BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 823|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 823
Author: Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development
Committee
Amended: 9/6/13
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 10-0, 4/29/13
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Block, Corbett, Galgiani, Hernandez,
Hill, Padilla, Wyland, Yee
SENATE FLOOR : 34-0, 5/06/13
AYES: Anderson, Beall, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett,
Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines,
Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Knight, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley,
Price, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, Wright, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Lara, Wolk, Yee, Vacancy, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Professions and vocations: licensure
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill revises the qualifications for certified
public accountant (CPA) licensure in order to smooth the
transition to the new requirements for some applicants, and
reestablishes certain provisions regarding the administration of
the Transcript Reimbursement Fund (TRF) operated by the Court
Reporters Board of California (CRB).
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
2
Assembly Amendments add provisions relating to the
administration of the TRF; add a sunset to CPA licensure
requirements; and make technical and clarifying changes to
correct a typographical error and an incorrect code citation.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires an applicant for the CPA license to comply with
education, examination, and experience requirements under one
of two provisions that establish different criteria (pathways)
for CPA licensure as follows:
A. Completion of a baccalaureate or higher degree, as
specified, including 24 semester units in accounting and 24
semester units in business related subjects, passing the
examination prescribed by the California Board of
Accountancy (CBA), and two years of qualifying experience
(120-hour pathway). These provisions become inoperative on
January 1, 2014.
B. Completion of a baccalaureate or higher degree, as
specified, including 24 semester units in accounting and 24
semester units in business-related subjects, passing the
examination prescribed by the CBA. In addition, requires
proof of completion of at least 150 semester units
(including the baccalaureate degree), and one year of
qualifying experience (150-hour pathway).
1.Requires an applicant for the CPA examination to submit
evidence of completion of a baccalaureate or higher degree
prior to sitting for the
examination.
2.Provides for the licensure and regulation of court reporters
by the CRB within the Department of Consumer Affairs.
3.Requires, until January 1, 2017, certain fees and revenues
collected by CRB to be deposited into the TRF; and requires
the unencumbered funds remaining in the TRF as of January 1,
2017, be transferred to the Court Reporters' Fund.
This bill:
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
3
1.Grants applicants who pass the CPA examination on or before
December 31, 2013, until December 31, 2015, to complete the
general accounting experience requirement necessary for CPA
licensure.
2.Permits CPA applicants enrolled in a program that grants
concurrent conferral of a master's and baccalaureate degree to
qualify for the CPA examination prior to the conferral of a
baccalaureate degree, upon showing that the applicant has met
the program's requirements for conferral of a baccalaureate
degree.
3.Requires the concurrent degree-conferring educational
institution to mail to the CBA an official transcript and a
signed letter documenting that the applicant is in good
standing in a program that will result in the concurrent
conferral of degrees, that the applicant has fulfilled the
requirements for the baccalaureate degree, and the date the
applicant met the requirements for conferral of a
baccalaureate degree.
4.Requires that the total educational program for a qualified
concurrent degree program include a minimum of 24 semester
units in accounting subjects and 24 semester units in
business-related subjects, which shall be evidenced at the
time of application for admission to the examination, except
that an applicant who applied, qualified, and sat for at least
two subjects of the examination for the CPA license before May
15, 2002, may provide this evidence at the time of application
for licensure.
5.Permits an applicant who has successfully passed the CPA
examination requirement on or before December 31, 2013, to
qualify for the CPA license without satisfying the specified
required semester units of study related to ethics or
accounting if the applicant completes all other requirements
for the issuance of a license on or before December 31, 2015.
6.Provides that an applicant who has successfully passed the CPA
examination requirement on or before December 31, 2013, is
exempt from specified ethics requirements unless the applicant
fails to obtain the specified qualifying experience on or
before December 31, 2015.
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
4
7.Provides definitions for the following terms related to the
regulation of shorthand reporters: "applicant," "case,"
"certified shorthand reporter," "Developmentally Disabled
Assistance Act," "fee-generating case," "lawyer referral
service," "Legal Services Corporation," "Older Americans Act,"
"other qualified project," "pro bono attorney," "qualified
legal services project," "qualified support center," "rules of
professional conduct," and "supplemental security income
recipient," which shall remain operative until January 1,
2017.
8.Requires the CRB to disburse funds from the TRF for the costs,
exclusive of per diem, of preparing either, an original
transcript and one copy thereof, or where appropriate, a copy
of the transcript, of court or deposition proceedings, or
both, incurred as a contractual obligation between the
shorthand reporter and the applicant, for litigation conducted
in California.
9.Permits CRB to reimburse the applicant or shorthand reporter
for per diem costs if there is no deposition transcript.
10.Specifies that the rate of per diem for depositions shall not
exceed $75 for one-half day or $125 for a full day, as
specified.
11.Sets forth, the procedures to be followed by the applicant,
or certified shorthand reporter and CRB, regarding
reimbursement from the TRF, as specified, and specifies that
the maximum amount reimbursable by the TRF shall not exceed
$20,000 per person, per case, per year.
12.Requires CRB to complete its reimbursement action within 30
days of receipt of the invoice and all required documentation,
including a completed application, except that applications
for reimbursement that cannot be paid from the TRF due to
insufficiency for that fiscal year shall be held over until
the next fiscal year to be paid out of the renewed TRF on a
priority basis.
