SACRAMENTO – The state Board of Equalization (BOE) has received the Bronze Award in the Governor's State Agency Recognition Awards (SARA) for 2009.

The SARA award honors California departments and employees for their best practices, creativity and outstanding achievements to advance the State's Small Business (SB) and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) programs.

The award was discussed by the board at Thursday's public meeting in Sacramento.

The BOE was recognized for its hard work toward the State's SB/DVBE goals. In addition to increasing business with SB/DVBEs whenever possible, the BOE has also endeavored to identify SB/DVBE vendors within leveraged procurement agreements.

The BOE increased its SB participation by 16.6 percent and its DVBE participation by 4.48 percent.

The Governor's Executive Order S-09-06 requires state agencies to award at least 25 percent of their annual contracting dollars to SBs and at least 3 percent to be awarded to certified DVBEs in order to further participation in state contracting, promote competition, and encourage greater economic opportunity.

BOE achieved a 36 percent SB and 8 percent DVBE participation level in their annual contracting. Every year state agencies must report to the governor and the legislature their total contracting participation.

Chairwoman Betty T. Yee was elected to her post in November 2006. Her district includes many of California’s coastal counties, from Del Norte to Santa Barbara, and includes the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

The five-member California State Board of Equalization is a publicly elected tax board.

The BOE collects more than $53 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes.

For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov .

For more information on the SARA visit www.pd.dgs.ca.gov/smbus/SARA2009.htm .