1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 9 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 10 FEBRUARY 23, 2016 11 12 13 14 15 16 ITEM N 17 CONSENT AGENDA 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 REPORTED BY: Gloria Apiecionek 28 CSR NO. 12776 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board of Equalization: 4 5 Jerome E. Horton Chair 6 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) 7 Member 8 Fiona Ma, CPA Member 9 Diane L. Harkey 10 Member 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 the Board of Equalization 18 Staff: David Gau Chief Deputy Director 19 20 ---oOo--- 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 2 3 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 4 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 5 FEBRUARY 23, 2016 6 ---oOo--- 7 MR. HORTON: Ms. Richmond? 8 MS. RICHMOND: Our next matter is the 9 administrative session, Item N, consent agenda. 10 We have a Retirement Resolution for Item N1 11 for Linda S. Knox. The Members of the Board wish to 12 extend their sincere and grateful appreciation to 13 the retiree for her dedicated service to the State 14 Board of Equalization and to the State of California, 15 their congratulations on her well-earned retirement, 16 and best wishes to her and her family for continued 17 success, happiness, and good health in the years to 18 come. 19 MR. HORTON: Yeah. The best part is that 20 success and happiness, it seems to come after 21 retiring. Anyway, Linda served as an Assistant 22 Administrator II in the Administrative Department and 23 to the Deputy Director's Office. And we are such 24 excited about her future and going forward. 25 Thank you very much. Thank you to your 26 family as well, who are part of the dedicated work 27 that all of our employees do and the sacrifices that 28 they make. 3 1 Ms. Richmond, please continue. 2 MS. RICHMOND: Item N2 is an adoption of 3 the Board Resolution for William M. Connell. 4 MR. HORTON: Member Ma? 5 MS. MA: Yes. Thank you. It is with a sad 6 heart that we lost William Connell, aka The Hot Dog 7 Man. As you know, he has been -- he had been 8 working on veterans exemptions for small business 9 owners for I guess -- 10 What did he say? 11 -- like 30 years, 20 years, 20 to 30 years. 12 And he had actually called me a few days before he 13 passed, wanting to meet again on this issue. So I'm 14 sorry that he is not here, but his family 15 appreciates us working with him in trying to resolve 16 these issues for all these years. He had a very 17 nice memorial service on Saturday, which my staff 18 member, Francine Castanon, attended and said some 19 words on behalf of the BOE and how much we 20 appreciated his service to not only veterans but 21 also representing their views here at the BOE and, 22 of course, during the legislative process. So, rest in 23 peace, Bill. We'll think of you, think of you at every 24 meeting. 25 MR. HORTON: Member Harkey? 26 MS. HARKEY: He will be missed. Bill will 27 be missed. I didn't know, when I first got elected, 28 what the story was. He just kept coming back and 4 1 back, but he became part of the -- he was part of 2 the Board hearing. And he led us with the pledge 3 and other things. I think he was very much a public 4 servant. He did not look ill to me. So I was very, 5 very surprised when he passed. I thought we'd be 6 seeing him for a long time. So I think that you can 7 have your meeting with him sometime later, Ms. Ma, 8 in another place, another time, and God rest his 9 soul. 10 MR. HORTON: Member Stowers? 11 MS. STOWERS: Yes. The Hot Dog Man 12 definitely will be missed. When Controller Yee 13 notified me the night of his passing, it was very 14 sad. I remember him coming to see, then First 15 District Member, Controller Yee on the same issue and 16 how dedicated he was but also how friendly he was to 17 everyone that was at her office from myself, who 18 didn't even deal with the issue, to our 19 administrative assistant and -- and to our sales 20 tax expert at the time. 21 So just great commitment and dedication, 22 concern about veterans, and as a whole our nation, 23 we really need to do better when it comes to 24 veterans. 25 MR. HORTON: Most definitely. I join with 26 my colleagues. Bill was certainly a champion not 27 only for the veterans, but he was also a voice for 28 the Board of Equalization as we sought to articulate 5 1 our support over the years to our veterans that 2 serve this nation and protect our freedom and 3 provide us with the simplicity in life but at still 4 time the peace in life. 5 And during the times when we have so many 6 challenges in this world, so many folks trying to 7 take away the American peace and disturb our way of 8 life, the loss of a shepherd such as Bill Connell is 9 felt deep by all of us. And we ask that -- we say 10 that may God bless his entire family and continue to 11 hold him dear in the next life. 12 We would -- we would provide staff an 13 opportunity to also share their condolences, if they 14 wish, at this time. 15 MR. GAU: Thank you, Chairman and Members. 16 David Gau, Chief Deputy Director. I just 17 want to acknowledge Surf Dog Bill Connell as well. 18 I've dealt with him from the '90s in my days in the 19 Legislative Division to -- to Labor Day when I took 20 my wife and in-laws and sister-in-law to have a hot 21 dog at his stand. So he shared a lot of stories, 22 and he served a great hot dog. And he served his 23 community and the veterans very well. Thank you. 24 MR. HORTON: Thank you. 25 Ms. Richmond, please continue. N3. 26 MS. RICHMOND: Item N3, approval of Board 27 meeting minutes for January 26th, 2016. 28 Item N4, proposed revisions to Audit Manual 6 1 Chapter 1, General Information, Compliance Policy 2 and Procedures Manual, Chapter 1, General, and 3 Chapter 7, Collections. 4 And Item N5, proposed revisions to Audit 5 Manual Chapter 4, General Audit Procedures, and 6 Chapter 5, Penalties, Compliance Policy and 7 Procedures Manual, Chapter 7, Collections. 8 MR. HORTON: Okay. Thank you, Members. 9 Members, let's take a collective motion in 10 congratulating Ms. Knox, acknowledging her 11 retirement, approving of the resolution to 12 Mr. Connell, approval of the minutes, approval -- 13 adoption and approval of the resolution revision, 14 Item N4 as well as N5. 15 Is there a motion as such? 16 MR. RUNNER: Move adoption. 17 MR. HORTON: So moved by Member Runner. 18 Second by Member Harkey. Without objection, 19 Members, such will be the order. 20 ---oOo--- 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 7 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Los Angeles ) 6 7 I, Gloria A. Apiecionek, Certified 8 Shorthand Reporter for the State of California, 9 certify that on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, I 10 recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to the best of my 11 ability, the proceedings in the above-entitled 12 hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand writing 13 into typewriting; and that the preceding pages 1 14 through 8 constitute a complete and accurate 15 transcription of the shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated March 4, 2016 18 19 20 21 __________________________________ 22 GLORIA A. APIECIONEK, CSR #12776 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 25 26 27 28 8