13.Provides that documentation accompanying an invoice for
reimbursement from the TRF shall be sufficient to establish
entitlement to reimbursement if it is filed with the executive
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
5
officer on a prescribed and complete application form that
establishes the identify and qualification of the applicant,
the fact that the case is not fee-generating, evidence of
licensure, a signed statement that the invoice is accurate,
written acknowledgement of the responsibility to refund any
disbursement from any costs or attorney's fees awarded or
otherwise provided, and separate itemizations for charges
claimed, as specified.
14.Provides that eligibility for reimbursement for an "other
qualified project," "qualified legal services project," or
"qualified support center," as defined, shall require a letter
from the director of the project or center certifying that the
project or center meets specified standards and that the
litigant or litigants are indigent persons.
15.Provides that eligibility for reimbursement for a pro bono
attorney shall require a letter certifying that the
representation meets specified standards and that the litigant
or litigants are indigent persons, together with a letter from
the director of a project or center, as specified, certifying
that the litigant or litigants had been referred by that
project or center to the applicant.
16.Permits an applicant to receive reimbursement directly from
CRB if the applicant has previously paid the certified
shorthand reporter for transcripts as specified, and submits
an itemized statement signed by the certified shorthand
reporter, as specified.
17.Authorizes CRB to prescribe appropriate forms to be used by
applicants and certified shorthand reporters to facilitate
reimbursement from the TRF.
18.Clarifies that the law related to shorthand reporters does
not restrict any contractual obligation or payment for
services, including, but not limited to, billing the applicant
directly, during the pendency of the reimbursement claim.
19.Sunsets the provisions of this bill related to the TRF and
the reimbursement process (#13 through #18 above), effective
January 1, 2017.
20.Makes various other technical and clarifying changes.
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
6
Background
According to the CBA under SB 819 (Yee, Chapter 398, Statutes of
2009), beginning January 1, 2014, CPA applicants will be
required to obtain 150 semester units, including 24 semester
units in accounting subjects, 24 semester units in
business-related subjects, 20 semester units in accounting
study, and 10 semester units in ethics study, and one year of
general accounting experience. As a result, many applicants
who planned their respective education and general accounting
experience under the presumption that the existing pathways to
licensure would still exist, may be ineligible to become
licensed when the new requirements take effect on January 1,
2014. By extending the existing pathways for those who pass the
examination, this bill maintains those applicants eligibility
for licensure as a stop gap measure. While it is difficult to
say with precision how many individuals could be affected by
these changes, CBA estimates that the number would be in the
thousands.
The CBA states that existing law requires that an applicant for
the CPA exam present evidence that a baccalaureate degree has
been completed and conferred. However, applicants enrolled in a
five-year master's concurrent degree program typically cannot
receive their baccalaureate degree until the master's degree
program is completed. Therefore, even if the candidate has
fulfilled the baccalaureate degree requirements, the applicant
cannot qualify for the CPA exam. This bill allows applicants
who are enrolled in a program that confers a master's and a
baccalaureate degree concurrently to qualify for the CPA exam
prior to the conferral of a baccalaureate degree. The applicant
must provide a letter from the educational institution along
with transcripts documenting that the applicant is in good
standing in a concurrent degree and has fulfilled the
requirements for the baccalaureate degree.
Court reporter provisions . CRB administers the TRF, which is
based in statute and designated to reimburse transcript costs
incurred by indigent litigants. The TRF's reimbursements are
limited to $300,000 per year, and are paid from court reporter
licensing fees. In 2010, SB 1181 (Cedillo, Chapter 518,
Statutes of 2010) established a pilot project to expand the TRF
to pro se (self-represented) litigants who are indigent.
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
7
Historically the TRF has been underutilized by indigent
litigants represented by pro bono attorneys or qualified
nonprofit entities, so this pilot project was implemented in
order to maximize the benefits of the TRF and expand
reimbursements to those most in need. A cap of $30,000 per
calendar year was set aside for projects under SB 1181, with a
per-case cap of $1,500.
In 2012, SB 1236 (Price, Chapter 332) extended the sunset date
of the CRB and the Fund from January 1, 2013, to January 1,
2017. However, due to a drafting error, SB 1236 failed to
extend certain provisions related to the TRF, so that they were
repealed as of January 1, 2013. The repealed sections contain
definitions and authorize the CRB to process and pay the
applications. The TRF itself remains in statute. CRB staff
states that it is continuing to receive and log applications for
reimbursement, and upon restoration of the repealed code
sections the CRB would be able to begin processing them. This
bill will restore those repealed sections and enable CRB to
fully administer the TRF.
Comments
The author states, "As urgency legislation, the bill
consolidates several non-controversial provisions related to the
programs and professions governed by the Business and
Professions Code. Consolidating the provisions in one bill is
designed to relieve the various licensing boards, agencies and
professions from the necessity and burden of having separate
measures for several non-controversial revisions. These changes
are minor, technical and updating changes."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/10/13)
California Board of Accountancy
California Society of CPAs
Court Reporters Board of California
MW:ej 9/11/13 Senate Floor Analyses
CONTINUED
SB 823
Page
8
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED