The WSCPA Advocacy Team has been hard at work in 2021 so far. The Legislative Session started in January and due to COVID-19 it was the first remote session in state history. Not only was this a challenge with technology and processes, but it also meant legislators needed to prioritize their top issues. Things moved slower and quicker at the same time. Fewer bills were introduced, but they sometimes moved forward in record pace.

Legislative Session

One of the WSCPA’s priority bills was sponsored by Representative Amy Walen (D-Kirkland) which would exempt Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and other government loans from B&O and some other taxes. This was very important to make sure that businesses which received assistance during the pandemic could use all of that money to navigate the pandemic.

The state’s budget outlook continued to look more and more positive as we moved into February and March, until the deficit that was projected last summer when the COVID-19 restrictions first went into place was entirely erased. This meant that the focus of tax policy became addressing the state’s overall regressive structure. The key tax legislators passed to try and address this was a capital gains tax that will go into effect in 2022. When the Legislature adjourned in April they had adopted the largest state budget in history at $59 billion over the next two years.

After years of work building relationships and trust with legislators, the WSCPA Government Affairs Committee received a record number of requests from legislators during the session for our CPAs’ administrative feedback on a variety of tax proposals that they were developing.

Summer and Fall 2021

Now that the legislative session is over, we have already switched gears to collaborating with the Washington State Board of Accountancy (WBOA) on rule changes as well as participating in work groups and communicating with legislators. The WBOA is already drafting rules to make Washington ready for the new exam with CPA Evolution. This will be a simple but necessary modification for when the new exam rolls out in the next few years. They will also need to draft rules for the new non-compliance with laws and regulations (NOCLAR) standards that are expected to be finalized in the coming months.

The Advocacy Team is also participating in the Tax Structure Work Group. This group will be holding public meetings across the state this year as they look at ways to fundamentally change the tax system in our state to rely less on the state sales tax and the B&O tax.

Upcoming Legislation and Events

We will also continue meeting with legislators to help them better understand the profession and what CPAs do. This will also help lay the groundwork for legislation we will be working on next year with the WBOA. This legislation would create a new license status in Washington state titled “CPA-inactive.” This would help bring us into parity with other states across the nation. Current certificate holders who have not completed the experience requirements to become licensed would be transitioned to the CPA-inactive license status. By creating this new status, a new option would also be available to current active CPA licensees who prefer an alternative to the retired or lapsed statuses. By coming into alignment with other states around the nation and giving more options to both certificate holders and licensees, this bill would help move Washington into a positive direction for the future.

Now is also the time to start preparing for WSCPA’s Hill Day 2022 when we will hopefully be taking a group a CPAs to Olympia to meet with legislators in January. Stay on the lookout for details as we get closer. If you have any questions or would like to get involved in a different way, please reach out to me directly.

Mike Nelson is the WSCPA Manager of Government Affairs. You can contact him at mnelson@wscpa.org.

This article appears in the summer 2021 issue of the Washington CPA magazine. Read more here.