Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:

Candace Murch, 52, of Elk Grove, has been appointed chief of the Office of Labor Relations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Murch has been a principal labor relations officer at the California Department of Human Resources since 2014. She served in several positions at the California Department of State Hospitals from 2001 to 2014, including labor relations specialist and chief of the Labor Relations Branch. Murch was a labor relations analyst at the California Department of Parks and Recreation in 2000 and an office manager at the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians from 1988 to 2000. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $125,004. Murch is a Democrat.

Kristen Kane, 34, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief counsel in the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration’s Office of Tax Appeals, where she will serve as acting director. She has served as deputy director of the California Competes Tax Credit Program at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) since 2016. Kane served as tax counsel at the California Franchise Tax Board from 2010 to 2016, where she was a graduate legal assistant in 2008. She was an attorney at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego from 2009 to 2010. Kane earned a Master of Laws degree in taxation and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $170,004. Kane is a Democrat.