1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 3 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 APRIL 26, 2016 10 11 12 ITEM F 13 PUBLIC HEARINGS 14 F1 15 PROPERTY TAXES - STATE ASSESSEES' PRESENTATIONS ON 16 THE VALUATION OF STATE-ASSESSED PROPERTIES 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 REPORTED BY: Kathleen Skidgel 28 CSR NO. 9039 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board of Equalization: Fiona Ma, CPA 4 Chairwoman 5 Diane L. Harkey Vice Chair 6 Jerome E. Horton 7 Member 8 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) Member 9 Yvette Stowers 10 Appearing for Betty T. Yee, State Controller 11 (per Government Code Section 7.9) 12 Joann Richmond 13 Chief Board Proceedings 14 Division 15 16 For Board of Equalization Staff: Ken Thompson 17 Chief State-Assessed Properties 18 Division 19 ---oOo--- 20 Speaker: Peter Michaels Attorney 21 22 ---oOo--- 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 5901 GREEN VALLEY CIRCLE 2 CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA 3 APRIL 26, 2016 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. MA: Okay. Ms. Richmond, next -- next 6 matter, please. 7 MS. RICHMOND: Our next matter is Item F 8 Public Hearings; Item F1 Property Taxes - State 9 Assessees Presentations on the Valuation of 10 State-Assessed Properties. 11 And we do have a speaker for this item. 12 MR. RUNNER: Here somewhere. 13 MS. MA: Okay. 14 Mr. Thompson. 15 MR. THOMPSON: Yes. 16 MS. MA: Yes. Okay, welcome. Please 17 commence your presentation by introducing yourself 18 for the record. 19 MR. THOMPSON: I'm John Thompson. I'm the 20 Chief of the State-Assessed Properties Division. 21 And this is the second time under the Board rule 22 where State assessees are allowed to make 23 presentations to the Board in a public setting on 24 matters relating to State-assessed property. 25 Peter Michaels is here. 26 MS. MA: Okay. Mr. Michaels. 27 ---oOo--- 28 PETER MICHAELS 3 1 ---oOo--- 2 MR. MICHAELS: Hello. My name's Peter 3 Michaels. I'm here -- and it will be a very brief 4 statement -- on behalf of almost 50 State-assessed 5 local exchange, wireless and interexchange, 6 long-distance phone companies, railroads, pipeline 7 companies, gas and electric companies 8 State-assessed. 9 And we, I'm pleased to say, have been 10 working on a daily basis with Mr. Thompson and his 11 staff; and I mean literally, yesterday and Friday 12 and Thursday. And so we're completely in the loop 13 on the anticipated bases for the recommendations 14 staff's going to pass along to you, the Board 15 Members, shortly. And it's been a very open 16 discussion back and forth, and staff has been 17 receptive and responsive. 18 So I don't have any ax to grind. I don't 19 have any specific taxpayers or specific issues to 20 raise at this point in time. 21 In past recent years, partly thanks to 22 Mr. Thompson's leadership, we have not had any 23 State-assessee appeals in November and December. 24 And that's the goal every year for us, to resolve 25 our differences informally. And so I think we're on 26 track again this year. 27 MS. MA: Okay, great. 28 Members? 4 1 MR. HORTON: Thank you. 2 MS. MA: Okay. Hearing no discussion, Ms. 3 Richmond, what is the next item? 4 MR. MICHAELS: Thank you. 5 MS. MA: Thank you. 6 ---oOo--- 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 5 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 certify 9 that on April 26, 2016 I recorded verbatim, in 10 shorthand, to the best of my ability, the 11 proceedings in the above-entitled hearing; that I 12 transcribed the shorthand writing into typewriting; 13 and that the preceding pages 1 through 5 constitute 14 a complete and accurate transcription of the 15 shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: May 3, 2016 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, CSR #9039 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 6