1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 JANUARY 26, 2011 9 ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Reported by: Juli Price Jackson 21 No. CSR 5214 22 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 George Runner Member 8 Michelle Steel 9 Member 10 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 11 Chiang, State Controller (per 12 Government Code Section 7.9) 13 Diane G. Olson 14 Chief, Board Proceedings Division 15 16 17 ---oOo--- 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 INDEX OF SPEAKERS 2 ---o0o--- 3 NAME PAGE 4 Bobbi Smith 5 5 SEIU Local 1000 6 ---o0o--- 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 JANUARY 26, 2011 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. YEE: Good morning, let's call this Board 6 of Equalization meeting to order. Happy New Year to 7 everyone. 8 I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome 9 our new colleague to the dais, former Senator George 10 Runner, who is our representative for the Second 11 Equalization District. 12 Welcome. 13 MR. RUNNER: Thank you. It's good to be here. 14 First day of school. 15 MS. YEE: Yes, thank you. 16 Ms. Olson, our first item, please? 17 MS. OLSON: Our first item is organization of 18 the Board. 19 Ms. Yee? 20 MS. YEE: Okay, Members we have this item on 21 the agenda, organization of the Board. It is an item 22 that has been noticed because of the new term of the 23 Board. 24 I am going to -- I'd like to entertain a motion 25 here. Is there a motion? 26 Okay, hearing none, let me make a motion. I'd 27 like to nominate Board Member Horton as the Chair -- to 28 assume the Chair of the Board and Board Member Steel as 4 1 the Vice-Chair of the Board. 2 Is there is a second? 3 MR. RUNNER: I will second that. 4 MS. YEE: Second by Mr. Runner. 5 Discussion? Okay, objection? 6 Okay, hearing none, such will be the order. 7 Thank you. 8 Congratulations. Why don't we take a ten 9 minute recess? 10 Actually, one other thing, Mr. Horton, let 11 me -- I think, Ms. Olson, we had speaker on this item? 12 MS. OLSON: Yes, we do. 13 Ms. Bobbi Smith, please come forward. 14 MS. YEE: Which, hopefully, won't affect the 15 vote. 16 ---o0o--- 17 BOBBI SMITH 18 ---o0o--- 19 MS. SMITH: Good morning. 20 MS. YEE: Good morning. If you'll introduce 21 yourself for the record, you have three minutes. 22 MS. SMITH: Good morning, congratulations 23 Mr. Chairman and welcome Senator Runner. 24 MR. RUNNER: Thank you. 25 MS. SMITH: My name is Bobbi Smith and I've 26 been a Board employee for almost 23 years. And I am a 27 past President of the local chapter of SEIU Local 1000, 28 that represents rank and file employees here at the 5 1 Board. 2 It's been approximately three years for -- 3 since I first became before this Board to speak on 4 behalf of the employees of BOE. 5 During those three years, while Betty Yee, was 6 Chair, BOE headquarters employees were forced to comply 7 with Murphy's law -- anything that can happen, did 8 happen. Windows leaked and fell out. Water pipes broke 9 creating cascading waterfalls. Mold grew on walls. 10 And, on our way home, the elevators fell. I'm sure 11 Ms. Yee was glad the locusts never came, though we did 12 have some bats in our belfry. 13 On top of these issues, our budget was slashed 14 by 15 percent, while still being held accountable for 15 the same level of workload. That was probably the worst 16 calamity. 17 Despite all this, the Board, with Ms. Yee as 18 its Chair, fulfilled its duty to serve the public 19 through fair, effective and efficient tax administration 20 and did so while protecting its most valuable resource, 21 its employees. 22 So, on behalf of all of the Board employees 23 here at headquarters and out in the field, I want to 24 give Betty a heartfelt thank you for your leadership as 25 Chairwoman during the extremely difficult past few 26 years. It has been a great pleasure and privilege to 27 work with you. 28 Thank you. 6 1 MS. YEE: Thank you very much, Miss Smith. 2 I wasn't sure quite where you were going with 3 the description, but I appreciate it. 4 And let me just say this was not a single -- a 5 singular effort. Without the full support of this 6 Board, my colleagues here up on the dais, it would have 7 been much more difficult, obviously, to protect, as you 8 say, our most valued asset in this organization, that is 9 to our employees. 10 And I want to wish them all a Happy New Year 11 and thank you, thank you, thank you for the tremendous 12 work you do for taxpayers every day. 13 Thank you very much. 14 Mr. Chairman, I'd like to suggest that we take 15 a ten minute recess so that we can organize the dais. 16 MR. HORTON: Yes, Madam Chair, thank you. 17 MS. YEE: Thank you. 18 ---o0o--- 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 7 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 JANUARY 26, 2011 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 7 constitute a complete and accurate 14 transcription of the shorthand writing. 15 16 Dated: MARCH 18, 2011 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 JULI PRICE JACKSON 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8