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Other Taxes and Revenues Utility User's Tax. The utility users tax is the third largest revenue source for the City. The utility users tax is comprised of a tax on eight utilities; electric, wired telecom, wireless telecom, natural gas, and cable. The City's history of enactments regarding its Utility Users Tax is summarized as follows: Table A -15 CITY OF SAN LEANDRO Utility Users Tax History Utility Covered Rate Electric *, Gas *, TV, Telephone 6.0% Cable 6.0% Telecommunication 5.7% Exemption on first $34 of gas or electric charges for residential properties. Source. City of San Leandro. The City's initial Utility Users Tax (the 5% tax on electric, gas, cable television and telephone utilities with the exceptions noted above) became effective on July 1, 1970, Thereafter, the Utility Users Tax was increased without voter approval in 1993 to 6% for non- residential users. On November 4, 2008, the City's voters approved Measure RR, which authorized application of the Utility Users Tax to situations where there have been changes in technology and laws. Post -1984 technology had rendered the City's telephone tax less effective in taxing communication services that have, to a significant extent, replaced traditional telephone service. Unless precluded by federal law, Measure RR updates the City's existing telephone tax to apply to all types of telecommunication, video communication, text messaging, and paging services in addition to the telephone, cellular telephone and voice over internet protocol ( "VOIP ") services which are already taxed. Measure RR does not apply to digital downloads (e.g., games, ringtones, music and books). Federal court decisions in other states had recently created a concern as to whether the City's ordinance, as written prior to adoption of Measure RR, could be properly applied to long distance, cellular, VOIP and bundled telephone services. Transient Occupancy Tax. The City currently levies a transient occupancy tax on hotel and motel bills equal to 10 %. The transient occupancy tax is a tax paid by hotel and motel guests who spend fewer than 30 consecutive days in a hotel or motel in the City. Recently, the operators of nine hotels in the City challenged the ordinance levying the transient occupancy tax, on various grounds including that it was unconstitutionally vague and a violation of equal protection. In a decision filed on September 18, 2007, the California Court of Appeals for the Sixth District upheld the validity of the ordinance against such challenge. No appeal was filed. Franchise Fee. Prior to the passage of State Bill AB 2987, the "Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 ", Federal and State laws allowed cities to grant franchises to A -23