Message from the Chair

• Publication year: 2020
• Author: By Chris Campbell

Message from the Chair

By Chris Campbell

Greetings Members of the Taxation Section. As I write, today is April 24. Governor Newsom's Stay at Home Order (Executive Order N-33-20) has been in effect for a little over a month. The economy is in the tank, oil prices are negative, but, on a lighter note, I hear toilet paper production is up. Based on my personal experience, some businesses must be doing quite well—Netflix, Hulu, Zoom, and the entire wine industry. Cheers!

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this issue of the California Tax Lawyer, we are all healthy and safe, and getting back to doing everything that we have been unable to do. I also hope that when we emerge from this, we do so with a renewed and reinvigorated dedication to our profession, to our clients and constituents, and to each other.

My message includes an update on Section matters, some well-deserved thank yous, and some discussion about the impact the economic downturn is having on the Section's ability to schedule programming in the future and how each of us can help. As a teaser, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig will receive the Joanne Garvey Award and give the Keynote Address at our Annual Meeting and California Tax Policy Conference this November 4 through 6, 2020 in San Fransisco. Please put this event on your calendar and use it as an opportunity for our professional community to come together, to show our strength, and, of course, to celebrate our Commissioner who spent his years in private practice right here in California, and has been a major contributor to the Section for many years. If social distancing is still required or advisable, our planning will take appropriate safety measures into account. If you do not read anything else in my message, please at least skip to the end where I discuss this conference.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

First, some shout outs. I want to thank Troy Van Dongen, our Immediate Past Chair, for his tremendous work as Chair, his seven years of service on the Executive Committee, and his several years of service on the State and Local Tax standing committee. I hope most of you have gotten the chance to know Troy personally. We cannot thank him enough for the amount of time he has volunteered to the business of the Section over the past decade, and particularly his work guiding us through the transition from the State Bar to the California Lawyers Association.

Your current Executive Committee is comprised of a very diverse group of individuals, both in the...