1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 9 PRESENTATION OF 10 RETIREMENT RESOLUTION OF 11 RANDIE HENRY 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Reported by: Juli Price Jackson 22 No. CSR 5214 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 1 2 P R E S E N T 3 4 For the Board Betty T. Yee of Equalization: Chair 5 Jerome E. Horton 6 Vice-Chair 7 Barbara Alby Acting Member 8 Michelle Steel 9 Member 10 John Chiang State Controller 11 Diane G. Olson 12 Chief, Board Proceedings Division 13 14 15 ---oOo--- 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 SEPTEMBER 14, 2010. 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. YEE: Good morning, we'll call this Board 6 of Equalization meeting to order. 7 Ms. Olson, our first item, please. 8 MS. OLSON: Our first item on this morning's 9 agenda is Special Presentations. 10 Our first special presentation is for Randie 11 Henry. 12 MS. YEE: Okay. Members will you join me off 13 the dais? 14 Thank you, good morning, Members and members of 15 the public. I am very pleased to have our colleagues 16 join together in offering our congratulatory farewell to 17 Ms. Randie Henry and also want to welcome our State 18 Controller, the Honorable John Chiang. 19 I'm going to have Michelle hold this, it's 20 really heavy. It's heavy because it's filled with all 21 kinds of wonderful accomplishments of her stellar career 22 here at the Board of Equalization. 23 One of the highlights of serving as a Member of 24 this Board is really the wonderfully talented staff that 25 we have who do the work of carrying out fair tax 26 administration. And today we have the occasion of 27 honoring two of our longtime leaders here at the Board 28 of Equalization. 3 1 First being Randie Henry. I am not going to 2 read the resolution because most of you know her. And, 3 frankly, it wouldn't do her justice in terms of her 4 whole approach to her work here at the Board. 5 I've had the pleasure of knowing Randie not 6 only in terms of her work in the field and as the 7 Oakland District Administrator in my district, but also 8 I just have to say, Randie, the biggest pleasure that I 9 have in working with you is your can do attitude. It 10 is -- just really, I think, speaks volumes about this 11 organization and the work that we do to serve taxpayers 12 fairly and consistently and just be of tremendous 13 service to those with -- on whom we rely on to really 14 keep the State afloat. 15 So, what I want to just say to you is, I know 16 you'll have many more days of golfing, many more days of 17 travel, but we will miss you. 18 And I will personally miss you because we've 19 taken on a lot of challenges. You've been here through 20 some very, very challenging times with our budget and 21 fiscal constraints and throughout it all, it's just been 22 a terrific pleasure to work with you. And I hope that 23 when you leave here that all of us will remember your 24 legacy of just can do. 25 It is what makes this organization great. And 26 your mark will be here forever. 27 Thank you. 28 (Applause) 4 1 MS. HENRY: Want to get the picture first or -- 2 (Off the record.) 3 MS. HENRY: Okay, well, let me just say a few 4 words -- get the picture before -- 5 MS. YEE: Before you say a few words, I'm 6 sorry -- this is your day, but I'm going to actually 7 take it over for a bit. 8 I want to have my esteemed colleagues also say 9 a few words, because they've all had wonderful 10 experiences with you as well. And I didn't want to not 11 give them that opportunity. 12 So -- 13 MS. HENRY: Don't fight over me. 14 MS. STEEL: Since I've been on the Board for 15 last four years and I really got a lot of help from 16 Randie. 17 And, you know, I didn't expect that she's going 18 to retire because she is so young, I mean -- so, it 19 seems like she's running away from it. 20 MS. HENRY: That calls for a hug. 21 MS. STEEL: But she's going to have her 22 personal time and she's going to enjoy her life. 23 And, you know, we going to miss you. 24 MS. ALBY: And I want to add a second to the 25 Chair's motion. I agree you've done a stellar job, came 26 in at a difficult time and you certainly rose to the 27 occasion. And you are a can do person. 28 And I know you'll have a great remainder of 5 1 whatever you plan to do. 2 MR. HORTON: Wow, Randie's leaving. That's 3 quite interesting. I'm so -- I'm a little disappointed 4 that she's leaving, of course. 5 You know, I didn't have the benefit of spending 6 that much time with Randie, but the time that I spent 7 was fabulous. I mean, she challenged us to be 8 exceptional and to see beyond the box. 9 And, so, I want to commend her for that and 10 share with her that the seeds that she's planted in the 11 minds and the hearts of so many of her staff, people 12 that she has touched, I believe they will grow 13 exponentially and you'll be very, very proud of the work 14 that you've done. 15 And thank you so very much. But, since you're 16 leaving, I wish you well. And enjoy -- enjoy every 17 moment of it. God only gives us so much. 18 And, so, we must enjoy as it comes. Thank you. 19 MR. CHIANG: So, I first heard of Randie and 20 all these people are saying, "Randie's a star. She's a 21 star." 22 And then when I was the Board of Equalization 23 Member from the Fourth District, Los Angeles, I actually 24 had received some communication from the Chinese 25 American community in downtown Oakland and they said we 26 needed more outreach. 27 And, so, I set and met with Randie and I think 28 it's sort of representative of what she does. She says, 6 1 "I'll take care of it." 2 And when you're in these positions and we're 3 all extremely challenged, you want somebody you can 4 trust and somebody who's going to rise and shine. 5 So, as you were labeled at the beginning -- at 6 the beginning a star, I think you should be very proud 7 that you're retiring as a star. 8 And, so, thank you very, very much. 9 (Applause) 10 MS. HENRY: Well, thank you so much. 11 I mean, God, I stand here and it's like 12 surreal. I've been practicing this moment for like 13 34 years. 14 Thank you so much. It's been my pleasure to 15 work with all of the Board Members. 16 Since I read the resolution on the PAN, and I 17 thought, oh, my gosh, it's so nice and it means so much. 18 My staff wrote it and it means a lot knowing that they 19 feel that way about me. 20 One of the things I think it really represents 21 is being rewarded for hard work and for the fun side of 22 me. I think I've had a really nice blend of a career 23 of, you know, increasing responsibilities, challenges 24 and a lot of laughs. 25 I have been so blessed to have worked with so 26 many people, my co-workers through the years, that I 27 also call my best friends and family. 28 Gosh, I feel a little choked up here. I'd like 7 1 to really take this opportunity to thank everybody in 2 the Sales and Use Tax Department, throughout 3 Headquarters and the field offices, hopefully they're 4 watching this morning. 5 I'd also like to thank the many staff of the 6 other Departments that support our Department, the 7 Executive Team and the Department heads that certainly 8 have supported me in the last six years. 9 It's been a wonderful career. I can't tell you 10 how proud I am to be retiring from the Board of 11 Equalization and serving the taxpayers of the State of 12 California. 13 Thank you so much. 14 (Applause) 15 ---o0o--- 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, JULI PRICE JACKSON, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 I recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to 10 the 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 pages 1 13 through 8 constitute a complete and accurate 14 transcription of the shorthand writing. 15 16 Dated: September 29, 2010 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 JULI PRICE JACKSON 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 9