Voices of Reform Editorial Board Series …

                          Voices of Reform Editorial Board Series
 California's Flawed Fiscal System: Is the State Impeding Local Governments' Ability to
                                Address Local Problems?

         Co-Hosted by the "Making California Work" Editorial Board Partnership

                                         June 21, 2005


                      -- PANELIST BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND --

 ·   Henry Gardner, Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments
 ·   The Honorable John Laird, Budget Committee Chairman, California State Assembly
 ·   John Mockler, former Executive Director, State Board of Education
 ·   Steve Szalay, Executive Director, California State Sheriff's Association
 ·   Betty Yee, Acting Board Member, Board of Equalization
 ·   Fred Silva, Former Senior Advisor, Public Policy Institute of California, Moderator


Henry Gardner, Executive Director, Association of Bay Area Governments

Henry Gardner is the Executive Director with the Association of Bay Area Governments
(ABAG), official Council of Governments representing the Bay Area's nine counties and 101
cities. He provides oversight and supervision of ABAG's planning and service programs, and
serves as liaison to the region's city, town, and county managers and administrators.

Mr. Gardner, ABAG's Executive Director since December 18, 2004, is an award winning
professional with more than 30 years of public service and private consulting experience. He
began his career with the City of Oakland, rising from Assistant City Manager to City Manager, a
position he held from 1981-93. Working in the private sector during the nineties, he developed
major and successful strategies for public financing, capital projects and new business
development. He also provided extensive municipal management consulting services to states,
cities, counties, schools, and special districts. During his tenure as City Manager he was
responsible for developing the budgets for both the City and the Redevelopment Agency, with
combined operating and capital expenditures in excess of $1 billion. He frequently testified
before the State Legislature regarding unfunded mandates and against local revenues being
taken to balance the State budget.

Mr. Gardner has been the recipient of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators' Mark
of Excellence Award, and was the 1992 Selected Fellow of the National Academy of Public
Administration. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Local
Government, the California State Association of Counties Finance Corporation, and is a past
board member of Children's Hospital and Research Center of Oakland, the Special Olympics of
Northern California, and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He is the past president
and founding board member of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.
Mr. Gardner received an A.B. from the University of Illinois with a major in Political Science and
Speech, and an M.A. from Southern Illinois University in Government and International Law and
Relations.

The Honorable John Laird, Budget Committee Chairman, California State Assembly

Elected in 2002, and re-elected in 2004, John Laird represents the 27th State Assembly District,
which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties. Prior to being
elected to the Assembly, Assemblymember Laird served two terms on the Santa Cruz City
Council, two terms as Mayor, and eight years as Cabrillo College Trustee.

In his first term in the Assembly, Assemblymember Laird was one of only five first-term
members to chair a major policy committee ­ the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
Committee. He also served as chair of the Special Committee on State Mandates.

At the start of his second term, Assemblymember Laird was tapped by Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez to join the Assembly leadership team as chair of the Budget Committee. In his
role as Budget Committee Chair, Mr. Laird helped deliver the first on-time budget vote in years ­
a budget with increased funding for seniors, education and environmental protection. Along with
the Budget Committee, he also serves as a member of several standing committees, including
Labor and Employment, Judiciary and Natural Resources.

Assemblymember Laird's legislative package includes a broad range of bills relating to
environmental protection, education, transportation, water policy, insurance, civil rights, labor
and employment, and consumer protection. In 2005, he authored bills signed by the governor
on variety of issues including Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levee disaster planning; funding
for community college health centers' civil rights protections; assistance for first-time
homebuyers; and access to nutrition programs for schoolchildren.

In 1981, Assemblymember Laird was elected to a seat on the Santa Cruz City Council and
served until term limits ended his council service in 1990. He was elected by the City Council to
one-year mayor's terms in 1983 and 1987, becoming one of the first openly gay mayors in the
United States. He is a graduate of UCSC's Adlai Stevenson College and lives in Santa Cruz
with his partner John Flores.

