Topic: California's Fiscal Condition
Speaker: Honorable John Chiang, California State Controller
Speaker’s Website: www.sco.ca.gov
Speaker’s Email: gpulido@sco.ca.gov
Location: Dave & Buster's - Ontario, CA
Menu: Skewers of Chicken, Steak, and Shrimp
Cost: $20.00 per person
Checks Payable to: City of Rancho Cucamonga
RSVP to: Ernie Reyna (951) 955-8432 or reyna@wrcog.cog.ca.us
RSVP by: March 14, 2013
First elected in November 2006 to serve as Controller of the State of California, the ninth-largest economy in the world. He was elected to serve a second term in November 2010.
Since taking office in January 2007, Controller Chiang took immediate action to make the State’s finances more transparent and accountable to the public and to weed out waste, fraud and abuse of public funds. The Controller’s audits have identified more than $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars that were denied, overpaid, subject to collection, or resulted in revenues, savings and cost avoidance.
As Controller during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Chiang was forced to delay payments and issue IOUs in order to preserve cash to meet obligation to education and bond holders. His cash management was cited by rating agencies as a benefit to the State. Fitch Ratings lauded the Controller for using “several strategies, including payment deferrals and IOUs, to ensure continuation of priority payments.” Standard and Poor’s said the Controller’s “extraordinary cash management maneuvers” protected the State’s priority payments, and California Municipal Bond Advisor noted, “State Controller Chiang has been a hero of sorts to us during California’s recent distress because he did just what he was supposed to do to protect bondholders.”
He has led efforts to reform the State’s public pension systems, helped local governments navigate difficult economic times, protected California’s precious natural resources, reunited rightful owners with more than $2 billion in unclaimed cash and nearly 157 million shares of stocks and securities that had been lost or forgotten, and launched financial and tax assistance seminars for California’s working families, seniors, small businesses and non-profit organizations.
