1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 NOVEMBER 15, 2011 9 10 ITEM P5 11 ADMINISTRATION DEPUTY DIRECTOR'S REPORT 12 ITEM 5.3 13 ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT EFFICIENCY PROJECTS 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Reported by: Juli Price Jackson 24 No. CSR 5214 25 26 27 28 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board Jerome E. Horton of Equalization: Chairman 4 5 Michelle Steel Vice-Chairwoman 6 7 Betty T. Yee Member 8 9 George Runner Member 10 11 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 12 Chiang, State Controller (per 13 Government Code Section 7.9) 14 15 Diane G. Olson Chief, Board 16 Proceedings Division 17 Liz Houser Deputy Director 18 Administration 19 Caroline Cabias Chief, Fianancial 20 Management Division 21 22 23 ---oOo--- 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 INDEX OF SPEAKERS 2 3 NAME PAGE 4 Crystal Casey 9 5 Ed Perez 10 6 7 ---o0o--- 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 NOVEMBER 15, 2011 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. HOUSER: My last item is a presentation of 6 Administrative Departments' Efficiency Projects. 7 Caroline Cabias is here to provide this update. 8 MS. CABIAS: Good afternoon, Chairman, Members. 9 I'm Caroline Cabias, Chief of the Financial Management 10 Division. 11 Today I'll be presenting an update for you on 12 two Administration Department efficiency projects that 13 are core to transforming our business processes. 14 The projects are the Taxpayer Records Imaging 15 Project and Cashier Check 21 Image Cash Letter, Same Day 16 Deposit. These projects are intended to help us better 17 meet our customer needs, be more efficient in our work 18 and create a better work environment for our employees 19 and our customers. 20 The Taxpayer Records Imaging Project is 21 intended to transition BOE's existing hard copy taxpayer 22 records to electronic files. Key objectives are to 23 digitize over 20 million pages of taxpayer files and to 24 reduce our operating costs. 25 This will allow us to provide electronic access 26 by BOE staff to taxpayer files when needed. Scanning of 27 taxpayer records will follow the Sales and Use Tax 28 Program and other relevant retention policies. It will 4 1 allow us to decommission the taxpayer records warehouse 2 in West Sacramento after all of the files are digitized 3 and eliminate those operating costs. 4 And we'll be able to eliminate the transfer of 5 taxpayer files to the State Records Center for storage 6 and eliminate those operating costs. 7 The Taxpayer Records Unit staff and equipment 8 will move back to the headquarters building and 9 co-locate on the first floor with Mail Services and 10 Cashier Operations once we decommission the warehouse. 11 The Cashier Check 21 Project will allow staff 12 to do same day deposits of checks to any of the State's 13 eight bank partners. Key objectives are to streamline 14 our current tax payment process, partner with the State 15 Treasurer's image cash letter efforts and to reduce our 16 operating costs. 17 STAFF will be installing state of the art 18 scanners which will scan checks and send images to the 19 appropriate State bank. Deposits will be recorded that 20 day. Business requirements regarding the check deposit 21 process and taxpayer accounts are being developed with 22 Program and Technology staff in order to design this 23 automation process. 24 Staff is partnering with the State Treasurer's 25 Office and the Department of Child Support Services, 26 which is currently planned to be the first State agency 27 to go live with direct deposits. 28 Working with them will allow BOE staff to 5 1 consider security, operations and other stakeholder 2 issues. 3 Staff estimates that same day deposits may 4 provide revenue of approximately 1.2 million annually in 5 earned interest. We recognize that interests rates are 6 in flux and that this estimate may change before we are 7 fully implemented. 8 Faster responses to taxpayer requests are 9 expected as staff will be able to access more current 10 payment information. 11 Lastly, our equipment will be modernized, 12 allowing us to survey out antiquated check sorters, 13 encoders and microfilm, which are costly to operate and 14 maintain. 15 Our plan to make this transition successful for 16 our employees and our business needs as three key 17 elements. 