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Some legislative activities took a bit of a back seat this week as strong storms and several tornados did significant damage to Tallahassee and the surrounding areas, shifting the focus to storm recovery.

HR 5863 by Congressman Greg Stuebe (R-FL) provides key disaster relief to individuals impacted by Hurricane Ian. The bill resolves issues around tax rules relating to personal losses during declared disasters.

Counties included in the executive order are: Baker, Columbia, Escambia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, and Wakulla.

Through Bridge to CPA, candidates can obtain their fifth year of education and take career-relevant courses, approved for licensure in Florida, without having to worry about tuition costs," FICPA President & CEO Shelly Weir said.

Florida's 2024 tax package includes the FICPA-priority language for automatic tax extensions when a state of emergency has been declared within five days of a deadline.

With legislators back in their respective districts, the FICPA Governmental Affairs team is transitioning into more post-Session activities with an eye towards the fast-approaching 2024 campaign season.

The letter, sent to leadership in both chambers of Congress, requests co-sponsorship of bipartisan, bicameral legislation – H.R.3541, the STEM Accounting Pursuit Act and S.1705, the STEM Education in Accounting Act.

In the latest episode of FICPA CEO Conversations, Shelly Weir is joined by two of the top names in cybersecurity to discuss the importance of written information security plans - otherwise known as WISPs.

Program partners with accounting and finance profession leaders to enhance talent pipeline in the State of Florida.

Monday, April 15, was a celebratory day for the FICPA's Governmental Affairs team, as Gov. DeSantis signed our retired CPA bill and we welcomed a new member to our staff.

“We want to thank Gov. DeSantis for signing this great bill, CPA Lawmakers Rep. Caruso and Sen. Gruters for sponsoring it, and the entire Legislature for supporting the profession. This is a proud day in our history,” FICPA President & CEO Shelly Weir said.

In a letter addressed to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the AICPA and all 54 state CPA societies ask that all BOI enforcement actions be suspended until one year after the conclusion of all court cases related to NSBA v. Yellen.

On Tuesday, April 2, HB 813 by Rep. Mike Caruso (SB 954) was signed by the presiding officers and officially presented to Gov. DeSantis for his review. The Governor now has until April 17 to act on the bill. He may sign, let it go into law without his signature, or veto.

The multi-stakeholder National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG) has spent many months gathering insights from existing research, focus groups and polling. NPAG is now seeking feedback that will help shape potential talent solutions. By taking this quick but critically important national survey, you can help the advisory group prioritize and refine a holistic pipeline strategy.

In the final week, the Legislature worked to hammer out the final budget and passed the last bills on the House and Senate Floors. The Budget Conference process wrapped up on Monday evening, March 4, allowing the budget to be laid on the members’ desks on Tuesday, March 5 at 11:48 am. This allowed the constitutionally required 72-hour cooling off period to begin and the Session to end on time.

Today, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) commemorated the passage of its priority legislation, CS/House Bill 813 – Certified Public Accountants by Rep. Mike Caruso (SB 954 by Sen. Joe Gruters). This bill creates a new “retired CPA” license status in Florida statute, which is an extremely meaningful change for CPAs in the state of Florida. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration to be signed into law.

At the end of Week 8, the 2024 Legislative Session finale is near, but there is still much work to be done – and brief time to do it. As the work on legislation has concluded, the focus turned to passing bills on the House and Senate Floor and completing the state budget.

Up next in our CEO Conversations series, Shelly Weir and Taxfyle Co-founder and CEO Richard Laviña, CPA, discuss ways to empower the licensure, and how Taxfyle seamlessly matches taxpayers with more than 7,200 CPAs and enrolled agents.

alliantgroup's Sonny Grover, CPA; Darren Guillot; and Rick Meyer, CPA, MBA, MST share six key questions the IRS will ask in an ERC audit.

By Week 7, for many bills that have not yet cleared all committees or passed one or both Chambers, time is of the essence. As final agenda notices were made public late last week and early this week, advocates with legislation still up for consideration by the last committee of reference either felt relieved or were disappointed.