1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 9 (Prepared from audio recording) 10 NOVEMBER 17, 2015 11 12 13 14 ---oOo--- 15 PUBLIC COMMENT 16 WILLIAM CONNELL 17 ---oOo--- 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 PREPARED BY: Kathleen Skidgel 28 CSR NO. 9039 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 16 Division 17 For Staff: Robert Tucker Assistant Chief Counsel 18 Legal Department 19 Speaker: William Connell 20 ---oOo--- 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 2 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 3 NOVEMBER 17, 2015 4 ---oOo--- 5 MR. HORTON: Good morning, Members and 6 guests. Let us convene the meeting of the Board of 7 Equalization. 8 Our first matter, we'll ask Mr. Connell to 9 come forward and lead us in the Pledge of 10 Allegiance. 11 (Pledge of Allegiance was recited in 12 unison.) 13 MR. HORTON: Mr. Connell, welcome to the 14 Board of Equalization. 15 MR. CONNELL: Good morning everyone. 16 MR. HORTON: You'll have three minutes to 17 make your presentation, sir. 18 MR. CONNELL: Thank you for the time. I 19 appreciate it very much. 20 Over the past few months I've been working 21 with Mr. David Gau's office. I want to commend him 22 on taking very much the suggestions I made, having 23 some very good ideas of his own, and going 24 aboveboard and going out and contacting 240 veterans 25 organizations in this state. 26 MR. HORTON: Mr. Gau, thank you very much. 27 MR. CONNELL: No, he should -- 28 I can be real tough to work with. 3 1 MS. MA: You? 2 MR. CONNELL: We haven't had a cross word. 3 So, second, what I wanted to speak about is 4 an event I couldn't make because I was out of state, 5 and kudos should go to the Pismo Beach Veterans 6 Small Business Seminar, which I believe Ms. Ma's 7 office helped quite along with Mr. Gilman, also 8 there, and trying to explain these veteran's 9 exemptions for taxes and fees and licensing; kudos 10 there. 11 As I was just notified that you're having 12 some direct mail from Mr. Runner's office, he's 13 going to give me a copy of that, I believe, after I 14 get done speaking. 15 There's a few little housekeeping matters 16 that have to be taken care of as the veterans are 17 now coming forward. 18 In 2014, in the letter I sent to you, Mr. 19 Horton, it stated we knew those veteran vendors the 20 State Board knew of, the veteran vendors who the 21 State didn't know of from 2002 forward, and those 22 veteran vendors prior to 2002, my concern is those 23 group of veterans which I find myself as one. 24 This Assembly Bill 919 does not go back 25 'til 2000 -- or 1990. As I understand it, there are 26 a very few number of these veteran vendors, whether 27 they've passed away or -- it's going back to the 28 1990s. I was wondering how best are we going to get 4 1 the money back and the money returned to those 2 veteran vendors who have money coming? So that was 3 the other question I had. 4 The contact cover letters sent out for the 5 last notification was quite helpful. 6 There's another Attorney General's opinion 7 that should be coming down. It was requested by the 8 State Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman. 9 I'm not certain how long the Attorney General takes 10 writing these, but they have -- I've been known it's 11 quite some time. 12 But all in all, I want to congratulate all 13 of you. We have a pretty good feel on how we have 14 to take care of these returning veterans. We're 15 going to get a whole bunch more. This is just the 16 tip. They're -- they're going to be coming back. 17 We need to keep them -- 18 Unemployment rate's down from 19 percent to 19 14 percent. However, the percentage of veterans 20 starting business is abysmally low. So if we can 21 get these -- these veterans in small businesses with 22 a little bit of incentive and a little bit of help 23 and coddling along, transitioning from military life 24 to civilian life can be easier for them and their 25 families. 26 Never forget our veterans, ever. That's 27 the only reason we're all in this room. 28 Thanks for your time. 5 1 MR. HORTON: Thank you as well, Mr. 2 Connell, for your continued leadership. 3 I see that Mr. Tucker is here. Mr. Tucker, 4 would you please meet with Mr. Connell at some point 5 today and give him a response to his questions. And 6 then report back to the Board through some means of 7 communications if you need our assistance. 8 Thank you again for appearing before us. 9 MR. CONNELL: I'll write you all a nice 10 letter in a week or two. I just got back from 11 vacationing with my 85-year-old mother who made me 12 take her to a Halloween party, so -- 13 MR. HORTON: Good for you. 14 MR. CONNELL: Thank you very -- thanks once 15 again for all your time, all your help and your 16 guidance. Thank you. 17 MR. HORTON: Thank you. 18 ---oOo--- 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 6 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, Kathleen Skidgel, Hearing Reporter for 8 the California State Board of Equalization state 9 that I transcribed from recorded audio, to the best 10 of my ability, the proceedings in the above-entitled 11 hearing; and that the preceding pages 1 through 6 12 constitute my transcription of the proceedings. 13 14 Dated: January 19, 2016 15 16 17 ____________________________ 18 Kathleen Skidgel, CSR #9039 19 Hearing Reporter 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 . 27 28 7