02/26/2018 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE

                    HB 147-PUBLIC ACCOUNTING                                                                                
                                                                                                                              
3:49:38 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KITO announced that the next order of business would be                                                                   
HOUSE BILL NO. 147, "An Act relating to the Board of Public                                                                     
Accountancy; relating to the licensure of public accountants;                                                                   
and relating to the practice of public accounting."                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
3:49:44 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE   STEVE   THOMPSON,  Alaska   State   Legislature,                                                               
presented HB  147 as prime  sponsor.  He paraphrased  the sponsor                                                               
statement [included  in committee packet] which  reads as follows                                                               
[original punctuation provided]:                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
     SSHB 147 is  a bill that updates the  statutes in Title                                                                    
     8 (Business and Professions), Chapter 4 (Accountants).                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     The   National   Association   of   State   Boards   of                                                                    
     Accountancy  (NASBA)  and  the  American  Institute  of                                                                    
     Certified  Public  Accountants   (AICPA)  provided  the                                                                    
     Alaska   Board   of   Public  Accountancy   under   the                                                                    
     Department   of  Commerce,   Community,  and   Economic                                                                    
     Development with  a summary of  areas where  the Alaska                                                                    
     statutes and regulations  for public accountancy differ                                                                    
     from  the Uniform  Accountancy Act  or AICPA's  Code of                                                                    
     Professional Conduct.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
     The  proposed statute  changes  will  align the  Alaska                                                                    
     statutes  and regulations  for public  accountancy with                                                                    
     these national organizations.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
     Many  of  the  changes  in the  bill  are  housekeeping                                                                    
     items.  Some   changes  expand  existing   language  to                                                                    
     provide  more  information   or  clarity,  while  other                                                                    
     changes remove unnecessary language or condense it.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON  mentioned that  his wife is  a certified                                                               
public accountant (CPA)  and chair of the  Alaska CPA Legislative                                                               
Committee.  He  underlined that neither he nor any  member of the                                                               
CPA community would benefit financially from the proposed bill.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
3:52:11 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
KAREN BREWER-TARVER, Certified  Public Accountant, Member, Alaska                                                               
Board of  Public Accountancy, answered  questions in  the hearing                                                               
on  HB 147.    She said  the  board had  worked  with the  Alaska                                                               
Society of CPAs to make the changes.   She added that none of the                                                               
proposed changes are controversial                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
3:53:11 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  SULLIVAN-LEONARD   asked  for   more  information                                                               
regarding the removal of language from statute.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
MS. BREWER-TARVER  answered she thought  Representative Sullivan-                                                               
Leonard was  referring to Section  3 of  the proposed bill.   She                                                               
explained there are currently two  ways to become licensed in the                                                               
state as a  CPA.  She said  a licensee could either  pass an exam                                                               
or  present  a  license  from  another state.    She  added  that                                                               
currently  in Alaska  there is  a requirement  for four  years of                                                               
public  accounting work.   It  was determined  that this  is more                                                               
than what  is asked for from  those taking the CPA  exam, and the                                                               
change would reduce it to two years.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
3:54:54 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON asked Ms.  Brewer-Tarver to explain what                                                               
is going on with the test functions described in Section 5.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MS.   BREWER-TARVER   said   Section  5   is   the   confidential                                                               
communications section.   She said  Section 6 was being  added to                                                               
include wording  in the Uniform  Accountancy Act  outlining which                                                               
regulatory agencies to which to submit work papers.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
3:56:32 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH asked whether  a CPA designation is required                                                               
for a large commercial enterprise for accounting procedures.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MS.  BREWER-TARVER answered  the  only reason  a  CPA license  is                                                               
needed is for test functions.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
3:57:57 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KITO opened public testimony on HB 147.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
JEFF JOHNSON,  Member, Public Accountancy  Board, stated  that he                                                               
is employed  by RJG CPA in  Fairbanks, Alaska.  He  said that the                                                               
fiscal note  reflects the savings  on postage  due to the  use of                                                               
email.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON asked for the full title of the firm.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
MR. JOHNSON  answered that it  was the  initials of the  names of                                                               
the members of the firm.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
3:59:43 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
DONOVAN RULIEN,  Alaska State Board of  Accountancy, testified in                                                               
support of HB 147.  He explained  the aim of the proposed bill is                                                               
to clean up the language in the statute to bring it up to date.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
4:00:30 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KITO said  he would be leaving public testimony  open on HB
.                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KITO held over HB 147.