1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 7 NOVEMBER 20, 2019 8 9 10 11 ITEM K 12 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS; 13 ITEM K1 14 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT; 15 ITEM K1(b) 16 STATEWIDE INFORMATIONAL HEARINGS 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 REPORTED BY: Jillian M. Sumner 28 CSR NO. 13619 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board of Honorable Malia S. Cohen Equalization: Chair 4 Honorable Antonio Vazquez 5 Vice Chair 6 Honorable Ted Gaines First District 7 Honorable Mike Schaefer 8 Fourth District 9 Yvette Stowers Appearing for Betty T. 10 Yee, State Controller (per Government Code 11 Section 7.9) 12 For the Board of 13 Equalization Staff: Henry Nanjo Chief Counsel 14 Legal Department 15 Brenda Fleming Executive Director 16 Toya Davis 17 Clerk Board Proceedings 18 19 ---oOo--- 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 NOVEMBER 20, 2019 4 ---oOo--- 5 MS. DAVIS: Madam Chair, our next items were 6 moved to today's meeting at the direction of the 7 Board Members present yesterday. 8 Item K1(b), the Executive Director's Report 9 concerning Statewide Informational Hearings. 10 Executive Director Ms. Fleming will come 11 forward to present that item at this time. 12 MS. COHEN: Thank you. 13 Also at this time I'd like to open up the 14 entire agenda from the previous Board Meeting 15 yesterday. 16 Thank you. 17 Ms. Fleming, good to see you. 18 MS. FLEMING: So -- thank you. 19 So yesterday we had an opportunity to 20 present information on the Statewide Informational 21 Hearings. Just to restate, the preliminary planning 22 is occurring for a December 6th, 2019 Informational 23 Hearing in Chair Cohen's district. The proposed 24 venue is the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which 25 is located in San Jose, California. 26 We're still finalizing the details, but 27 recent update today is that we are partnering with 28 assessor Larry Stone's office to partner with them 3 1 and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. So those 2 details are being finalized today. 3 All things are green at this point. So it 4 looks like there are no issues with the logistics of 5 securing the facility. 6 The next step then is the finalization of 7 the PAN, the Public Agenda Notice. Which for the 8 December 6th meeting would be Friday, November 22nd. 9 Following that, any final logistic details, 10 I believe there will be a site visit with some staff 11 from some of our offices, one or two of the offices, 12 on Friday, November 2nd [sic] also. That will give 13 us another bite at the apple to just kind of confirm 14 that all things are in order for that facility. So 15 that will happen on Friday, November 22nd. 16 I do respect the fact that next week is 17 Thanksgiving holiday, so my staffing will be a little 18 on the light end. I'm working with assessor Stone's 19 office and with the Santa Clara Valley just to 20 confirm again, you know, which of their staff are 21 going to be available. 22 All things are green at this point. I 23 haven't heard anything from either of them that 24 indicates there's a problem. But, of course, we'll 25 keep you updated. 26 We're a little off-line yesterday and today. 27 So when we're done here, I'll get more thorough 28 information. But at this point, that's the status. 4 1 Yesterday's discussion really was the 2 availability of the Members to be there to the extent 3 that we've got quorum, which, as a five-member Board, 4 that would be at least three members. 5 Just trying to confirm that we at least have 6 representation at the meeting as we move forward with 7 this event. 8 MS. COHEN: Thank you. 9 Colleagues, are there any questions for the 10 Executive Director? Anything for clarification? 11 No. 12 All right. Thank you for your presentation. 13 MS. FLEMING: Thank you. 14 MS. COHEN: Very thoughtful. 15 Ms. Davis. 16 MS. DAVIS: Do we -- just a point of 17 clarification, do we need to have a motion regarding 18 the Informational Hearing? 19 MS. COHEN: Well, I have some remarks that I 20 wanted to make before we -- 21 MS. DAVIS: Okay. 22 MS. COHEN: -- took it up. 23 Sure. Sure. Thank you. 24 So there was a lot -- if I may, I'm going to 25 continue with my L1 Item. 26 I'm not sure if you called that. I think 27 you called -- 28 MS. DAVIS: You want to go back to L1? 5 1 MS. COHEN: Please do. Thank you. 2 Just call it, and then -- 3 MS. DAVIS: So the question that I had was 4 regarding the presentation just now for K1(b). 5 MS. COHEN: Right. 6 MS. DAVIS: Did we have a motion for that, 7 or did you one to go to L1 before we come back to 8 this one? 9 MS. COHEN: There's no motion, I believe, 10 that needs to be taken, because it was just an 11 informational -- 12 MS. DAVIS: Okay. 13 MS. COHEN: -- from the Executive Director's 14 perspective. 15 MS. FLEMING: So, again, just confirming 16 that we've got quorum. 17 MS. COHEN: Thank you. 18 Yes, Ms. Stowers. 19 MS. STOWERS: Point of clarification, I 20 thought Chief Counsel said as far as Informational 21 Hearings are concerned, to be consistent, that he 22 recommended that we do have a motion. 