18 First, we have partnered with SEIU in preparing 19 to implement these work changes. We have monthly 20 standing meetings to discuss progress, issues and any 21 questions. And we are available to meet as individual 22 issues or questions arise. 23 Second, we continues our commitment to retain 24 our staff, who will be given priority for training, 25 hiring and placement in BOE vacancies, as needed. 26 Similar to the processes we followed in implementing 27 e-filing. Our plans include a variety of training for 28 for our employees, such as skills and interests 6 1 inventories, completing State applications, resume 2 writing, interview techniques and mock interviews and 3 computer skills training for new users and for 4 refreshing PC skills. 5 Employees are encouraged to take advantage of 6 the training provided in preparation for implementing 7 the new processes or for possible transfer to other BOE 8 positions. 9 Third, we will be conducting change management 10 session to address how employees can prepare for the 11 move to implement auto -- the move to automation and 12 away from paper files. This includes supervisors whose 13 staff and work are affected by the changes. 14 We'll also take advantage of programs made 15 available through the Employee Assistance Program and 16 other such sources. Working with SEIU and our 17 management we're committed to insuring that there will 18 be no negative impact on our employees. 19 My next slides provide high level views of our 20 project timelines. For Taxpayer Records, we began 21 partnering with SEIU in August of this year. Employee 22 training opportunities began in October and will 23 continue into the new year. 24 We will actually begin digitizing taxpayer 25 files in March of 2012 and discontinuing transfer of 26 taxpayer files to the State Records Center for storage 27 in April. Our target date is to complete the 28 digitization of all taxpayer files by September of 2012. 7 1 Staff -- excuse me, our last task is to vacate 2 warehouse in anticipation of an October 31st, 2012 3 closing date. 4 Staff and new equipment will move back to 5 headquarters and into the new Mail Services/Cashier 6 Processing Center. 7 For the Cashier Check 21 project, we began 8 partnering with the State Treasurer's Office in June and 9 with SEIU in August. Employee training opportunities 10 began in October. Installation and testing of the new 11 scanning equipment on the first floor of the 12 headquarters building is planned for January of 2012. 13 This will allow testing of electronic file transfers 14 between BOE and our bank partners to begin in March of 15 2012. 16 Assuming that testing is successful, we would 17 note our -- we plan to notify our taxpayers in June that 18 we would be implementing the electronic deposits in 19 July. Increased interest earnings would begin to 20 materialize starting in August of 2012. 21 These project deliverables help build a sturdy 22 foundation for a digital BOE. The merger of Mail 23 Services and Cashier into a modern processing center, 24 the initiation of same day direct deposits and the 25 digitizing of taxpayer records are critical foundational 26 steps that pave the way to fully digitized taxpayer 27 records at BOE and automated payment process for both 28 headquarters and district offices. 8 1 A step for CROS to build from for taxpayer 2 self-service applications and information available to 3 taxpayers, staff and stakeholders as needed and when 4 needed. Staff believes these steps are critical to 5 position BOE for the digital future. 6 That ends my presentation. Do you have any 7 questions? 8 MR. HORTON: Discussion, Members. 9 But before we open up, let me go ahead and ask 10 that the witnesses that are here with us today to come 11 forward -- Mr. Perez, SEIU Local 1000, Miss Casey, 12 District Bargaining Unit Representative, BU1, with SEIU. 13 On the matter before us, discussion, Members? 14 Okay, well -- 15 ---o0o--- 16 CRYSTAL CASEY 17 ---o0o--- 18 MS. CASEY: Hi, my name is Crystal Casey, I'm 19 the District Bargaining Unit Representative for 20 Bargaining Unit 1 and a member of the Bargaining Unit 21 Negotiating Council for SEIU Local 1000, as well as an 22 employee of the Board of Equalization. 23 I've been a part of the -- excuse me -- the 24 Joint Labor Management Committee, BOE's Automation 25 Project, since August of 2011. 