1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 FEBRUARY 28, 2012 10 11 12 13 14 15 CUSTOMER SERVICES & ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY COMMITTEE 16 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 Michelle Steel of Equalization: Chair 4 5 Jerome E. Horton Member 6 7 Betty T. Yee Member 8 9 Marcy Jo Mandel Appearing for John 10 Chiang, State Controller (per Government Code 11 Section 7.9) 12 Diane G. Olson 13 Chief Board Proceedings Division 14 15 16 For the Department: Cristina Herrera Staff Services Manager III 17 Executive Projects & Services Section 18 19 Kari Hammond Staff Services Manager II 20 Outreach Services Division 21 22 ---oOo--- 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 FEBRUARY 28, 2012 4 ---oOo--- 5 MR. HORTON: Ms. Olson. 6 MS. OLSON: Our next item is the Customer 7 Services and Administrative Efficiency Committee. 8 Ms. Steel is the Chair of that committee. 9 Ms. Steel. 10 MS. STEEL: Call the Customer Service Committee 11 meeting to order. 12 This is the happy committee that can help 13 taxpayers. And the issue for this agenda is the BOE 14 Education and Outreach plans for 2012. And Ms. Kari 15 Hammond -- 16 Cristine, are you doing it, or -- we have both, 17 um, outstanding staff are here. So any of you are fine 18 for me. 19 MS. HERRERA: Thank you. Good morning. I'm 20 Cristina Herrera sitting in for Jaime Garza, Deputy 21 Director of the External Affairs Department as he is out 22 fulfilling is civic duty. 23 With me today is Miss Kari Hammond, Manager of 24 the Outreach Services Division. Today she will be 25 providing you with an overview of the 2012 outreach 26 events. 27 MS. HAMMOND: Good morning, Honorable Chair and 28 Members. I am Kari Hammond with the External Affairs 3 1 Department, Outreach Services Division. And this 2 morning I'll be sharing with you the planned outreach -- 3 education and outreach activities planned for calendar 4 year 2012. 5 So in 2012, it's anticipated that the Board of 6 Equalization will sponsor and/or participate in an 7 estimated 462 education and outreach events, speaking 8 engagements and taxpayer classes. 9 We are planning for 33 BOE-sponsored seminars 10 or events, a half a dozen or so cigarette tax classes, 11 eight professional development days, approximately 165 12 speaker bureau requests, and approximately 250 basic 13 sales and use tax and return preparation classes that 14 are conducted at our district offices. 15 The Outreach Services Division is working to 16 secure specific dates, times and locations for these 17 events to ensure that we have another successful 18 seminar, education and outreach season. 19 This concludes the brief summary of what we 20 have planned for 2012. At this time I'd be happy to 21 take any questions. 22 MS. STEEL: Any comments or questions? 23 MS. YEE: Mm-hmm. 24 MS. STEEL: Ms. Yee. 25 MS. YEE: Thank you, Chairman Steel. 26 I, uh, want to first applaud you for, um, just 27 the thoughtfulness in terms of how we're approaching 28 outreach, uh, given this fiscal environment. I know 4 1 there have been a lot of new partnerships made, and 2 we're really, uh, getting a lot of good cooperation, uh, 3 with different, uh, community groups and other entities 4 relative to, uh, making our ability to continue to do 5 outreach much more, uh, efficient and cost-effective. 6 I had a question with regard to the AB 71 7 cigarette tax classes. And, uh, this really relates to 8 our experience as a Board hearing some of these appeals. 9 Are any of these classes being done in language? 10 MS. HAMMOND: I am not certain. I will, um, 11 check with our department and get back to you. 12 MS. YEE: Okay. Particularly at the retailer 13 level. I just think, you know, we spend a lot of time 14 on these appeals. This is a very prescriptive area of 15 the law relative to enforcement, and I want to be sure 16 that the expectations are clear, particularly for those 17 communities that are doing business, uh, and whether 18 they're, uh, for -- English is not their primary 19 language or in communities where English is not the 20 primary language. 21 MS. HAMMOND: Thank you. 22 MS. STEEL: Thank you, Ms. Yee. That's very 23 important because we see a lot of cases coming up and 24 they just misunderstanding that what they were doing. 25 And they thought they were doing everything legally, 26 but, you know, by the regulation they were doing wrong. 27 So, I think it's really important, you know, we 28 teach them by their language. 5 1 Chairman Horton. 2 MR. HORTON: I just want to echo those 3 compliments to both Member Steel as well as the, um, 4 committee, uh, staff that's working on this educational 5 outreach. 6 The Board is doing just an effective job. I 7 know I've said this time and time again, but I believe 8 that education is our most effective enforcement tool. 9 It allows us to begin to, um, emphasize the compliance 10 component of what the Board of Equalization is all 11 about. And as we increase compliance in a nominal 12 percentage, uh, with the existing laws, we increase the, 13 um, return to the State of California, we reduce 14 penalties, we reduce interest, we reduce the frustration 15 of trying to comply with the law. And we, at least in 16 my case, advance the notion that it's okay to arrange 17 your finances in a way to minimize your tax burden, 18 minimize the frustration and minimize the interest. 19 And so, I just wanted to commend you. Because 20 frankly, I don't know how you do it to be honest with 21 you. How you're in so many different places at so many 22 different times. But, uh, I commend you for your 23 commitment in doing so. 24 MS. STEEL: Thank you very much. 25 Yeah, Kari Hammond, that I see her everywhere 26 in the state and she's like Energizer bunny. She just 27 walks around and then with smile -- I mean, that's just 28 amazing -- every day. 6 1 Thank you very much. I am so grateful to our 2 staff. And at the same time that, you know, all the, 3 uh, the responses from the taxpayers is all positive 4 and, you know, it's very nice to meet them, person to 5 person, too. 6 So thank you. Your work is very much 7 appreciated, and thank you very much. 8 And this concludes Customer Service Committee. 9 Thank you very much. 10 ---oOo--- 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 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, KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 February 28, 2012 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 12, 2012 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, CSR #9039 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8