joe stegmayer & j.c. strutzel recipients of prestigious awards

Around California continued...
California BOE Warns
Beware of Misleading
Business Solicitations
Recently, businesses in California
have reported to the California’s
State Board of Equalization (BOE)
that they have received notices from
the “California Labor Compliance
Bureau,” requesting immediate
payment of a “processing fee” of $275.
The California Labor Compliance
Bureau IS NOT a government
agency. The notices use publicly
available information such as BOE
account numbers and industry codes
to make them appear to be official
correspondence.
The “processing fee” is purportedly
for labor-related notices that California
employers are required to post at
their business premises informing
employees of their legal rights under
the National Labor Relations Act. The
notices in question are available free
of charge from the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) on their
website here: https://www.nlrb.gov/
poster.
The BOE is not affiliated in any way
with the California Labor Compliance
Bureau. Correspondence from the
BOE will always feature the BOE’s
title and/or logo and contain contact
information. If you receive a notice
and question whether it is official BOE
correspondence, you should contact
your local BOE office. A list of contact
numbers of BOE field offices can be
found here: http://www.boe.ca.gov/
info or call the BOE’s Information Call
Center at (800)400-7115.
The NLRB can assist businesses with
questions regarding required notices at
(202)273-0064.
Source: SteelNews – October 31, 2011
State Unemployment
Insurance Fund Debt Leads
to Higher Federal Taxes
Absent an act of Congress, California
employers will be paying higher taxes
starting January 1, 2012 because
the State of California has not repaid
money it borrowed from the federal
government to pay unemployment
insurance (UI) benefits.
California’s UI Trust Fund has
been insolvent since January 2009,
due in part to the large numbers
of unemployed Californians. Also
contributing to the UI fund’s insolvency
has been legislation that imposed
benefit increases in 2001 without
including cost-saving reforms.
The tax increase amounts to $21
per year for any employee who makes
$7,000 or more in 2012. California
employers pay UI taxes on the first
$7,000 of wages per employee.
Therefore, the Federal Unemployment
Tax Act (FUTA) credit for California
employers will decrease from 5.4
percent to 5.1 percent on January 1,
2012, a 0.3 percent credit reduction.
These additional taxes paid will offset
California’s federal loan balance.
Statewide, the tax increase amounts
to an estimated $289.8 million in 2012
and $615.7 million in 2013, according
to the California Employment
Development Department’s (EDD)
Unemployment Insurance Forecast.
EDD is advising any employers with
questions on the FUTA credit reduction
to contact the IRS at www.irs.gov.
Home Buyer Assistance
Available
The City of Gilroy has resumed its
Home Buyer Assistance Program.
Originally intended to help city
employees, teachers and firefighters
become first time home owners,
effective November 1, 2011, the
program was modified to provide
assistance to all middle and low
income residents of the city.
Page 10
Supported by Gilroy’s Housing Trust
Fund, the Home Buyer Assistance
Program provides a pool of $200,000
for specified loans to qualified buyers.
Program Basics
• 15 year loans
• Manufactured homes eligible for
$10,000 loan
• Interest Rate: First 5 years – 0%
Second 5 years – 5%
Last 5 years – 8%
Home buyer qualifications include
household income limits and
completion of a financial planning
class.
Application guidelines are available
at: http://www.ci.gilroy.ca.us or call
Regina Brisco at (408)846-0242.
Source: Gilroy Dispatch – December 27, 2011
CMHI Foundation Jerral
Hancock Update - His
Rugged Road to Recovery
LANCASTER ~ Jerral Hancock wears
a black T-shirt that tells a lot of his
story: “When I die I’ll go to Heaven,
because I surely have spent my time in
Hell.”
For Hancock, “Hell” began on May
28, 2007 – his 21st birthday. He was
piloting his M-1A Abrams Tank down a
Baghdad street when it was caught in a
fiery explosion.
He woke up a month later in a
hospital. His left arm was sheared off
from his shoulder as an EFP blasted
through the vehicle’s floor showering
hot metal inside the tank. In addition,
he suffered a spinal cord injury leaving
his right arm nearly useless and
causing paralysis from the chest down.
During his aftercare odyssey,
Hancock suffered through several
complex surgeries and went for
advanced therapies at Stanford
University Medical Center under the
care of the VA’s Palo Alto Polytrauma
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