BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1490
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

            SB 1490 (Business, Professions, and Economic Development) - As  
                              Amended:  April 12, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Business and  
          Professions  Vote:                            11 - 0 

          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill deletes the January 1, 2011, sunset date for the law  
          authorizing certified public accounting (CPA) firms to practice  
          in California through a practice privilege and extends the  
          deadline for the California Board of Accountancy (CBA) to hold a  
          hearing following the issuance of a report by the California  
          Research Bureau (CRB), from September 1, 2010, to six months  
          after the report is issued.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          There are no significant costs associated with this legislation.  


           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This bill is intended as clean up to SB 819 (Yee;  
            Chapter 308, Statutes of 2009), which deleted the sunset dates  
            on the practice privilege laws under which a CPA licensed in  
            another state may legally practice in California.  That bill  
            inadvertently failed to delete the sunset date on the practice  
            privilege for CPA firms licensed in another state.  This bill  
            deletes that sunset date. 

            In addition, SB 819 required the CBA to hold a hearing on a  
            CRB report on the Uniform Accountancy Act's 150-hour rule by  
            September 1, 2010.  In order to meet these requirements, the  
            CBA anticipates it would need at least two additional  
            meetings.  However the release of the report has been delayed  
            due to conflicting workload within CRB.  This bill would  








                                                                  SB 1490
                                                                  Page  2

            instead require the CBA to hold the hearing within six months  
            after the report is issued. Thus allowing CRB and CBA the time  
            they need. 

           2)The Uniform Accountancy Act's 150-hour Rule  . SB 819 (Yee;  
            Chapter 308, Statutes of 2009) requires all California CPAs  
            licensed after 2014 to have 150 hours of college education  
            prior to licensing. Adopting this requirement makes California  
            equivalent to most other states, thus allowing California CPAs  
            to more easily work in other states and allowing CPAs licensed  
            in other states to more easily transfer to California. 


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081