End of Session: And the Beginning of Campaign Season.

• Author: Fox, Jason
• Position: CapitolBeat

The Legislature has wrapped up the 2021 -22 legislative session and sent a number of bills to the governor for consideration. lhe governor will have until the end of the month to act.

Due to redistricting, resignations and term limits. there are numerous open, legislative races. This means there will be a number of new legislators coming into the capitol in 2023. CalCPA will be watching these races and their impact on the legislative composition, as well as looking for opportunities to establish relationships critical for advocacy efforts.

CalCPA Urges Congress to Address IRS Service Issues CalCPA joied the AICPA and other state CPA societies in an advocacy effort asking-Congress to support a bipartisan effort urging the IRS to address persistent customer service issues.

To elevate the need for action ahead of tax season, CalCPA has urged members of the (California Congressional delegation to request that the Treasury and IRS take steps already within their authority to alleviate some of the biggest challenges.

Specifically, we are asking for Congress to request the IRS extend the suspension of automated collections, continue the pause on automated notices and keep its surge teams in place until hiring challenges and processing backlogs are adequately addressed.

Are You Ready for ESG Reporting? The number of conversations around non-financial data and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting has increased.

Earlier this year the SEC released a proposal on requiring climate-related disclosures. Publicly traded companies would be required to report audited data of direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Scope 1) and indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity and other forms of energy (Scope 2). Disclosure of indirect GHG emissions from the company's value chain (Scope 3) also must be disclosed if material to the business.

In California, a major piece of legislation, SB 260, would go a step further to require companies generating more than $ 1 billion in revenue (public and private) doing business in the state to disclose and audit Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 GHG emissions (SB 260 is on the Assembly Floor awaiting action at the time of publication). This bill would outline the boldest climate reporting requirement in the country, and likely would set the standard for similar reporting elsewhere.

While the target of the initial reporting is large corporations, the inclusion of Scope 3 emissions means that businesses of all...