In early 1991, Ron DelVento, Chief
Counsel AAG Texas got a call from John F. Mares, New Mexico
Taxation and Revenue Department. John proposed and planned a
bankruptcy/taxation seminar in Santa Fe in the fall of 1992
where the first States'/Bankruptcy Taxation Seminar was held at
the La Posada Hotel in Santa Fe in September 1992. There was a
small conference room and maybe 35 folks in attendance from a
handful of states. Some of the attendees at the very first
conference included:
- Tracy Essig, Section Chief
Counsel Bankruptcy & Collection Enforcement Section AZ AAG
- John Akin and Ron Dotta,
California Franchise Tax Board
- Randy Weller, Deputy
Attorney General from Wilmington Delaware
- Dale Baker from the Iowa
Department of Revenue Finance
- Karen Cordry from NAAG
- Jim Caldwell, Assistant
General Counsel Oklahoma Tax Commission
- Jim Newbold, Illinois AAG
- And a smattering of folks
from revenue, taxation, and AG Offices from around the
country.
The goal of the conference was
to share information and experiences, to develop a collaborative
network of informed state attorneys and to assist one another in
multi-state bankruptcy cases.
The first conference was a huge
success. The second States' Bankruptcy/Taxation Seminar
was held on September 15 & 16, 1993, at the El Dorado Hotel in
Santa Fe. We needed a bigger venue given the interest sparked by
the first seminar. This time, about 75 - 80 people were in
attendance.
The movement had started and
word spread. Interest was growing. The Third Annual States'
Taxation and Bankruptcy Conference (SABA had not been born yet)
was held at the Hotel Santa Fe on October 31 and November 1,
1994 - our first Halloween bankruptcy conference. John Mares had
left the New Mexico Taxation & Revenue Department and was
replaced by his Don Harris, the newly designated Manager of the
Bankruptcy Unit in that agency. Bankruptcy Judges Leif Clark
(Western District of Texas) and Polly Higdon (District of
Oregon) attended, along with soon-to-be regular presenters Tracy
Essig, Jim Newbold and Joan Pilver. Judge Higdon at the time was
Vice-Chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute's Taxation
Committee and spoke about tax claims in Chapter 13 cases and the
burden of persuasion in bankruptcy tax litigation. It was at
this conference that Karen Cordry began her annual presentation
on sovereign immunity issues in bankruptcy. The luncheon at our
third conference was devoted to honoring John Mares as one of
the founding fathers of this seminar.
By the time of our Fourth
Conference, (again held at the Hotel Santa Fe) in September
1995, the ad hoc group of organizers had settled on the name
States' Association of Bankruptcy Attorneys (SABA). The
conference had now evolved to 2 ½ days, ending on what has
become the traditional government lawyers round table as a final
topic discussion. Joining us as future regular conference
presenters were Lynn Butler Texas AAG, Tracy Essig (Arizona
Attorney General's Office), Renee Jordan (Arizona Department of
Revenue), Steve Munier (Massachusetts Attorney General's Office)
and Kathy Ayres, Tennessee AG's Office.
The initial board of directors
consisted of John Akin, Kathy Ayers, Lynn Butler, Ron DelVento,
Tracy Essig, Don Harris, Meg Holland, Onnie Martinez, Zack
Mosner, and Jim Newbold.
The following year was
noteworthy. The SABA conference was coordinated with the
National Bankruptcy Review Commission's public hearing on
government issues which was held at the capitol building in
Santa Fe. Convincing the NBRC to hold one of their public
hearings in cooperation with SABA's annual meeting was a coup.
Several research papers written by SABA members were presented
to the Commission and filed in the Congressional Record. One
such paper presented the results of a joint FTA - SABA survey on
state bankruptcy statistics with the assistance of the
Federation of Tax Administrators. At SABA's request, FTA sent a
survey to the primary tax and revenue agencies in each of the 50
states, the District of Columbia, and New York City. The results
of that survey were compiled and presented as a SABA working
paper to the Commission to highlight the fact that the States
collectively were major creditors in bankruptcy with tax claims
exceeding $3.6 billion and revenues exceeding $234 million
annually from bankruptcy cases.
Because of the growing awareness
of SABA on a national level, the involvement of Jim Shepard as
one of the NBRC Commissioners and Jim's familiarity with our
group, it was not coincidental that both Mark Browning and Joan
Pilver were asked to be on the NBRC's Tax Advisory Panel, the
only two State Assistant Attorney Generals in the country to be
asked. Of course the work of the Tax Advisory Panel led to the
identification of important tax issues affecting not just the
federal government but states as well and resulted in the
adoption by Congress of many of their recommendations.
No doubt having the NBRC
Commission hold one of its public hearings in Santa Fe
specifically timed with the annual SABA meeting is one of our
history's highlights and added to the growing reputation of the
organization as a group devoted to promoting the education of
state and local government attorneys as well as personnel in
state revenue and taxation departments in the area of bankruptcy
and state tax laws. The conference grew each successive year in
both attendance and national reputation.
From such humble beginnings and
the shared ideas of a few, the annual conference (now presented
in conjunction with NAAG's Government Attorneys Training and
Bankruptcy) is the premier conference to attend for tax and
revenue department staff and attorneys who represent them. |
