1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 August 25, 2015 9 10 PUBLIC COMMENT 11 WILLIAM CONNELL 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Reported by: Juli Price Jackson 21 No. CSR 5214 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board Jerome E. Horton of Equalization: Chairman 4 5 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) Vice-Chairman 6 7 Fiona Ma, CPA Member 8 9 Diane L. Harkey Member 10 11 Yvette Stowers Appearing for Betty T. 12 Yee, State Controller (per Government Code 13 Section 7.9) 14 Joann Richmond 15 Chief, Board Proceedings Division 16 17 18 ---oOo--- 19 20 For Staff: David Gau Chief Deputy Director 21 22 23 Public Speaker: William Connell 24 25 26 27 ---o0o--- 28 2 1 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 2 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 3 August 25, 2015 4 ---oOo--- 5 MR. HORTON: Good morning, Members -- good 6 morning, Members and Guests, let us convene the 7 meeting of the Board of Equalization, which is 8 hereby called to order. 9 Our first line of business is in the pledge 10 of allegiance. We would ask that Mr. Connell lead 11 us in the pledge of allegiance. 12 (Pledge of allegiance.) 13 MR. HORTON: Mr. Connell, I understand that 14 you want to provide the Board testimony, please come 15 forward, on veterans issues. 16 ---o0o--- 17 WILLIAM CONNELL 18 ---o0o--- 19 MR. CONNELL: Most Honorable Chairman and 20 Board Members, thank you very much for allowing me 21 to speak this morning. 22 Seldom does your staff get the credit that 23 they're due. And over the last few months Mr. Gau's 24 office has helped me identify small veterans' groups 25 that have been starting to fall through the cracks 26 as far as notification of some monies that they have 27 coming back to them. We've just about got it 28 narrowed down into a laser of which veterans have 3 1 monies coming. 2 And then an additional issue has been 3 brought to my attention by our Veterans Service 4 Advisory Council of Santa Barbara County. I'm a 5 member as the south coast representative. It goes 6 into the Ventura County a little bit, for veterans' 7 issues. 8 Our newly returning veterans, who are now 9 applying for business licenses, in general, aren't 10 asked if they are an honorable discharge veteran. 11 By not asking that question, the veteran's 12 exemptions that they do hold and have made an earned 13 personal privilege of aren't being applied to our 14 returning veterans. 15 Harry Hagen, our Treasurer/Tax Collector, 16 has simplified our general business license 17 application include the few words I wanted. 18 "Are you a veteran of the United 19 States military? Yes or no, check 20 the box." 21 Claim for the veteran's exemption is the 22 second sheet that follows. The third sheet is the 23 special notice for all tax repayment for these 24 veteran vendors. 25 If this basic form could be provided 26 statewide in a unified manner to all of the business 27 license issuers, that would really cover everyone 28 who is wishing to get their business license and who 4 1 are an honorably discharged veteran. 2 There's a few other small items, but as any 3 returning of monies or whatever, I don't think you 4 guys had to do that too many times over the last 120 5 years. 6 So, the policy and the procedure that we've 7 been working on -- and I want to thank Mr. Gau and 8 his office, I'm going to meet with him directly 9 after this address. 10 I want you all to have a nice safe Labor 11 Day weekend coming up. And let's not too heavy of a 12 workload for you guys today. 13 Once again, thank you very much for all of 14 your support over all of these years. And I much 15 appreciate all of your hard work. 16 Thank you very much. Senator, thank you. 17 Fiona, you've got my back. 18 Thank you so much. If you have any 19 questions, I don't know if we're allowed to ask 20 questions now, but if there's anything I can do in 21 regards to any veterans' issue, I am starting to get 22 near the age of retirement, I'm going to have lot of 23 time on my hands. You guys might be seeing me once 24 or twice up in Sacramento. 25 And I'd like -- one last thing, to have the 26 Revenue and Tax -- Revenue and Governance Committee 27 of the Senate advised of the incorrect information 28 that was put forth during this Assembly Bill 919. 5 1 I haven't been contacted regarding what's 2 going to be done there. I don't know if you want me 3 to go and address that -- that body or not. But I 4 think because you sponsored AB 919, you should make 5 sure the accuracy is beyond reapproach, and 6 especially they're talking about me, I want to make 7 sure that things are extremely accurate. 8 Other than that, I don't have a bitch or a 9 moan. And I appreciate all of your help. Thank 10 you. 11 MR. HORTON: Thank you, Mr. Connell. 12 Before you leave, discussion, Members? 13 Member Ma. 14 MS. MA: Mr. Gau, since he invoked your 15 name, perhaps you'd just come forward? 16 I just have a question about forms and 17 changing forms and adding boxes. Like what is the 18 procedure that we go through to change some of the 19 forms that we have out there? 20 MR. GAU: David Gau, Chief Deputy Director. 21 Mr. Connell has provided to me this morning 22 a copy of the County of Santa Barbara form that he's 23 been able to get the correction to. 24 So, we can help him, I think, with the 25 counties, maybe get the word out. Then we would 26 need to look at ours. 27 Oftentimes the sales tax is -- whether -- 28 doesn't necessarily need to be a veteran to 6 1 determine that in the application process, but we 2 certainly can help him get this word out. 3 MS. MA: I'm I saying in general, let's say 4 he wanted to change -- 5 MR. GAU: Oh, it's an internal process that 6 we go through. Corrections or modifications are 7 recommended. They go through a clearance process, 8 and it happens. So, it's a fairly streamlined 9 process. 10 MS. MA: Okay. 11 MR. HORTON: Further discussion, Members? 12 Hearing none, thank you very much, 13 Mr. Connell, we always appreciate your presence and 14 the information that you bring. 15 Mr. Gau, thank you as well. 16 MR. GAU: Thank you. 17 ---o0o--- 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 7 1 . 2 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 3 4 State of California ) 5 ) ss 6 County of Sacramento ) 7 8 I, JULI PRICE JACKSON, Hearing Reporter for 9 the California State Board of Equalization certify 10 that on August 25, 2015 I recorded verbatim, in 11 shorthand, to the best of my ability, the 12 proceedings in the above-entitled hearing; that I 13 transcribed the shorthand writing into typewriting; 14 and that the preceding pages 1 through 7 constitute 15 a complete and accurate transcription of the 16 shorthand writing. 17 18 Dated: October 5, 2015 19 20 21 ____________________________ 22 JULI PRICE JACKSON 23 Hearing Reporter 24 25 26 27 28 8