3d 475 [166 Cal.Rptr. 20] explains the distinction between “effective date” and “operative date”: “An enactment is a law on its effective date only in the sense that it cannot be changed except by legislative process; the rights of individuals under its provisions are not substantially [4]affected until the provision operates as law.” (Id., at p. 488.) Usually the effective and operative dates of a statute are one and the same, but the courts have recognized the power of the Legislature to establish an operative date later than the effective date, even when the statute is a tax levy falling under article IV, section 8, subdivision (c) of the California Constitution. (Estate of Nicoletti (1982) 129 Cal.App.3d 475, 479 [181 Cal.Rptr. 137].)