26 And with that, SEIU attended the all staff 27 meeting conducted by management that provided an 28 overview of the projects to the affected staff as well 9 1 as the Career Center presentations to the employees in 2 the Taxpayer Records Unit. 3 It is SEIU's understanding that the Career 4 Center will provide a series of presentations geared to 5 assist the affected employees with information and 6 necessary skills to help them transition into new 7 positions as a result of these projects. 8 Miss Cabias and her team gave SEIU a tour of 9 the Reprographics mail room and cashier's sections so 10 that we would have an understanding of the visual -- 11 excuse me, so that we could obtain a visual of the 12 current processes in order to understand the vision of 13 the expected outcomes for the affected areas. 14 And BOE management and SEIU will continue to 15 have ongoing monthly meetings regarding the project 16 staging timeline, staff movement and possible impact on 17 the affected employees in these areas. 18 And in these meetings, SEIU's main goal is to 19 protect the rights of the employees. With that said, 20 our participation does not necessarily mean that we're 21 in support of the automation projects, but we are in 22 support of working together to -- in making the projects 23 a success for both the Department and the staff. 24 MR. HORTON: Thank you. Mr. Perez? 25 ---o0o--- 26 ED PEREZ 27 ---o0o--- 28 MR. PEREZ: Chairman Horton, Members of the 10 1 Board, my name is Ed Perez and I'm also representing 2 SEIU Walker, our President, and Steve Alari, our local 3 Chapter President, are unable to come here today, but 4 they do send their regards. 5 We would to thank the Board for the opportunity 6 to speak to you today about the Board of Equalization's 7 electronic services, or as we know it now, e-services. 8 The Board, like most government agencies, is realizing 9 that it has to change the way it does business with its 10 customers. And this is in light of rapidly changing and 11 evolving technology. And we commend the Board for it. 12 We also want to thank the Board for working 13 closely with SEIU and implementing a lot of these 14 e-services initiatives. 15 Crystal already spoke about some of the 16 interaction we've had with the -- with the Board in 17 implementing some of these programs. I myself am also 18 an employee of the Board. I work at the Board of 19 Equalization's Information Center. So, every day I 20 actually see the interaction our customers, taxpayers, 21 have with a lot of these initiatives. And I can tell 22 you from personal experience during this last peak 23 period we had -- we had in November, I remember 24 receiving only one call from a taxpayer that's doing a 25 paper return. Our transition to e-filing has been very, 26 very, I think, rapid, even for a State service. 27 But I do want to also speak about one aspect of 28 this transition, which the is role our members, the 11 1 employees, actually play in this transition. The 2 Board's had a lot challenges in implementing e-services 3 and I believe our members, our employees, have stepped 4 up to the plate. 5 And I do want to thank the Board as well for 6 recently honoring and commending some of those employees 7 during one of your prior Board meetings. 8 So, this is more for our members, for those 9 Customer Service representatives at the Information 10 Center, remote agents at various headquarters offices, 11 as well as staff from our field offices, we want to say 12 a big thank you. 13 Thank you, Mr. Chairman 14 MR. HORTON: Thank you very much. 15 Discussion, Members? Comments? 16 MS. HOUSER: I just wanted to add that future 17 updates on these projects will be reported under the 18 Customer Service and Administrative Efficiency 19 Committee. 20 MR. HORTON: Fabulous. 21 MS. HOUSER: Any questions for us? 22 MR. HORTON: Okay. 23 MS. HOUSER: That concludes our presentation, 24 thank you. 25 MR. HORTON: Thank you very much for your 26 presentation as well as your testimony. 27 ---o0o--- 28 12 1 . 2 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 3 4 State of California ) 5 ) ss 6 County of Sacramento ) 7 8 I, JULI PRICE JACKSON, Hearing Reporter for the 9 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 10 NOVEMBER 15, 2011 I recorded verbatim, in shorthand, to 11 the best of my ability, the proceedings in the 12 above-entitled hearing; that I transcribed the shorthand 13 writing into typewriting; and that the preceding pages 1 14 through 12 constitute a complete and accurate 15 transcription of the shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: DECEMBER 8, 2011 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 JULI PRICE JACKSON 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 13