Opinion No. (2003)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General SUSAN DUNCAN LEE Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE PATRICIA WIGGINS, MEMBER OF THE STATE ASSEMBLY, has requested an opinion on the following question: Does a county board of supervisors have the discretion, in each fiscal year, to change the allocation of Proposition 172 funds among otherwise eligible public safety service agencies, including an allocation to an otherwise eligible public safety service agency that did not receive an allocation in a prior fiscal year? CONCLUSION A county board of supervisors has the discretion, in each fiscal year, to change the allocation of Proposition 172 funds among otherwise eligible public safety service agencies, including an allocation to an otherwise eligible public safety service agency that did not receive an allocation in a prior fiscal year. ANALYSIS In 1993 the voters approved Proposition 172, a legislative constitutional amendment directing the proceeds of a 0.50 percent sales tax to be used exclusively for local public safety services. Proposition 172 added section 35 to article XIII of the California Constitution, as follows: "(a) The people of the State of California find and declare all of the…