1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 8 SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 9 10 CUSTOMER SERVICES AND 11 ADMINISTRATIVE EFFICIENCY COMMITTEE 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 Michelle Steel of Equalization: Chair 5 6 Jerome E. Horton Member 7 8 Betty T. Yee Member 9 George Runner 10 Member 11 Marcy Jo Mandel 12 Appearing for John Chiang, State Controller 13 (per Government Code Section 7.9) 14 Joann Richmond 15 Chief, Board Proceedings Division 16 17 For Staff: Cynthia Bridges Executive Director 18 Jaime Garza 19 Deputy Director External Affairs 20 Department 21 22 23 24 25 26 ---oOo--- 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 4 ---oOo--- 5 MR. HORTON: Good morning, Members and guests. 6 Ms. Richmond, let us reconvene the meeting of the Board 7 of Equalization. 8 What is our first item? 9 MS. RICHMOND: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and 10 Members. 11 The first item on this morning's agenda is the 12 Customer Service and Administrative Efficiency 13 Committee. 14 Ms. Steel is the Chair of that committee. 15 Ms. Steel. 16 MS. STEEL: I call the Customer Services 17 Committee meeting to order. And we have one item on the 18 agenda. 19 And Jaime Garza and -- oh, Cynthia's here 20 too -- 21 MR. GARZA: Yes. 22 MS. STEEL: -- to present this item. 23 MR. GARZA: Good morning, Board Members, I'm 24 Jaime Garza, the Deputy Director of the External Affairs 25 Department. 26 And with me this morning is our Executive 27 Director, Cynthia Bridges. And she's here to make a 28 special presentation this morning. 3 1 MS. BRIDGES: Good morning, Madam Chair and 2 Members of the Board, Cynthia Bridges, the Executive 3 Director. 4 It gives me great pleasure to present to BOE 5 resolution for the 2012 National Customer Service Week 6 for your approval. 7 Customer service week as celebrated annually 8 throughout the nation during the first full week of 9 October. The importance of customer service is to honor 10 the people who serve and support customers with the 11 highest degree of care and professionalism. 12 The significance of customer service week is to 13 awareness of the vital role that employees play in 14 providing services to customers. 15 By celebrating customer service week, BOE 16 reinforces the significance that our agency puts on 17 providing a quality experience for our internal and 18 external customers. The resolution not only honors our 19 employees for the work that they do all year long, but 20 also reminds our taxpayers of our commitment to customer 21 satisfaction. 22 And, so, the resolution reads, 23 "Whereas, the Board of Equalization 24 recognizes that for the State of California to 25 remain a leader in the national economy, the 26 highest quality of public service to taxpayers, 27 our customers, contributes to the growth and 28 success of every business. 4 1 "And, whereas, the core mission of the 2 Board of Equalization is to serve our customers 3 through fair, effective and efficient tax 4 administration and empower our employees to 5 treat every individual with respect and 6 courtesy. 7 "And, whereas, the vision of the Board of 8 Equalization is to be a trusted partner to all 9 of our customers, enabling them to receive 10 information easily, effectively and 11 confidentially and to enhance their experience 12 in achieving voluntary compliance, 13 "And, whereas, the Board of Equalization is 14 continuing to invest in a skilled, motivated 15 and diverse work force of employees who honor 16 their commitment to protecting the rights of 17 taxpayers as our employees care deeply about 18 our customers and seek to build their trust, 19 while helping them understand how to comply 20 apply with tax and fee laws. 21 "And, whereas, the Board of Equalization is 22 committed to providing new ways for our 23 employees to reach out to our customers and to 24 maximum efficiencies that enhance the 25 experience of our customers in meeting their 26 business needs and helping them succeed. 27 "Therefore, be it resolved by the Board of 28 Equalization that National Customer Service 5 1 Week, the week of October 4th through 2 October 10th, be observed are recognizing the 3 importance of taxpayers, our customers, to the 4 vitalization of the California economy and by 5 honoring our employees, who maintain their 6 commitment to excellent customer service and 7 their dedication to customers' needs." 8 Hopefully, adopted at Sacramento, California, 9 this 13th day of September, 2012 by the State Board of 10 Equalization. 11 Thank you. 12 MR. HORTON: Very well. 13 MS. STEEL: Thank you. 14 MS. BRIDGES: If you have any questions -- 15 MS. STEEL: Do you have any comments or 16 questions? 17 This is a good thing, so -- 18 MR. HORTON: Yeah. I believe it was Benjamin 19 Franklin who said well done is better than well said, or 20 something along those lines. 21 But in this case, well said is equally as good 22 as well done. And my compliments to our staff for doing 23 such an outstanding job in the customer service area. 24 MS. STEEL: Thank you very much for hard work, 25 dedication and commitment to our staff and employees. 26 And, of course, we want to thank too our 27 taxpayers because, you know, California tax law is very 28 confusing and complicated. And they're doing -- their 6 1 good job to pay fair tax to the State. So, I really 2 appreciate both sides. 3 And thank you very much for doing a great job. 4 And this concludes the business of Customer 5 Service. 6 Thank you. 7 ---o0o--- 8 9 10 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, JULI PRICE JACKSON, Hearing Reporter for the 8 California State Board of Equalization certify that on 9 SEPTEMBER 13, 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: OCTOBER 2, 2012 17 18 19 ____________________________ 20 JULI PRICE JACKSON 21 Hearing Reporter 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8