Grassroots Advocacy Town Hall - May 16, 2025 - 11:00 am via zoom

CSEA’s Tax Advocacy Committee (TAC) will be hosting a town hall to provide information about grassroots advacacy at 11:00 am PDT on Friday May 16, 2025. This will be a virtual town hall and all members are invited.  We will hear from Jennifer Tannehill, our lobbyist, about our recent successes in advocacy and will discuss organizing local district visits with your legislators the first week of November, 2025.     Join Zoom Here

The November Visits:
The November district visits are in-person meetings and we will start with a short orientation, followed by district visits, and a debriefing meeting to discuss the impact of the visits.

All the hard work will be done by TAC and our lobbyist, Jennifer Tannehill of Aaron Read, and Associates, so you can relax and enjoy your visit with your legislator and/or staff. Similar to our Stern/Mulak Advocacy Event in January, TAC will provide you with a leave-behind packet with all the information you need for your visit. This is a members only event. Appointments will be made for you and there will be an orientation via zoom for all participants.

To participate you will need to register, however there is no fee for participation. Once registered we will work with you on availability in order to set up your appointment with the district office. Registration will open later in the year. 

In the meantime, take a look at CSEA’s Grassroots Advocacy Guide . It’s short and full of the basics you’ll need to know. 

Legislative Platform - Position Statements 

Our Legislative Platform is established by Board-approved position statements that address a myriad of tax administration issues.  These issues provide the guidance for your Legislative Affairs Committee to apply as they review all newly introduced legislation, determine its relevancy, and assign a level of action to take, if any.  Levels of action include Support, Oppose, Neutral/No Action, or Watch.  The current approved position statements are provided below, or you can download a copy here:  Current Position Statements

1. The California Society of Enrolled Agents,consistent with the Mission Statement of the Society, will striveto protect and enhance the interests of those Enrolled Agents engaged in providing fundamental and professional tax basis accounting services.

2. The California Society of Enrolled Agents supports legislation and regulation that promotes fair and effective tax policy which reduces taxpayer burden and opposes legislation or regulation which would in hibit or limit fair and effective tax policy and increase taxpayer burden.

3. The California Society of Enrolled Agents opposes conformity to tax reforms that would limit the ability to claim personal itemized deductions, deduction for alimony paid,or any similar proposal that would place an additional tax burden on many California taxpayers.

4. The California Society of Enrolled Agents believes that California law and California Tax& Enforcement agencies ought to conform to federal law as it relates to payroll tax and the definition of employee vs. independent contractor status.

5. The California Society of Enrolled Agents supports and encourages the protections of taxpayer rights per the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, as it was intended by California law,and maintaining those same protections even upon the disbanding or dissolution of new tax administration agencies, provided that all ofthe privileges and rights afforded to all practitioners governed by Treasury Department Circular 230 remain in effect.

6. The California Society of Enrolled Agents supports the concept of consolidated collection of California tax liabilities.

7. The California Society of Enrolled Agents supports amnesty for California tax payers to come into compliance with any California Code and opposes any inconsistent policies among California tax and regulatory agencies that restrict or confound taxpayers’ ability to become compliant.

8. The California Society of Enrolled Agents supports legislation or regulation intended to combat identity theft, data breaches, cyber-crime, and other scams against taxpayers, taxpreparers, and government agencies, provided that such regulation does not inhibit Enrolled Agents from effectively representing taxpayers.

9. The California Societyof Enrolled Agents supports legislation or regulation which enhances the ability of professional associations to serve the interests of their members and opposes legislation and regulation which would inhibit or limit their abilities to serve the interests of their members.

10. The California Society of Enrolled Agents opposes sales/use taxes on personal services.

11. The California Societyof Enrolled Agents opposes personal income tax withholding on independent contractors.

12. The California Society of Enrolled Agents opposes tax agencies collecting any information other than tax information.

13. The California Society of Enrolled Agents opposes any retroactive tax increases.

(Revised by the Board of Directors January 9, 2022).