BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 5901 Green Valley Circle, Room 207 Culver City, California REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT APRIL 30, 2009 FINAL ACTIONS Reported by: Beverly D. Toms No. CSR 1662 1 1 2 P R E S E N T 3 4 For the Board Betty Yee of Equalization: Chair 5 Judy Chu 6 Vice-Chair 7 Bill Leonard Member 8 Michelle Steel 9 Member 10 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 11 Chiang, State Controller (per Government Code 12 Section 7.9) 13 Diane Olson Chief, Board 14 Proceedings Division 15 16 ---oOo--- 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 ITEM C8 2 Culver City, California 3 April 30, 2009 4 ---oOO--- 5 MS. YEE: Okay, that takes us to the end of our 6 oral hearings. 7 Ms. Olson, why don't we take up the matters 8 under submission then. 9 MS. OLSON: Okay, the first final action is C8, 10 Grant Mason Thiem. 11 MS. YEE: Okay. Item C8, Grant Mason Thiem, 12 Junior. Is there a motion? 13 DR. CHU: Move to adopt the staff 14 recommendation. 15 MS. YEE: Okay. Motion by Dr. Chu to adopt the 16 staff recommendation. Is there a second? 17 MS. MANDEL: Second. 18 MS. YEE: Second by Ms. Mandel. 19 Discussion? 20 MS. MANDEL: Tell him about the OIC process. 21 MR. LEONARD: Yeah, that's -- 22 Through Mr. Levine can the taxpayer be informed 23 about the OIC process, an Offer in Compromise? 24 MS. YEE: Okay. Well -- 25 MR. LEONARD: He doesn't know what his brother 26 did. He should. 27 MS. YEE: Okay. Incorporate that direction to 28 the staff in the motion. 3 1 Without objection. 2 MS. STEEL: Objection. 3 MS. YEE: Okay, please call the roll. 4 MS. OLSON: Madam Chair. 5 MS. YEE: Aye. 6 MS. OLSON: Mr. Leonard. 7 MR. LEONARD: Aye. 8 MS. OLSON: Ms. Steel. 9 MS. STEEL: No. 10 MS. OLSON: Dr. Chu. 11 DR. CHU: Aye. 12 MS. OLSON: Ms. Mandel. 13 MS. MANDEL: Aye. 14 MS. OLSON: Motion carries. 15 MS. YEE: Okay. 16 ---oOo--- 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 1 ITEM C9. 2 MS. OLSON: Our next item is Robert Joseph 3 Bachand. 4 MS. YEE: Okay. Next item, item C9, Robert 5 Joseph Bachand. Is there a motion? 6 DR. CHU: Move to adopt the staff 7 recommendation. 8 MS. YEE: Okay. Motion by Dr. Chu to adopt the 9 staff recommendation. Is there a second? 10 MS. MANDEL: Second. 11 MS. YEE: Second by Ms. Mandel. Without 12 objection, that motion carries. 13 ---oOo--- 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 5 1 ITEMC11 2 Our next item is C11, Liborio C. Rodriguez. 3 MS. YEE: Okay, Item C11, Liborio C. Rodriguez. 4 Is there a motion? 5 DR. CHU: Move to adopt the staff 6 recommendation. 7 MS. YEE: Okay. Motion by Dr. Chu to adopt the 8 staff recommendation. Is there a second? 9 MS. MANDEL: Second. 10 MS. YEE: Second by Ms. Mandel. Discussion -- 11 MR. LEONARD: I have -- 12 MS. YEE: Yes, Mr. Leonard. 13 MR. LEONARD: -- a question, to Mr. Levine. 14 Is there an ignorance defense on negligence? 15 MR. LEVINE: No, he's responsible for his 16 employee's negligence. 17 MR. LEONARD: Well -- 18 MR. LEVINE: So -- 19 MR. LEONARD: -- the employees -- you could 20 describe as negligent but they're also probably 21 ignorant. 22 I mean, today was a whole day of ignorance 23 defenses, but this one -- has the Department ever not 24 imposed a negligence penalty because the guy just didn't 25 know any -- 26 MR. LEVINE: I can't tell you what happens at 27 the ground level. There are things that -- I think you 28 mentioned it yesterday, an auditor might do something 6 1 that if you called me and asked me for advice I'd say -- 2 MR. LEONARD: Right. 3 MR. LEVINE: -- you can't do that, but don't 4 ask me. 5 MR. LEONARD: Has appeals ever reversed a 6 negligence penalty on the grounds of ignorance? 7 MR. LEVINE: No. Not that I know of. If -- if 8 it meets the definition of negligence we would uphold 9 it. 10 MR. LEONARD: Thank you. 11 MS. YEE: Okay. A motion by Dr. Chu, second by 12 Ms. Mandel. Please call the roll. 13 MS. OLSON: Madam Chair. 14 MS. YEE: Aye. 15 MS. OLSON: Mr. Leonard. 16 MR. LEONARD: Aye. 17 MS. OLSON: Ms. Steel. 18 MS. STEEL: Aye. 19 MS. OLSON: Dr. Chu. 20 DR. CHU: Aye. 21 MS. OLSON: Ms. Mandel. 22 MS. MANDEL: Aye. 23 DR. CHU: Okay, that motion carries. 24 MS. OLSON: Motion carries. 25 ---oOo--- 26 27 28 7 1 ITEM C12. 2 MS. OLSON: Our next item is C12, Gary Becker 3 Company, Inc. 4 MS. YEE: Okay. Item C12, Gary Becker Company, 5 Incorporated. Is there a motion? 6 DR. CHU: Move to adopt the staff 7 recommendation. 8 MS. YEE: Motion by Dr. Chu to adopt the staff 9 recommendation. Is there a second? 10 MS. MANDEL: Second. 11 MS. YEE: Seconded by Ms. Mandel. 12 Without objection, that motion carries. 13 ---oOo--- 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 1 ITEM C13 2 MS. OLSON: And our final oral hearing today is 3 C13, On Line Auto Group, Incorporated. 4 MS. YEE: Okay. Item C13, On Line Auto Group, 5 Incorporated. Is there a motion? 6 DR. CHU: Move to adopt the staff 7 recommendation. 8 MS. YEE: Okay. Motion by Dr. Chu to adopt the 9 staff recommendation. Is there a second? 10 MS. MANDEL: Second. 11 MS. YEE: Second by Ms. Mandel. Without 12 objection, that motion carries. 13 MS. OLSON: And that concludes our business for 14 this morning. 15 MS. YEE: Okay, very well. 16 Thank you very much everyone. This meeting is 17 adjourned. 18 ---oOo--- 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 9 1 REPORTER'SCERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, BEVERLY D. TOMS, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 April 30, 2009 I recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to the 10 best of my ability, the proceedings in the 11 above-entitled hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand 12 writing into typewriting; and that the preceding 9 pages 13 constitute a complete and accurate transcription of the 14 shorthand writing. 15 16 Dated: April 14, 2009. 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 BEVERLY D. TOMS 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 10