Legislative Update: Session extended, FICPA staying vigilant

By FICPA Governmental Affairs

In what was scheduled to be the last week of Florida’s Legislative Session, the FICPA continued its all-out fight against the harmful deregulation language in the House amendment to SB 110 that would have catastrophic impacts on the CPA profession. 

While we can report that the bill did not pass during the 60-day Session, our work is not yet finished. 

The Florida Legislature on Friday night announced it is extending the 2025 Session until June 6.  

As outlined in the joint resolution, 16 bills remain alive for the Legislature to consider – including SB 110. 

As detailed in last week’s Legislative Update, the troubling language from HB 991 – which would eliminate all professional licensing boards, including the Board of Accountancy, and remove continuing education requirements for all DBPR-regulated professions, including CPAs – was added to SB 110, a previously unrelated rural renaissance bill. The bill passed the Florida House on April 25 by a vote of 69-42. 

SB 110 then headed back to the Senate, which had two options – to concur with the House amendment and pass the bill or to refuse and send the bill back to the House. On Wednesday, the Senate refused to concur, sending the bill back to the House in messages.  

Nonetheless, SB 110 was part of negotiations at the highest levels of state government – presenting the highest possible level of risk to the profession – as the presiding officers worked to finalize the issues that would close out Session. During the final days, the FICPA engaged in an unprecedented, around-the-clock, all-hands-on-deck effort to prevent the deregulation of the profession. This fight continued into the late hours of Friday evening, when the Legislature ultimately announced an extension in order to, amongst other priorities, pass a state budget.  

As mentioned above, SB 110 is included in the list of bills that can be discussed during the extension. Although we’ve been informed by legislative sources at the Capitol that this discussion will not include the House amendment and will instead be limited to the Senate’s original intent – a renaissance of Florida’s rural communities – we will closely monitor the Legislature’s work for any renewed threats to the profession.  

Those of you who have been following Session closely will know that our own FICPA priority legislation, SB 160, to expand pathways to licensure, introduce automatic mobility for CPAs in other states and streamline licensure by endorsement did pass the Senate on March 19. While it was necessary for us to redirect our focus to combat the deregulation threat, we have by no means abandoned our efforts. We were pleased that our proposed regulatory reforms were very well received by the full Legislature, and we fully intend and look forward to reintroducing our bill next year. 

Looking back on what was a worrisome week at the Capitol: We want to extend a special thank you to Sen. Joe Gruters, who has played a significant role in protecting the profession on the Senate side. The Senate’s refusal to concur with the House amendment was a crucial win this week. Likewise, we thank Rep. Mike Caruso for giving CPAs and all licensed professionals a strong voice in the House. 

As for the weeks ahead: While we are proud of our work thus far, we are not yet breathing a sigh of relief. That’s not why we’re here. We’re here to protect the CPA profession every step of the way, and we will not rest until Session has finally concluded. 

For now, we continue to ask that you leave all communication with state lawmakers to us. As we did last week, we will issue a call to action if we believe direct FICPA member involvement to be the right advocacy tool at the right time. The FICPA Governmental Affairs Team and our external lobbyists at Liberty Partners are closely monitoring House and Senate negotiations and will continue productive discussions with leadership.  

Please continue to watch for further updates in your inbox and on our FICPA social media channels. Thank you, as always, for your support of the FICPA. No matter the threat, no matter the hour, we’re here for you.