Florida Senate - 2012 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1656
Barcode 383894
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
02/08/2012 .
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The Committee on Regulated Industries (Altman) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the enacting clause
4 and insert:
5 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) and paragraph
6 (b) of subsection (7) of section 473.308, Florida Statutes, are
7 amended to read:
8 473.308 Licensure.—
9 (4)(a) An applicant for licensure after December 31, 2008,
10 must show that he or she has had 1 year of work experience. This
11 experience shall include providing any type of service or advice
12 involving the use of accounting, attest, compilation, management
13 advisory, financial advisory, tax, or consulting skills, all of
14 which must be verified by a certified public accountant who is
15 licensed by a state or territory of the United States and who
16 has supervised the applicant. This experience is acceptable if
17 it was gained through employment in government, industry,
18 academia, or public practice; constituted a substantial part of
19 the applicant’s duties; and was verified by under the
20 supervision of a certified public accountant licensed by a state
21 or territory of the United States. The board shall adopt rules
22 specifying standards and providing for the review and approval
23 of the work experience required by this section.
24 (7) The board shall certify as qualified for a license by
25 endorsement an applicant who:
26 (b)1.a. Holds a valid license to practice public accounting
27 issued by another state or territory of the United States, if
28 the criteria for issuance of such license were substantially
29 equivalent to the licensure criteria that existed in this state
30 at the time the license was issued; or
31 b. Holds a valid license to practice public accounting
32 issued by another state or territory of the United States but
33 the criteria for issuance of such license did not meet the
34 requirements of sub-subparagraph a.; has met the requirements of
35 this section for education, work experience, and good moral
36 character; and has passed a national, regional, state, or
37 territorial licensing examination that is substantially
38 equivalent to the examination required by s. 473.306; or and
39 c. Holds a valid license to practice public accounting
40 issued by another state or territory of the United States for at
41 least 10 years before the date of application; has passed a
42 national, regional, state, or territorial licensing examination
43 that is substantially equivalent to the examination required by
44 s. 473.306; and has met the requirements of this section for
45 good moral character; and
46 2. Has completed continuing education courses that are
47 equivalent to the continuing education requirements for a
48 Florida certified public accountant licensed in this state
49 during the 2 years immediately preceding her or his application
50 for licensure by endorsement.
51 Section 2. Subsections (3) and (4) of section 473.313,
52 Florida Statutes, are redesignated as subsections (4) and (5),
53 respectively, a new subsection (3) is added to that section, and
54 subsection (2) of that section is amended, to read:
55 473.313 Inactive status.—
56 (2) A license that has become inactive under subsection (1)
57 or for failure to complete the requirements in s. 473.312 may be
58 reactivated under s. 473.311 upon application to the department.
59 The board may prescribe by rule continuing education
60 requirements as a condition of reactivating a license. The
61 minimum continuing education requirements for reactivating a
62 license shall be those prescribed by board rule and those of the
63 most recent biennium plus one-half of the requirements in s.
64 473.312. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
65 the continuing education requirements are 120 hours, including
66 at least 30 hours in accounting-related and auditing-related
67 subjects, not more than 30 hours in behavioral subjects, and a
68 minimum of 8 hours in ethics subjects approved by the board, for
69 the reactivation of a license that is inactive or delinquent on
70 June 30, 2012 2009, if the Florida certified public accountant
71 notifies the Board of Accountancy by December 31, 2012 2009, of
72 an intention to reactivate such a license and completes such
73 reactivation by June 30, 2014 2011.
74 (3) A license that has become delinquent for failure to
75 report completion of the requirements in s. 473.312 may be
76 reactivated under s. 473.311 upon application to the department.
77 Reactivation requires the payment of an application fee as
78 determined by the board and certification by the Florida
79 certified public accountant that the applicant satisfactorily
80 completed the continuing education requirements set forth under
81 s. 473.311. If the license is delinquent on December 31 because
82 of failure to report completed continuing education
83 requirements, the applicant must submit a complete application
84 to the board by March 15 immediately after the delinquent
85 period.
86 Section 3. Upon approval of the Board of Accountancy, the
87 board shall complete a report on the potential cost savings for
88 privatization of the Division of Certified Public Accounting or
89 its functions as outlined in s. 455.32, Florida Statutes. This
90 report must be completed and submitted to the President of the
91 Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives no later
92 than November 30, 2012.
93 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.
94
95 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
96 And the title is amended as follows:
97 Delete everything before the enacting clause
98 and insert:
99 A bill to be entitled
100 An act relating to public accountancy; amending s.
101 473.308, F.S.; revising and updating education and
102 work experience requirements for applicants for
103 licensure as a certified public accountant; revising
104 provisions governing licensure by endorsement;
105 amending s. 473.313, F.S.; revising requirements for
106 reactivation of an inactive license as a certified
107 public accountant; requiring the Board of Accountancy
108 to conduct a study to assess the privatization of the
109 Division of Certified Public Accounting; providing a
110 deadline for completion of the study; providing an
111 effective date.