After more than a year of hard work and cooperation by many, Michigan became the 24th state to enact CPA license mobility provisions on Wednesday, June 11 when Governor Jennifer Granholm signed House Bill 5936.

The bill, now Public Act 161 of 2008, was sponsored by Representative Andy Coulouris (D-Saginaw), chair of the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and met little resistance throughout the legislative process.

MACPA collaborated with the Michigan State Board of Accountancy, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the Accountants Coalition and the AICPA to develop a sound mobile licensing policy focusing on protecting the public and the integrity of the CPA profession through lawful enforcement of licensing regulations, while allowing CPAs to serve out-of-state clients.

This complete success is a testament to the commitment of the MACPA Board of Directors, Legislative Advisory Group, grassroots network and government relations team.

Activity in Other States
On July 3, Pennsylvania passed mobility legislation providing mobility for out-of-state licensees coming from states that have enacted a comparable provision. This is similar to what was enacted in Georgia earlier in the year, limiting the privilege to those CPAs who hold permanent licenses in mobile states only. The enacted provision, however, will not take effect until 60 days after the Governor of Pennsylvania signs the legislation into law.

CPA license mobility initiatives are progressing in several other states.

Along with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware await gubernatorial approval of mobility legislation, while California and Massachusetts have mobility legislation working its way through their legislatures. (See this on a map here.) The AICPA has identified 13 more states where legislative activity is likely to occur in 2009.

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