BILL NUMBER: AB 2560 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 302
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 12, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 18, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 12, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Obernolte
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 5096.21 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to professions and vocations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2560, Obernolte. Accountants: practice privileges: out-of-state
individuals.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of the
practice of accountancy by the California Board of Accountancy within
the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes the
board to make a determination based on specified factors about
whether allowing individuals from a particular state to practice
pursuant to a practice privilege violates the board's duty to protect
the public and requires the board, if it were to make such a
determination, to require those individuals, except as specified, to
file the notification form and pay specified fees as a condition to
exercising a practice privilege in this state.
This bill would authorize the board to adopt emergency regulations
in order to implement the above-described provisions.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 5096.21 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
5096.21. (a) (1) On and after January 1, 2016, if the board
determines, through a majority vote of the board at a regularly
scheduled meeting, that allowing individuals from a particular state
to practice in this state pursuant to a practice privilege as
described in Section 5096, violates the board's duty to protect the
public, pursuant to Section 5000.1, the board shall require, by
regulation, out-of-state individuals licensed from that state, as a
condition to exercising a practice privilege in this state, to file
the notification form and pay the applicable fees as required by
former Section 5096, as added by Chapter 921 of the Statutes of 2004,
and regulations adopted thereunder.
(2) The board may adopt emergency regulations, in accordance with
the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code), to implement this subdivision. The adoption of the regulations
shall be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare
for purposes of Sections 11346.1 and 11349.6 of the Government Code.
(b) The board shall, at minimum, consider the following factors in
making the determination required by subdivision (a):
(1) Whether the state timely and adequately addresses enforcement
referrals made by the board to the accountancy regulatory board of
that state, or otherwise fails to respond to requests the board deems
necessary to meet its obligations under this article.
(2) Whether the state makes the disciplinary history of its
licensees publicly available through the Internet in a manner that
allows the board to adequately link consumers to an Internet Web site
to obtain information that was previously made available to
consumers about individuals from the state prior to January 1, 2013,
through the notification form.
(3) Whether the state imposes discipline against licensees that is
appropriate in light of the nature of the alleged misconduct.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if (1) the National
Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) adopts enforcement
best practices guidelines, (2) the board, upon a majority vote at a
regularly scheduled board meeting, issues a finding after a public
hearing that those practices meet or exceed the board's own
enforcement practices, (3) a state has in place and is operating
pursuant to enforcement practices substantially equivalent to the
best practices guidelines, and (4) disciplinary history of a state's
licensees is publicly available through the Internet in a manner that
allows the board to link consumers to an Internet Web site to obtain
information at least equal to the information that was previously
available to consumers through the practice privilege form filed by
out-of-state licensees pursuant to former Section 5096, as added by
Chapter 921 of the Statutes of 2004, no practice privilege form shall
be required to be filed by any licensee of that state as required by
subdivision (a), nor shall the board be required to report on that
state to the Legislature as required by subdivision (d).
(d) (1) The board shall report to the relevant policy committees
of the Legislature, the director, and the public, upon request,
preliminary determinations made pursuant to this section no later
than July 1, 2015. The board shall, prior to January 1, 2016, and
thereafter as it deems appropriate, review its determinations made
pursuant to subdivision (b) to ensure that it is in compliance with
this section.
(2) This subdivision shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017,
pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(e) On or before July 1, 2014, the board shall convene a
stakeholder group consisting of members of the board, board
enforcement staff, and representatives of the accounting profession
and consumer representatives to consider whether the provisions of
this article are consistent with the board's duty to protect the
public consistent with Section 5000.1, and whether the provisions of
this article satisfy the objectives of stakeholders of the accounting
profession in this state, including consumers. The group, at its
first meeting, shall adopt policies and procedures relative to how it
will conduct its business, including, but not limited to, policies
and procedures addressing periodic reporting of its findings to the
board.
(f) On or before January 1, 2018, the board shall prepare a report
to be provided to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature,
the director, and the public, upon request, that, at minimum,
explains in detail all of the following:
(1) How the board has implemented this article and whether
implementation is complete.
(2) Whether this article is, in the opinion of the board, more,
less, or equivalent in the protection it affords the public than its
predecessor article.
(3) Describes how other state boards of accountancy have addressed
referrals to those boards from the board, the timeframe in which
those referrals were addressed, and the outcome of investigations
conducted by those boards.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.