SACRAMENTO – With the Senate approving today legislation to close a loophole that lets wealthy yacht owners dodge taxes by stashing their boats out of state for three months, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said he will take the bill up on the Assembly floor on Tuesday, and urged more Republican Assemblymembers to step up and join the majority of Democrats who voted for the Assembly version of the bill. The measure requires a two-thirds vote to pass.

“To solve the state’s cash crisis and relieve pressure on next year’s budget, we just had to make several difficult cuts that hurt low income Californians and working families and it’s only fair that some of the sacrifice be spread around,” Núñez said. “We tried in the Assembly to close this unnecessary loophole for wealthy yacht owners, and got the support of the vast majority of Democrats and even a couple Republicans, but not enough to get the job done. When we take up the Senate’s version of the bill on Tuesday, I’m asking my Republican colleagues, many of whom professed sorrow over cuts we were making, to come on board, do the right thing, and close this ‘sloophole’ once and for all.”