New-look BOE: Plus: Legislators Take on Big Issues.

• Author: Fox, Jason
• Position: CapitolBeat

AS Of July 1, the newly formed California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) began operation to assume all previous statutory tasks of the Board of Equalization, and will perform administrative functions for the BOE.

The governor has also appointed Nicholas Maduros as the new director of the CDTFA. Maduros previously served as chief of staff at the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Delta Policy Group, and partner at Quinn Gillespie & Associates.

Maduros will next be up for a Senate confirmation of the appointment.

Information about the CDTFA can be found at www.cdtfa.ca.gov, which is being updated regularly as the BOE restructuring continues to roll out.

The Office of Tax Appeals will officially start hearing cases Jan. 1. The governor has yet to appoint a director.

California Leaders Continue to Take on Large Issues

As has been the trend for this legislative session, California leaders--particularly California Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature and all constitutional offices--continue to lead the charge to take on large complex public policy challenges.

Last month, leaders struck a deal to extend and strengthen California's cap-and-trade program as a key piece for the state to meet its requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. Earlier in the year, a significant transportation package and gas tax was passed to support massive transportation infrastructure improvements.

As part of a budget package, the Board of Equalization was restructured and its functions were separated among three entities to handle sales and use tax administration and tax appeals.

Last year a legislative proposal for a substantial increase in the state minimum wage emerged and was passed in the span of a week. Legislative leaders are expected to next tackle another substantial policy: affordable housing in California.

While the legislative responses to these issues have had slow build-ups, they all concluded with a finale where a last minute public proposal is released and pushed through the Legislature, often in just a few days. As other bills and proposals generally receive multiple hearings and opportunities to vet their impact over many months, each of these big ticket changes have come together and passed in a week at most.

This is not a new development in California politics, but the trend of pushing substantial policy changes through in a short period of time appears to have become...