John Mockler, former Executive Director, State Board of Education

As an expert in the critical areas most essential to school improvement, John Mockler's
accomplishments set him apart in his field. He remains committed to ensuring that all California
children learn to read and is well-versed on the research regarding effective reading methods.
Mr. Mockler is a respected leader in the creation of the state's Content Standards for student
learning and was instrumental in aligning California's instructional materials, professional
development programs, student testing, and accountability system to California's widely praised
standards.

Widely recognized in California as a leading expert in school finance, he has consulted with
Republicans and Democrats on California's complex system of school finance. Mr. Mockler was
also the chief architect of Proposition 98, which sets a minimum funding level for K-12 schools
and community colleges, as well as many of the other laws governing California's structure for
financing schools.



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Between 1999 and 2002, he served as the Secretary of Education and the Executive Director of
the Board of Education, working to ensure that the regulations governing this new system for
schools were aligned, focused, and fair. As an educational consultant and advisor, Mr. Mockler
has served several of California's urban school districts, the California Teachers Association
and other education associations, publishers, and other groups who make up the balance of
constituents shaping education policy in California. He dutifully served both Republicans and
Democrats in various senior staff positions with the California Legislature including stints in the
California State Senate and with the Assembly Education Ways and Means Committees. From
1974 to 1977, Mr. Mockler served as Senior Advisor to Speaker of the Assembly Willie L. Brown
Jr. He also served as executive staff to Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles.

Mr. Mockler currently serves on the boards of Ed Source, Liaison Citizens Program and the
Central Valley Foundation. Mr. Mockler advises many think-tanks and policy advocacy groups,
including the Little Hoover Commission and the Public Policy Institute of California. He has
authored numerous reports, articles and studies regarding management, policy issues,
educational finance and the interplay between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of
government.

Mr. Mockler earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California at
Santa Barbara. He completed graduate studies in Economics at California State University,
Sacramento. He also graduated from the Coro Foundation Internship in Public Affairs.

Steve Szalay, Executive Director, California State Sheriff's Association

Steven C. Szalay has served as Executive Director of the California State Sheriffs' Association
(CSSA) since November 2004 and is the Association's fourth executive director in its 111-year
history. CSSA is a private nonprofit association representing all 58 California elected County
Sheriffs. Mr. Szalay oversees a staff of 6 plus two contractors in providing services to Sheriffs
and their departments including: Law enforcement and public safety advocacy, legal
representation, training, individual and corporate membership services, communications,
research, funding and grant services.

Prior to taking the leadership reins at CSSA, Mr. Szalay served as Executive Director of the
California State Association of Counties (CSAC) for ten years. CSAC had great success under
his leadership growing from a $2 million enterprise to a $6 million enterprise without a general
member dues increase. Mr. Szalay's legislative advocacy achievements included trial court
funding redesign, the CalWorks Program, and Proposition 1A Revenue and Mandate Protection
Act. Mr. Szalay was a founder of the Counties, Cities, Schools (CCS) Partnership, a private
nonprofit corporation that promotes coordinated services at the local level. He also founded the
CSAC Corporate Associates Program. CSAC is considered to be the premier state association
of counties in the United States.

In addition to his stint at CSAC, Mr. Szalay has served in top-level management positions in
several California local governments since 1971, most recently as county administrator in
Alameda County for seven years and assistant county administrator for two years. Mr. Szalay
also served as county administrator in Tuolumne County for eight years, worked four years as
assistant county administrator in Kings County, and another four as assistant city manager in
the City of Hanford.

In Alameda County, he managed a $1.3 billion annual budget of and a staff of 10,000, which
provided comprehensive local programs and services such as health care, social services,


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public protection and general government to a population of more than 1.5 million. His
responsibilities included budget and finance, organizational development, intergovernmental
relations, economic development, risk management, sports and entertainment.

