An alternative pathway bill that replaces the current minimum education requirement to get a CPA license passed into law in Alaska on Jul. 23 after the governor did not sign the bill, according to Alaska's News Source.
One of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Calvin Schrage, NA-Anchorage, said that the bill is a way for Alaska to catch up to a “growing national trend to simplifying some of [these] requirements.”
“[The bill] originated in conversations with some of the business professionals in our community who recognize that there’s a growing national trend to simplifying some of the requirements to become a CPA in the U.S., and that this would something that be that would be really beneficial to Alaskans,” Schrage noted,
House Bill 121 by Schrage and Julie Coulombe, R-Anchorage,
replaces the current minimum education requirement for CPAs in the state.
Alaska law required new CPAs to have 150 credit-hours of training. If enacted, HB 121 would replace that with 120 hours and two years of experience. Passing the CPA exam remains a requirement.
Schrage stated that he was unsure why the governor did not sign the bill, adding he believed it was strange there have not been any bill signings this year.
The governor did not provide comment on why he let the legislation pass without him signing it. His office sent Alaska’s News Source a letter that he had sent to Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, stating that “I have let the following bill become law without signature.”
In Alaska, when a bill passes its deadline after it was sent to the governor, and the governor does not sign the bill, that bill goes into law automatically, if is not vetoed first.