Back to work: legislature returns from its summer recess.

• Author: Allen, Bruce C.
• Position: Capitol Beat - Return of the California Legislature from recess; discussion of the Property Tax Agent Registration Bill

The California Legislature returned from summer recess Monday, Aug. 4, For the last push of the 2013-14 legislative session. This is the homestretch For the legislators and their bills to make it through both houses and reach Gov. Brown's desk to await his signature. In die first half of this two-year session, the governor signed 1,003 bills out of. the 2,540 that were introduced.

This year 2.220 bills were introduced by the Legislature. Of those, 200 bills have been signed into law and about 1,700 bills have killed to make it through the legislative process. This leaves about 300 bills still moving through this final month of the legislative session.

This is a fast-paced time around the Capitol, and CalCPA will be closely monitoring bills that are amended to see if any last-minute legislation appears that could potentially affect the profession.

Discussions on Property Tax Agent Registration Bill Continues

AB 2415, which requires those representing a client before a county assessor, or the assessor's staff; as it relates to property valuation must register with the Secretary of State, continues to be one of CalCPA's highest priority issues this year. CalCPA members and the government relations team Conti Ii Lie LO work with Assemblymember Ting and the sponsors of AB 2415 to narrow the scope of the bill to exclude routine services CPAs perform for clients before a county assessor.

Before the Legislature left for summer recess in the beginning or July, the bill was heard and cautiously passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee with the intention that all stakeholders will continue to work to narrow the services that would trigger a registration requirement.

Ca1CPA is continuing to work with all stakeholders over the summer recess to develop this language prior to the Legislature returning in August.

CalCPA wants to extend thanks and gratitude to all members for continuing to contact legislators throughout this legislative session The letters, phone calls and in-persor meetings with legislators are an important reason CalCPA has been able to successfully negotiate with the legislature to ensure the needs of the profession are not compromised by AB 2415.

Your commitment to the profession ensured that Assembly and Senate members knew how big a priority this is to CPAs.

Fight to Retain Cash Basis Accounting Continues

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