Accountants.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of accountants by the California Board of Accountancy in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes a certified public accounting firm that is authorized to practice in another state and that does not have an office in this state to engage in the practice of public accountancy in this state through the holder of a practice privilege, subject to specified requirements. Existing law authorizes the board to discipline the firm for any act that would be grounds for discipline against a holder of a practice privilege. Those provisions become inoperative on January 1, 2011. This bill would extend the operative date of those provisions indefinitely, and would make a conforming change. Existing law requires the board to hold a hearing, no later than September 1, 2010, on the report by the California Research Bureau regarding the Uniform Accountancy Act's 150-hour rule, and to make recommendations, based on that report, as specified. This bill would instead require the board to hold that hearing no later than 6 months following the issuance of that report. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.