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Section 911.2 of the Government Code provides that refund claims for disputed taxes must be filed within one year from accrual of the cause of action. Currently, the City's code allows persons up to 3 years to file a claim against the City seeking a refund of the transient occupancy tax. The proposed code amendments would require persons to file a claim within one year from having paid the disputed tax. This provision would only apply to the City's business license tax and transient occupancy tax (hotel tax). The Code Amendments Establish a Process for Filing Claims: The proposed code amendments will establish a uniform procedure for persons wishing to file claims for refunds of the transit occupancy tax or the business license tax. For example, all claims must be made in writing and verified by the claimant or his or her guardian, conservator, executor, or administrator and must contain the information set forth in Government Code Section 910. The Code Amendments Bar the Filing of Class Action Claims Unless Verified by Each Claimant Perhaps most significant, the code amendments state that no claim may be filed on behalf of a class of persons unless verified by every member of that class. This would prevent the following scenario from occurring. Currently under the City's ordinance, a plaintiffs lawyer could file a refund claim on behalf of "all persons who have lodged in a hotel or motel in Pleasanton" and assert that the City's transient occupancy tax was somehow unlawful. After the code amendment, a plaintiff s lawyer could not simply assert that he/she represented a group of unnamed persons (in the hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands). Rather, in order to file a valid claim on behalf of a group of persons, the plaintiffs attorney would need to actually find persons who were "illegally charged or overcharged" and have each of them sign and verify the claim. Submitted by: Approv by: Michael H. Roush City Attorney Attachment: Proposed Ordinance Nelson Fialho City Manager Page 3 of 3