1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 AUGUST 30, 2016 10 11 12 13 14 15 PRESENTATION OF RETIREMENT RESOLUTION 16 RANDY FERRIS, CHIEF COUNSEL, LEGAL DEPARTMENT 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 ---oOo--- 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 AUGUST 30, 2016 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. MA: Okay. Next item, Ms. Richmond? 6 MS. RICHMOND: Our next item is another 7 special presentation for a Retirement Resolution to 8 Randy Ferris. 9 MS. MA: Thank you. And I'm going to 10 perhaps open it up to Mr. Horton since Mr. Horton 11 has known Mr. Ferris probably longer than most us, 12 and then we can all, perhaps, chime in on -- on 13 congratulating Randy on his next path in life. 14 So, Mr. Horton. 15 MR. HORTON: Thank you, Madam Chair. I 16 don't really know if I know Randy. I think his 17 retirement came as a surprise to -- to all of us, 18 but a very pleasant surprise because he is exploring 19 another opportunity in his life and we're excited 20 about that. 21 Randy has been a successful Chief of Staff 22 for the Members of the Board. And so, you know, 23 Madam Chair, I don't know if I was supposed to say, 24 uh -- 25 MS. MA: Whatever you want. 26 MR. HORTON: Oh, okay. 27 But let me just, in the years that I've 28 known and worked with Randy, he and I have had a 3 1 number of conversations. And I've always admired 2 his integrity, his commitment to the Board of 3 Equalization as well as to the Members of the Board, 4 and his willingness to serve as the protector of the 5 law, protector of the people of the State of 6 California. 7 And I admire his commitment to his family. 8 But what I like most about Randy is creativity; I've 9 never seen someone take the Board of Equalization 10 and convert it into a song, you know. And I don't 11 know if Randy -- do you have your guitar somewhere, 12 Randy? Maybe you can sing one of those songs for 13 me. I wish I could recite it. 14 But he has just done a fabulous job for the 15 Board of Equalization. And, Randy, I want to 16 personally just thank you for the arguments that 17 we've had, you know, because you allowed me to -- to 18 be myself, to explore the possibilities, and to have 19 those intelligent conversations with an intelligent, 20 caring, passionate person. 21 And so, thank you so very much. And I wish 22 you well. And I know that wherever you go, you'll 23 be well-received and well-appreciated. And for us, 24 you will be missed. Thank you so very much. 25 MS. MA: Mr. Runner. 26 MR. RUNNER: Yeah, it's -- it is 27 unfortunate for us and fortunate for Randy that he 28 finds himself at this place in his life. And I 4 1 would like to just echo a couple of comments. 2 I appreciated greatly at times the thinking 3 kind of outside the box, trying to figure out a 4 resolution to solve a problem, to take on the 5 challenges that sometimes -- where there's not a lot 6 of clarity or maybe a difference in regards to what 7 the opinion is of the clarity of the law. And so I 8 appreciated the ability to kind of sit and 9 negotiate, talk through those, and look at different 10 ways to solve a problem. 11 So, again, we're gonna -- that's a ability 12 that I appreciated, along with I think an honest and 13 a very committed, dedicated public servant. 14 So, Randy, congratulations on your time 15 here, and I think congratulations on what's going to 16 happen next. I guess you'll find out here soon in 17 the next couple weeks. 18 Thank you. 19 MS. MA: Ms. Harkey. 20 MS. HARKEY: Well, I, in particular, want 21 to say thank you to Mr. Ferris for his shepherding 22 of myself, a new Member, into the Board of 23 Equalization. 24 I don't think anyone really understands the 25 multitude of hats that one must wear to be either an 26 Executive Director or Chief Counsel for a political 27 body. You have to be able to negotiate with a lot 28 of either strong egos or potentially strong 5 1 convictions and try to reach a consensus among the 2 Members that drives the Board and the body, the 3 governing body, forward. And I think that is very 4 much a -- it's a skillset that is very difficult to 5 replace, especially the type of -- the type of body 6 that this is where we do have nearly 5,000 employees 7 and a lot of other issues to deal with. 8 And I think that he will -- Randy will be 9 extremely missed. I'm hoping that his replacement 10 will fill his shoes. They're very large shoes to 11 fill on this Board, and I think it'll be -- it'll be 12 tough to fill. 13 But I do commend him for his service. I 14 want to thank him so much for all that he's done, 15 and have him be sure that he knows how appreciated 16 his service has been and his ability to navigate 17 sometimes very, very difficult situations and to 18 have us always come out looking like nothing's 19 wrong. 20 So thank you very much. 21 MS. MA: Ms. Stowers. 22 MS. STOWERS: Thank you. 23 Randy, Controller Yee and myself both would 24 like to thank you for your service to this Board, to 25 the agency, and to California as a whole. 26 I'd also like to thank you personally for 27 guiding me over the past year and a half when I 28 became a Deputy Controller. And best of luck to 6 1 your next step in life. 2 MS. MA: And I'd like to thank you, also, 3 for guiding us as well and just always being open to 4 taxpayers. 5 Tax law is not black and white, as we all 6 know, and the Tax Code is always changing, 7 technology is changing the way we all do business, 8 and I know that our taxpayers felt that you were 9 always willing and open to meet with them to talk 10 about perhaps changes that were needed. And so I 11 appreciate your service to the State of California. 12 Randy began his career on July 1st, 1996 as 13 a Tax Counsel in the Legal Department and moved up 14 several times to be Chief Counsel, appointed on May 15 21st, 2012. 16 So we wish you the best of luck, Randy, and 17 I know this won't be the last time we will be seeing 18 you. So we look forward to our continuing working 19 relationship with you. 20 Thank you. 21 (Photo taken.) 22 MS. MA: Randy, come on. You wanted to say 23 something. 24 MS. HARKEY: How much you'll miss us. 25 MR. FERRIS: Thank you so much for those 26 kind words. 27 And, you know, when I came here 20 years 28 ago as an Appeals conference holder, I was happy as 7 1 a clam. I thought I'd be doing that for my whole 2 career here. 3 I guess I have to thank Tim Boyer and 4 especially Kris Cazadd for seeing the potential for 5 me to take on more responsibility and reorging me 6 into more -- more responsibility over the years. 7 And especially want to thank my Assistant 8 Chief Counsels and Randy Silva who assisted me and 9 collaborated with me, and all the folk in the Legal 10 Department that allowed me to have a successful 11 career here at the agency. I could not have done it 12 without everyone's help and the intelligence and the 13 passion that they brought as well. 14 And also, I enjoyed very much working with 15 the Executive Team, David Gau and his predecessors 16 as well. 17 And, Board Members, thank you for having 18 the confidence in me to allow me to give you 19 counsel. And it's been a pleasure and an honor, 20 really, to serve the people of California with you. 21 And it's -- it's been a highlight of my working 22 career to work with you all, and I look forward to 23 whatever future opportunities we have to 24 collaborate. 25 So, thank you. Thank you very much. 26 ---oOo--- 27 28 8 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 AUGUST 30, 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 8 constitute 14 a complete and accurate transcription of the 15 shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: September 12, 2016 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, CSR #9039 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 9