ADVOCACY
Supporting the CPAPAC: What it means and why your contribution is important By Kimberly Scott, CAE
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hen you contribute to the CPAPAC, you provide essential support to the WSCPA’s advocacy efforts. The WSCPA is the only professional association advocating for CPAs in Olympia. The CPAPAC provides contributions to the campaigns of legislators who sit on key committees, are CPAs or have shown support for the profession. Contributions are delivered in person so that local CPAs can build relationships with their legislators. These relationships are essential to ensuring that legislators understand the value of a CPA. It is important to understand that the CPAPAC is bipartisan, and does not endorse candidates.
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State Board Relations: Rich Jones, WSCPA CEO, and I attend the WBOA’s quarterly meetings, and participate in other meetings throughout the year. The WSCPA provides both feedback and public testimony during the rule-making process. The two organizations have a great working relationship and work collaboratively on issues when necessary. Here are some WBOA highlights:
Washington State Elections
In case you have missed the news, 2016 is a major election year. What that means in Washington State is that all House seats and half of the Senate seats are up for election. We also will be electing a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Auditor and State Treasurer, to name a few. The WSCPA is not expecting to bring any legislation forward this year; however, we expect, as in recent years, that the Society may want to weigh in on any proposed legislation related to taxes or issues affecting the profession. This summer dozens of WSCPA members and advocacy staff are visiting with legislators to get a better understanding of what may be happening in Olympia in 2017.
Recent Washington State Highlights
State Legislation: The WSCPA is always watching for legislation that could directly affect the profession.The WSCPA also drafts legislation when necessary to amend our statute, or other statutes that may affect the way a CPA can do business in Washington State. When bills are being heard, WSCPA member volunteers and staff travel to Olympia to testify on issues.
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WashingtonCPA Summer 2016
House Bill 2148, which did not pass and was not drafted by the WSCPA, would have allowed CPA firms to audit municipalities that are currently only able to receive an audit from the State Auditor’s Office. While the concept of the bill was satisfactory, some language in the proposed legislation would have caused issues for CPAs.
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The new Executive Director, Charles Satterlund, started his term in office as of February 8, 2016. Unlike in most other states, in Washington State the Governor appoints the Executive Director.
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The WBOA has three new board members who were officially appointed to the board by the Governor in July 2016. In total the WBOA has nine members, six CPA members and three public members. The three newly appointed members are: Mark Hugh, CPA Member, Public Accounting; Joel Cambern, Public Member, Banker; Rajib Doogar, Public Member, Educator.
2015 - WSPCA passed two bills: • House Bill 1263 provides an exemption for CPAs in the Private Investigator Statute. •
Senate Bill 5534 creates a scholarship fund for accounting students in Washington State. This was funded by money from the Washington State Board of Accountancy (WBOA) that would otherwise would have been moved to the state general fund.
2016 - WSCPA passed one bill: • House Bill 2433 aligns the Washington Accountancy Act with the Uniform Accountancy Act. The bill updates the definition of attest and allows firm mobility (similar to individual CPA mobility).
National Highlights
WSCPA advocacy staff attend the NASBA (National Association of www.wscpa.org