Day at the Capitol a Success

By Denise Patterson, CPA
On May 13, several Fresno Chapter members went to Sacramento to participate in the Day at the Capitol. It was fantastic! Over the course of the day, we met with Tiffany Zurligen, legislative assistant to Senator Dave Cogdill, Assemblyman Mike Villines and his policy and fiscal director, Deborah Gonzalez, and Assemblyman Juan Arambula and his legislative director, Andrew White. The topic for each of the meetings was Assembly Bill 2473—The Consumer Protection and Taxpayer Choice Act.

The focus of AB 2473 is “to conform the treatment of CPAs by all state boards of accountancy to provide seamless consumer protection and client choice.” The bill would conform the California licensing requirements to those of other states by making the 150-hour education pathway the only pathway to licensure, effective in 2012. By doing so, California CPAs would be allowed to provide services to their clients in other states. While it is not anticipated that the bill will be passed in the current legislative year, the California Board of Accountancy and CalCPA will continue to support mobility and substantial equivalency.

It was truly an historic day at the Capitol on May 13. Not only were the halls filled with CPAs, but also Karen Bass, an assemblywoman from Los Angeles, was sworn in as the first African-American woman to serve as Speaker of the Assembly. Unfortunately, we did not have passes that would have allowed us on the Assembly floor (or even in the gallery), but we were able to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television. The process was fascinating, and I felt quite honored to have participated in the day!

As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, we currently have more than 950 members and are looking forward to increasing our membership. Did you know that CPA candidates receive their first year of CalCPA membership at no cost? If your company has any CPA candidates who are not currently CalCPA members, please encourage them to join.

Our Young and Emerging Professionals Committee is finalizing a program to recognize the professional and community contributions of our young, emerging colleagues. The purpose of the 2008 Young and Emerging Professional Awards is to honor young and emerging professionals in the Fresno Chapter area who have significantly impacted the profession or their community. We anticipate granting awards to individuals in five different categories. Applications will be available in early July. Please consider nominating members of your firm for these awards!

This month CalCPA will hold its annual business and council meetings at Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii. In addition to the meetings, the Education Foundation will host its Continuing Education Week (June 23–26). To sign up for any of the continuing education seminars, please visit the Foundation’s website at http://www.educationfoundation.org/resort/.

— Denise Patterson, CPA

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 5:46 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.