03/19/1996 01:32 PM Senate L&C

                                                                               
                SB 305 REGULATION OF ACCOUNTANTS                              
                                                                               
                                                                              
 CHAIRMAN KELLY called the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee                 
 meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. and announced  SB 305  to be up for             
 consideration.                                                                
                                                                               
 CHUCK GRIFFIN, Chairman of the State Board of Public Accountancy,             
 said SB 305 makes three changes in the Accountancy Act.  One is to            
 defer and provide transition for the 150 hour education                       
 requirement.  This is mostly on behalf of the University community            
 whose students will be graduating in the next year or two and hope            
 to become licensed.                                                           
                                                                               
 The second change would give the Board the statutory authority to             
 recognize for permit purposes limited liability companies which are           
 now permitted under AS10.50.  There is now no provision to                    
 recognize that entity for licensing.                                          
                                                                               
 The third change would provide a limited form of permissive                   
 reciprocity for licensing CPA's who come from other states in the             
 form of a five in 10 rule reflecting examination and experience.              
 This will streamline the licensing process when these people move             
 to Alaska or are transferred by their firms.                                  
                                                                               
 He noted that two amendments are needed.  In section one, dealing             
 with the reciprocity provision, currently reads "an applicant                 
 passes a public accounting examination" and it should read "the               
 applicant has passed the uniform certified public accountants                 
 examination."  This conforms the title to the examination that is             
 referred to nationally and in our statutes, he said.                          
                                                                               
 The other change is on page 10, the educational experience                    
 requirement, where "in public accounting" needs to be deleted                 
 because there is no requirement for a public accounting degree                
 which would not be uniformly awarded anyway.                                  
                                                                               
 Number 181                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR KELLY asked why he wanted section 6 to take effect January            
 1, 2001 which is a ways from now.  MR. GRIFFIN replied that they              
 are currently the 1991 Act which has an effective date of September           
 1, 1997 and they have received a number of requests from primarily            
 University students who feel that 1997 puts us ahead of the                   
 national curve and, secondly, the 1991 Act didn't allow for any               
 transition whereby a person, if they had a degree prior to 1997,              
 could still qualify.  He said the Department of Law said that only            
 the legislature can enact that provision; the Board couldn't adopt            
 any regulation to provide any transition or grandfathering.                   
                                                                               
 SENATOR TORGERSON asked on page 9, line 25 regarding the definition           
 of a foreign limited liability company and he wanted to know why we           
 would identify them.  MR. GRIFFIN replied that foreign under the              
 limit liability law does not mean outside the U.S.; it means an LLC           
 which is not directly domiciled in Alaska.  They have had to deal             
 with the same provision with respect to professional corporations.            
 It is basically a form of interstate reciprocity.                             
                                                                               
 SENATOR SALO moved on page 1, line 9 to change the term to the                
 uniform certified public accountant examination and on page 10,               
 lines 14 and 15 to delete the words "in public accounting."                   
                                                                               
 CATHERINE REARDON, Division of Occupational Licensing, said that              
 the administration they supported the bill with the changing of the           
 wording.                                                                      
                                                                               
 There were no objections to the amendments and they were adopted.             
                                                                               
 SENATOR TORGERSON moved to pass CSSB 305 from committee with                  
 individual recommendations.  There were no objections and it was so           
 ordered.