SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Lawmakers have sent Gov. Jerry Brown a compromise bill that delays California’s effort to force online retailers such as Amazon.com to collect sales taxes.
The state Assembly voted 59-8 to approve AB155 Friday in the final hours of this year’s legislative session. The bill had passed the Senate hours earlier.
Democratic Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner of Berkeley, one of the bill’s authors, called the agreement historic.
The compromise between lawmakers, Amazon.com and traditional retailers would delay the expanded online tax collections until at least September 2012. That would give Amazon and other retailers time to lobby Congress for national rules governing online sales taxes.
AB155 would eliminate an estimated $200 million in tax revenue the state had been counting on this fiscal year. The governor has not offered an opinion.
