Attend CPA Day at the Capitol Jan. 20

By Jenny Bolsky

Happy New Year! What better time, before busy season kicks in, to contribute to the process that shapes our profession. Please join us in Sacramento Wednesday, Jan. 20, for CPA Day at the Capitol.

While most of us are familiar with the many benefits of CalCPA membership, perhaps the least visible, yet arguably the most important, is representation in Sacramento. One of CalCPA’s strategic priorities is to advocate for members on issues that affect the profession. CalCPA Board and Council members recently prioritized the organization’s strategic objectives and rated their underlying objectives. Among the objectives were:

• Increase CalCPA visibility with state and local government officials
• Dedicate staff and fiscal resources to help shape legislative and regulatory policy in California
• Develop strategies to enhance communication of CalCPA legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts to members
• Enhance and strengthen grassroots and lobbying programs.

We are fortunate to benefit from the talents of CalCPA’s top-notch government relations team, which builds and maintains important relationships in Sacramento. Bruce Allen is CalCPA’s director of government relations and Jeannie Tindel is director of legislation work tirelessly to provide critical representation for CPAs and the profession. While CalCPA staff does wonderful work on our behalf, the opportunity for lawmakers to meet and talk to practicing CPAs is invaluable.

This is the perfect time for CPAs to get involved and remind their legislators that CPAs live and vote in their districts. What more effective way is there to get their attention than a face-to-face conversation with a constituent? The key element is making sure that the politicians know you—and know that you are a CPA. It would be great if every lawmaker in Sacramento knew what CPAs do and how their legislation affects our profession and the business community. This can only improve CalCPA representation of our profession in Sacramento.

Last year, hundreds of CPAs converged on Sacramento and talked with legislators about the need for national uniformity in regulation of the CPA profession and other important topics. The participants’ message was well-received by legislators. We accomplished great success with the passage of several critical CPA-friendly bills. If you participated in CalCPA Day 2009, thank you for the important role you played. It is important that we cultivate relationships with our legislators, so let’s continue the momentum.

This year’s CPA Day topics include tax on services, tax conformity and 150-hour rule implementation. The event begins with a briefing, after which we will break into small groups to meet with legislators or their staff representatives.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 1:05 am 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.