Advocacy in Action: FICPA's 2026 Legislative Awards
October 20, 2026
Hello, everyone. This is Jason Harrell, your Chief External Affairs Officer at the FICPA, and welcome to the second installment of our ongoing series: Advocacy in Action.
Episode 2 is our thank you to the lawmakers who played an invaluable role in protecting the value of the CPA license during last spring’s Legislative Session.
That’s why I am personally pleased to recognize our 2026 honorees:
- Legislator of the Year: Omar Blanco
- Legislative Champion: Ana Maria Rodriguez
- Legislative Impact Award Winner: Yvette Benarroch
- And our Lifetime Champion of the CPA Profession, our friend and CPA Lawmaker: Joe Gruters
In June, as part of our CPAs Rock the Night Celebration at MEGA, we presented Rep. Omar Blanco with our 2026 Legislator of the Year Award. When we needed a champion in the Florida House, Rep. Blanco stepped up and stood up for Florida’s CPAs at every turn. Our bill sponsor in the House, he made our profession his priority.
We are deeply appreciative of time Rep. Blanco devoted to our members at MEGA. A proud partner of the profession, he is truly our honorary CPA in the Florida House.
In July, we welcomed Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez to the FICPA Scholarship Foundation’s Annual Retreat in Key Largo, naming her our 2026 Legislative Champion. During session, Sen. Rodriguez served as the co-sponsor of our pathways and efficiency bill, guiding it through the legislative process, and helping us secure unanimous passage through the Florida Senate by a vote of 35-0.
Like Rep. Blanco, Sen. Rodriguez has emerged as a staunch ally of the profession, and we look forward to working with her in the year ahead to once again advance our FICPA priorities in the Florida Senate.
In August, we were honored to host Rep. Yvette Benarroch at our FICPA State and Local Government Accounting Conference, where she received our 2026 Legislative Impact Award. Rep. Benarroch served as a co-sponsor of our FICPA priority legislation and has emerged as a true leader for effective, efficient licensure in the Florida House.
This is the second consecutive year we’ve honored rep. Benarroch. This award is a testament to her leadership on licensure and her commitment to the CPA profession.
Last, but by no means least, the FICPA is proud to honor Sen. Joe Gruters, CPA, with our Lifetime Champion of the Profession Award. During his decade in the Florida Legislature, Sen. Gruters gave his all for Florida’s CPAs when it mattered most. He fought to protect the profession when the value of your license was on the line.
We thank Sen. Gruters for a decade of service to both the State of Florida and its Certified Public Accountants. We will never forget the impact he made on the FICPA and on his colleagues around the state.
With that, we salute all four of 2026 award winners – Rep. Omar Blanco, Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, Rep. Yevette Benarroch and Sen. Joe Gruters – for leading with courage and conviction on behalf of the CPA profession.
As our relationships with these lawmakers show, advocacy is a year-round effort. While the 60-day Legislative Session gets the most attention, some of our most important work is actually done in the political offseason. Indeed, it’s the investment we make in the summer and fall that pays dividends each spring.
That’s it for this edition of Advocacy in Action. You can stay tuned to the work of our Governmental Affairs Team by keeping up with our Legislative Update emails, watching our Capitol Brief videos and joining us in Tallahassee for our upcoming CPA Day at the Capitol on Jan. 13, 2027.
As always, I’m Jason Harrell, and this has been FICPA’s Advocacy in Action.