FICPA 2022 LEGISLATIVE REPORT By Justin Thames, FICPA Chief External Affairs Officer
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lorida’s 2022 Legislative Session was scheduled to end Friday, March 11, but the Legislature needed more time to finalize the state’s annual budget. After a brief extension, lawmakers reconvened on Monday, March 14, for a final vote on the budget and concluded their business for the year – or so they thought. Legislators accomplished the constitutionally required tasks of passing a balanced budget and redrawing congressional and state legislative districts and passed more than 280 bills during the Regular Session. Although this marked the passage of the most bills since 2014 and the largest budget in the state’s history, there was immediate speculation Gov. Ron DeSantis would call a Special Session to address rising property insurance rates, condominium associations
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FLORIDA CPA TODAY | SPRING 2022
reforms and/or redrawing the congressional districts. The latter turned out to be true, and the governor called a Special Session on March 29, shortly after he vetoed the Legislature’s plan to redraw those congressional districts. For the FICPA, this session was primarily a defensive exercise on behalf of the profession. Several bills introduced this year required the Governmental Affairs Department, along with FICPA Committee members, to engage with policymakers to mitigate or revise legislation that would have negatively impacted CPAs. The positive relationships we’ve built through grassroots advocacy, our Key Person Contacts and our in-person visits during this year’s Hike the Hill event made a substantial difference in our ability to affect the outcomes of this session.
Photos and magazine cover by The Workmans.