He served as president of the County Administrative Officers Association of California and has
served on numerous statewide boards and committees in support of county government and
local government reform. Mr. Szalay provided leadership as a member of the State Trial Court
Budget Commission, the Governor's Task Force on Restructuring, the State Task Force on
Public Library Restructuring, the State Constitutional Revision Commission, the Speakers
Commission on State and Local Government Finance, the Controller's State and Municipal
Advisory Reform Team, the California Governance Consensus Project, and the Governor's
Building for the 21st Century Commission. At the national level, Mr. Szalay served on the NACo
Elections Reform and Homeland Security Task Forces.

Mr. Szalay earned a master's degree in public administration from San Diego State University
and a bachelor's degree in political science for the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Betty Yee, Acting Board Member, Board of Equalization

Betty T. Yee is the Acting Board Member representing the Board of Equalization First District,
which is comprised of 21 counties in northern and central California. Ms. Yee has over 20 years
of experience in public service, specializing in state and local finance. She previously served as
the Chief Deputy to Board of Equalization Chairwoman Carole Migden.

Prior to joining the Board, she served as the Chief Deputy Director for Budget with the
Department of Finance under Governor Gray Davis. In this capacity, she assumed the lead role
in the development of the Governor's Budget, budget negotiations with the Legislature and key
budget stakeholders, and fiscal analyses of legislation on behalf of the Administration.

Prior to her appointment to the Department of Finance, she served in the Legislature as
Principal Consultant to the Assembly Committees on Appropriation, Budget, and Local
Government, as well as to the Office of Research and Health and Human Services Committee
in the Senate.

Preceding her legislative service, Ms. Yee served as a county public health commissioner and
worked in the public and non-profit sectors, developing and implementing health and social
services programs for elderly and low-income individuals and families.

She also served as the first Executive Director of the California Governance Consensus Project,
a long-term mediation project under the auspices of California State University, Sacramento,
and McGeorge School of Law, involving 34 statewide interests focused on state and
local governance and fiscal reform.

Ms. Yee has been recognized for her work on State and local finance issues. She received the
2002 Distinguished Service Award from the California State Association of Counties and an
award of recognition in 2004 from the California Assessors' Association for her work in
establishing the State-County Property Tax Administration Program.

A native of San Francisco, Ms. Yee received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the
University of California, Berkeley, and her Master's Degree in Public Administration from Golden
Gate University.


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Fred Silva, Former Senior Advisor, Public Policy Institute of California, Moderator

Fred Silva has spent the last 30 years in the development of public policy in state and local
government. Mr. Silva spent 24 years working in state government; first supervising research
on local government issues for the California Council on Intergovernmental Relations and the
Office of Planning and Research and later serving as the chief consultant to the Senate Local
Government Committee.

Mr. Silva was working for the local government committee in 1978 when Proposition 13 passed
and assisted the legislature in developing the fiscal relief program and legislation implementing
Proposition 13. In 1981 he was appointed to the position of Chief Fiscal Advisor to the President
Pro Tem of the Senate. In this capacity, he advised 2 Senate Presidents Pro Tem including
Senator David Roberti and Senator Bill Lockyer and the Democratic membership of the Senate
on issues dealing with state and local finance.

In 1994, he accepted a position as Executive Secretary to the California Constitution Revision
Commission, a commission created to examine the structure of state and local government, the
state budget process, and the state-local relationship. Mr. Silva directed the staff work of the
commission and developed proposals to restructure state and local government powers, duties
and finance.

From 1996 until the spring of 2006 Mr. Silva was Senior Advisor at the Public Policy Institute of
California and authored and co-authored variety of reports dealing with state and local finance.
Reports on this topic included The State-Local Fiscal Relationship in California: A Changing
Balance of Power(1999), Changing the Order of Things: Six Proposals for Local Finance
Reform(2001) and Understanding California's Property Tax Roll: Regions, Property Types, and
Sale Years (2002)

Mr. Silva received a BA degree in Public Administration from California State University at San
Jose in 1967.




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