State Legislature Advocacy

Decisions made by the State Legislature affect personal and professional lives in a multitude of ways. Nearly every profession or business in Texas is subject to legislative and regulatory scrutiny. CPAs and the accounting profession are no different.

Grassroots political action is a vital element of TSCPA’s governmental affairs efforts. Although the activities of the profession’s lobbyists are important, there is no substitute for the powerful influence of constituent communications on the way a legislator ultimately votes on legislation.

Individual CPAs are constituents who vote and pay taxes in legislators’ districts. They have unique expertise and represent other professional colleagues and clients in the district. CPAs, as a professional group, are an economic force in their lawmakers’ districts, providing both jobs as well as taxable assets. Finally, no one can explain the impact of accounting and tax issues on the profession and their clients better than individual CPAs.

TSCPA sponsors a Key Person Program to involve CPAs in grassroots action at the state level. Administered by the Legislative Regional Coordinators Committee and assigned to 12 legislative regions, Key Persons are responsible for advocating the profession’s viewpoint on issues to their members of the Legislature.

The focus of this program is to train member CPAs to develop and promote a personal constituent relationship with his or her legislator and thereby enhance his or her role as a Key Person. By cultivating relationships with the legislator and his or her staff, a Key Person is able to provide them with important information on tax and accounting related issues, as well as act as a spokesperson for the profession. At the same time, Key Persons also are in a unique position to gather information in their districts that can help TSCPA plan their future dealings with the legislature. Through these relationships, Key Persons help the profession achieve its legislative objectives.

Key Person Responsibilities

To carry out the goals of TSCPA’s Key Person Program, Key Persons are charged with the following responsibilities:

• To represent the profession to individual state legislators;
• To develop a personal, constituent relationship with the legislator based on mutual trust and respect;
• To respond immediately to Action Alerts from TSCPA to contact the legislator on specific issues;
• To reinforce the constituent relationship with the legislator by regularly communicating about professional and nonprofessional issues that may be of interest to him or her and the staff;
• To be aware of pending legislation that affects the profession and to be prepared to discuss the impact on your practice, your clients, and the local community;
• To attend political fundraising events for TSCPA and CPA-PAC when requested;
• To attend TSCPA’s legislative receptions when requested;
• To help build community understanding and support for the profession and its position on the issues; and
• To share information and feedback with TSCPA that is useful in developing legislative strategy and achieving our goals.

If you would like more information about TSCPA’s Key Person Program, please contact Linda Messing.