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HOT TOPICS |
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ICPAS INITIATIVES |
Senate to Consider CPA-Sponsored
Open Meetings Legislation
House Bill 1277 authorizes the closure of meetings between internal or external auditors and governmental audit committees, finance committees
and their equivalents when the discussion involves internal control weaknesses, identification of potential fraud risk areas, known or suspected frauds, and fraud interviews conducted in accordance with
US GAAS.
Status: Passed House. Awaiting Senate
committee assignment.
See ICPAS Fact Sheet.
ICPAS Leaders to Meet
with Illinois Congressional Delegation
As a part of the May 22-24 AICPA Spring Council Meeting in
Washington D.C., Illinois Council Members
will visit key members of the Illinois
Congressional Delegation who sit on House
and Senate Finance Committees to discuss
issues of interest to the profession.
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BUDGET |
Bi-partisan Budget Process Moving Forward
Jointly sponsored House Bills
116,
117,
132,
3639 and
3697 allocate $7.8 billion for bond/debt payments, mandated pension payments and state employee health insurance payments.
House Appropriations committees continue
crafting the remainder of the State Budget.
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REGULATORY |
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Personal Information Protections
House Bill 3025 provides that
"breach of the security of the system data" includes the unauthorized use of computerized data that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of personal information maintained by a data collector.
Status: Second Reading, House.
Municipal Regulation of Business
House Bill 1323
provides that the corporate authorities of
each municipality may license and regulate
all businesses located within their
corporate limits, and may tax specific types
of business.
Status: Second Reading, House. Illinois CPA Society Opposes.
Uniform Partnership Act
Senate Bill 1691 makes numerous updates and revisions to the Uniform Partnership Act, including a number of new filing fees and a procedure for reinstatement of an expired limited liability partnership.
Status: Pending in Rules Committee, House.
Child Visitation Interference License Revocation
Senate Bill 2198 provides that the court may order an entity that issued a professional license to
a party engaged in visitation abuse to suspend or revoke the party's professional license for a period of no more than
six months, and fine the party not more than $500 for each finding of visitation abuse.
Status: Pending in Assignments Committee, Senate.
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TAX |
Illinois Income Tax Act Corrections
House Bill 2955 makes various
technical clean-up changes to the Act.
See the Taxpayer
Federation Index to Corrections (PDF).
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GENERAL GOVERNMENT |
Unemployment Insurance Changes
House Bill 1030 extends unemployment insurance benefits for an estimated 44,000 unemployed and allows the state to make an $80 million interest payment due on
federal money borrowed.
Status: Public Act 97-0001.
Pension Reform
House Bill 3474
makes changes to state and local
government pension programs regarding
annuity payments and calculations, limits on contractual employees, and acknowledgement and notification by local governments of increasing municipal employee raises prior to retirement.
Status: Passed House of Representatives.
Education Reform
Senate Bill 7 makes changes to the Illinois School Code to include streamlining dismissal of teachers for misconduct
and evaluation procedures, increasing strike threshold votes for Chicago
teachers, and determinations of impasse in collective bargaining.
Status: Passed the Senate.
Workers' Compensation Reform
House Bill 1032
has been introduced to eliminate the Workers' Compensation System and require claims to be adjudicated in the Circuit Court.
Senate Bill 1349 makes numerous changes to the existing Workers' Compensation law.
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OTHER NEWS |
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STATE |
Service Tax Update
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability has issued an updated Service Tax Report outlining potential revenues for the State by expanding taxes on additional services.
Read More.
(Illinois General Assembly)
Illinois Tax Revenues
Drop
Tax revenues for state
and local governments fell $2.2 billion between 2009 and 2010.
However, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability
shows an increase of $395 million in March revenues for
state government.
Read More.
(Illinois Statehouse News)
See the COGFA Monthly Briefing
(PDF).
Senate Votes to
Combine State Financial Offices
The Illinois Senate
approved a joint constitutional resolution
to combine the State Treasurer and State
Comptroller Office into one agency in 2014. The
merger is expected to save $12 million
annually.
Read More.
(Illinois Statehouse News)
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NATIONAL |
House Judiciary
Committee Passes Patent Reform Bill
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the America Invests Act, by a vote of 32 to 3.
This legislation supported by the AICPA and the Illinois CPA Society includes a prohibition on tax patent strategies, as does a bill that the U.S. Senate already passed.
Read More.
(Bloomberg)
See ICPAS Letter to
Congressman Quigley (PDF).
1099-MISC Reporting Repeal Signed into
Law
The legislation repeals the expanded 1099 reporting requirements enacted last year.
The AICPA advocated strongly for repeal and described
it as "a victory for taxpayers."
Read More.
(Journal of Accountancy)
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INTERNATIONAL |
IFRS Certificate Program Launched
"The AICPA has launched ... a comprehensive, integrated curriculum of 25 online self-study courses that explore all aspects of IFRS."
Read More.
(AICPA)
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CONTACTS |
Marty Green, JD
Vice President,
Government Relations
Jill Loeser
Manager,
Government Relations
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Government
Relations Office
Join the Legislative Contact Program
The Legislative Contact Program is a network of CPAs who seek to represent the profession's views on issues being considered by the legislatures.
Learn More & Join.
Illinois CPAs for Political Action
A strong
collective voice for CPAs and CPA firms,
this group provides a foundation for
successful legislative advocacy.
Contribute Today!
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Key Legislative Deadlines
April 15: House and Senate Third Reading deadline for substantive bills.
May 13: House and Senate committee deadline for opposite chamber legislation.
May 27: House and Senate Third Reading deadline for opposite chamber legislation.
May 31:
Adjournment.
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Legislative Statistics
As of April 2011, 4,074 bills have been introduced in the Senate, and 2,683 in the House for a total of 6,757.
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