BILL NUMBER: SB 1490 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 12, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development (Negrete McLeod (Chair), Aanestad, Calderon, Correa,
Florez, Oropeza, Walters, Wyland, and Yee)
MARCH 11, 2010
An act to amend Sections 5092, 5096.12, and 8763
5094.6, and 5096.12 of the Business and
Professions Code, relating to professions and vocations, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1490, as amended, Committee on Business, Professions and
Economic Development. Professions and vocations.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of
accountants by the California Board of Accountancy in the Department
of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes a certified public
accounting firm that is authorized to practice in another state and
that does not have an office in this state to engage in the practice
of public accountancy in this state through the holder of a practice
privilege, subject to specified requirements. Existing law authorizes
the board to discipline the firm for any act that would be grounds
for discipline against a holder of a practice privilege. Those
provisions become inoperative on January 1, 2011.
This bill would extend the operative date of those provisions
indefinitely, and would make a conforming change.
Existing law requires the board to hold a hearing, no later than
September 1, 2010, on the report by the California Research Bureau
regarding the Uniform Accountancy Act's 150-hour rule, and to make
recommendations, based on that report, as specified.
This bill would instead require the board to hold that hearing no
later than 6 months following the issuance of that report.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of
professional land surveyors by the Board for Professional Engineers
and Land Surveyors. Existing law requires a record of survey to be 18
by 26 inches or 460 by 660 millimeters.
This bill would change those dimensions to 18 by 24 inches and 460
by 610 millimeters.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 5092 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
5092. (a) To qualify for the certified public accountant license,
an applicant who is applying under this section shall meet the
education, examination, and experience requirements specified in
subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), or otherwise prescribed pursuant to
this article. The board may adopt regulations as necessary to
implement this section.
(b) An applicant for the certified public accountant license shall
present satisfactory evidence that the applicant has completed a
baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a college or university,
meeting, at a minimum, the standards described in Section 5094, the
total educational program to include a minimum of 24 semester units
in accounting subjects and 24 semester units in business related
subjects. This evidence shall be provided prior to admission to the
examination for the certified public accountant license, except that
an applicant who applied, qualified, and sat for at least two
subjects of the examination for the certified public accountant
license before May 15, 2002, may provide this evidence at the time of
application for licensure.
(c) An applicant for the certified public accountant license shall
pass an examination prescribed by the board pursuant to this
article.
(d) The applicant shall show, to the satisfaction of the board,
that the applicant has had two years of qualifying experience. This
experience may include providing any type of service or advice
involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management
advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills. To be
qualifying under this section, experience shall have been performed
in accordance with applicable professional standards. Experience in
public accounting shall be completed under the supervision or in the
employ of a person licensed or otherwise having comparable authority
under the laws of any state or country to engage in the practice of
public accountancy. Experience in private or governmental accounting
or auditing shall be completed under the supervision of an individual
licensed by a state to engage in the practice of public accountancy.
(e) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2014, but
shall become or remain operative if either the educational
requirements in ethics study and accounting study established by
subdivision (b) of Section 5094, Section 5094.5, and Section 5094.6
are reduced or eliminated or if the practice privilege requirements
of Sections 5096 to 5096.15, inclusive, are amended or repealed.
(f) The amendment to Section 5096.12 made by the act adding this
subdivision shall not be deemed an amendment of that section for
purposes of subdivision (e).
SEC. 2. Section 5094.6 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
5094.6. (a) No later than June 1, 2012, the committee shall
recommend to the board ethics study guidelines consisting of no less
than 10 semester units to be included as a part of the education
required under Section 5093. Ethics study may consist of academic
courses, portions of courses, or independent study offered by
degree-granting universities, colleges, or other institutions of
learning accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency.
Nothing herein shall be deemed inconsistent with prevailing academic
practice regarding completion of units.
(b) No later than January 31, 2013, the board shall adopt, by
regulation, the ethics study recommendations made by the committee
pursuant to subdivision (a) without substantive changes. The
committee shall issue a report during the public comment period and,
no later than 30 days after the regulations are final, shall offer an
opinion as to whether the regulations will implement its
recommendations.
(c) The board shall, no later than January 1, 2012, by regulation,
adopt guidelines for accounting study to be included as part of the
education required under Section 5093. In promulgating these
regulations, the board shall consider the views of the Accounting
Education Advisory Committee established under Section 5094.7.
(d) No later than September 1, 2010, the board shall hold
a hearing on six months following the issuance of
the report by the California Research Bureau regarding the
Uniform Accountancy Act's 150-hour rule , the board shall hold a
hearing on the report . At the hearing, the board shall make
recommendations, based on that report, to the National Association of
State Boards of Accountancy and the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants for ensuring the relevancy of accountancy
education to the modern practice of accounting and shall approve a
plan for the board to seek the adoption of those recommendations and
any others the board may recommend related to enforcement and
Internet disclosure.
(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
apply:
(1) Except as provided in subdivision (c), "committee" means the
Advisory Committee on Accounting Ethics Curriculum established under
Section 5094.5.
(2) "Ethics study guidelines" means the guidelines for the study
of ethics adopted for California by the committee and the board
consisting of a program of learning that provides students with a
framework of ethical reasoning, professional values, and attitudes
for exercising professional skepticism and other behavior that is in
the best interest of the investing and consuming public and the
profession. At minimum, it includes academic work or independent
study and shall include a foundation for ethical reasoning and the
core values of integrity, objectivity, and independence consistent
with the International Education Standards-4 of the International
Accountants Education Standards Board, the International Federation
of Accountants Code of Ethics, and the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants Code of Professional Conduct.
(3) "Accounting study" means independent study or other academic
work in accounting, business, ethics, business law, or other academic
work relevant to accounting and business, so as to enhance the
competency of students as practitioners.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 5096.12 of
the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:
5096.12. (a) A certified public accounting firm that is
authorized to practice in another state and that does not have an
office in this state may engage in the practice of public accountancy
in this state through the holder of a practice privilege provided
that:
(1) The practice of public accountancy by the firm is limited to
authorized practice by the holder of the practice privilege.
(2) A firm that engages in practice under this section is deemed
to consent to the personal, subject matter, and disciplinary
jurisdiction of the board with respect to any practice under this
section.
(b) The board may revoke, suspend, issue a fine pursuant to
Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 5116), or otherwise restrict or
discipline the firm for any act that would be grounds for discipline
against a holder of a practice privilege through which the firm
practices.
SEC. 3. Section 8763 of the Business and
Professions Code is amended to read:
8763. The record of survey shall be a map, legibly drawn,
printed, or reproduced by a process guaranteeing a permanent record
in black on tracing cloth, or polyester base film, 18 by 24 inches or
460 by 610 millimeters. If ink is used on polyester base film, the
ink surface shall be coated with a suitable substance to assure
permanent legibility. A marginal line shall be drawn completely
around each sheet leaving an entirely blank margin of one inch or 25
millimeters.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
To ensure that individuals engaging in certain professions and
vocations are adequately regulated in order to protect and safeguard
consumers and the public in this state, it is necessary that this act
take effect immediately.