23 Am I misunderstanding that, Chief Counsel? 24 MR. NANJO: So to recap, what I was talking 25 about yesterday is I advised the Board that I was 26 asked to look back at the prior record for 27 consistency, and there was a vote to confirm the 28 San Diego date. The date escapes my memory at this 6 1 point. But there was a vote on that. 2 The other thing that we determined was that, 3 consistent with prior practice, there was -- any time 4 the Board meets, and that -- a Board Meeting, as you 5 may remember from Bagley-Keene, is any time there are 6 three or more Members present. That, under 7 Bagley-Keene, is considered a meeting of the Board. 8 Whether it's a conference, in a State Informational 9 Hearing, or any other type of event. 10 Any meetings of the Board are typically 11 published through the workload planning calendar, 12 which this Board has just recently approved in the 13 last couple of months. Because these dates are not 14 on the workload planning calendar, historical 15 practice has been that the Board voted to add dates 16 to the calendar so that they are reflected. 17 It would be consistent for the Board to vote 18 on the December 6th date, likewise. 19 MS. COHEN: Okay. Thank you. 20 All right. Thank you for the clarification. 21 Colleagues, may I put a motion out there 22 that we vote to support a Informational Hearing on 23 December 6th? 24 MR. VAZQUEZ: I'll second it for discussion 25 purposes. 26 MS. COHEN: Okay. Thank you. 27 So motion has been made by Chair Cohen, 28 seconded by Mr. Vazquez. 7 1 MR. VAZQUEZ: And in hearing, it sounds like 2 we need a quorum. 3 MS. COHEN: We have a quorum. 4 MR. VAZQUEZ: We have a quorum? Then we're 5 good to go. 6 MS. COHEN: Yes. 7 MR. VAZQUEZ: Just wanted to clarify. 8 MS. COHEN: Just want to point that the 9 Executive Director, in her remarks, definitely noted 10 that we have a quorum. 11 Thank you. 12 Mr. Schaefer. 13 MR. SCHAEFER: Yeah. I've agreed to 14 participate and assist in it. But if there's only 15 going to be three of the five, it would be like a 16 city counsel meeting with twelve of the twenty or so. 17 It would really not be our strongest suit. 18 And I would like the nonparticipating Member 19 to maybe see if there might be a change in their 20 availability, or I would adjust the date. 21 MS. COHEN: Well, I think what we can do is 22 move forward. We can take a vote. And if there's an 23 opportunity for all of us be there in attendance, all 24 Members will be there. But the law just states that 25 we need to have -- that we need to have a quorum. 26 And because this was not on a previously 27 listed agenda item of forward meetings, I think it's 28 unfair to hold any Member to that standard. 8 1 So we have a quorum. And I'd like to move 2 forward with a vote at this time, if that's okay with 3 you. 4 MR. SCHAEFER: That's fine. 5 MS. STOWERS: Before we vote -- 6 MS. COHEN: Thank you. 7 Yes, ma'am. 8 MS. STOWERS: Let me say this just for the 9 record. I did indicate yesterday that I do have a 10 previous engagement, a stakeholder meeting here in 11 Sacramento. I, at this time -- well, I have to go to 12 them both. I am looking to see if I can do my 13 stakeholder meeting by telephone. If I can do that, 14 that would mean that I would be in San Jose for the 15 Informational Hearing. But I will have to leave for 16 at least two hours. 17 MS. COHEN: Thank you. That would be 18 amazing if you could. 19 MS. STOWERS: No -- 20 MS. COHEN: No promises. I got you. 21 But I just want you to know I appreciate 22 that extra effort, because I know it will be quite 23 taxing. 24 So if we can do a roll-call vote on the 25 motion. And, again, the motion is to hold an 26 Informational Hearing on December 6th. 27 Ms. Davis. 28 MS. DAVIS: Ms. Cohen. 9 1 MS. COHEN: Aye. 2 MS. DAVIS: Mr. Vazquez. 3 MR. VAZQUEZ: Aye. 4 MS. DAVIS: Mr. Gaines. 5 MR. GAINES: I'd like to lay off if I could 6 since I won't be attending. 7 MS. DAVIS: Mr. Schaefer. 8 MR. SCHAEFER: Aye. 9 MS. DAVIS: Ms. Stowers. 10 MS. STOWERS: Aye. 11 MS. DAVIS: Motion carries. 12 MS. COHEN: Thank you very much. 13 Thank you, colleagues. I appreciate that. 14 Ms. Davis, I asked that the entire agenda be 15 brought back open. And could you please call any 16 open items. 17 ---o0o--- 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 10 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, Jillian Sumner, Hearing Reporter for 8 the California State Board of Equalization, certify 9 that on November 20, 2019 I recorded verbatim, in 10 shorthand, to the best of my ability, the 11 proceedings in the above-entitled hearing; that I 12 transcribed the shorthand writing into typewriting; 13 and that the preceding pages 1 through 11 14 constitute a complete and accurate transcription of 15 the shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: January 8, 2020 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 JILLIAN SUMNER, CSR #13619 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 11