HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 2400

                    As Passed Legislature

Title:  An act relating to technical corrections to various business and professions laws.

Brief Description:  Making technical corrections to Titles 18 and 19 RCW.

Sponsors:  Representatives Constantine, Esser, Lantz, Barlean, Cairnes and Pflug; by request of Office of the Code Reviser.

Brief History:

  Committee Activity:

Judiciary:  1/25/00 [DP].

Floor Activity:

Passed House:  1/31/00, 97-0.

Senate Amended.

Passed Senate:  3/2/00, 48-0.

House Concurred.

Passed House:  3/8/00, 97-1.

Passed Legislature.

                 Brief Summary of Bill

$Makes technical corrections to various sections of Titles 18 and 19 RCW.

$Requires that any continuing professional education standards for certified public accountants that are adopted by the Board of Accountancy must be at least as strict as those required by statute.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Majority Report:  Do pass.  Signed by 12 members:  Representatives Carrell, Republican Co-Chair; Constantine, Democratic Co-Chair; Hurst, Democratic Vice Chair; Lambert, Republican Vice Chair; Cox; Dickerson; Esser; Kastama; Lantz; Lovick; McDonald and Schindler.

Staff:  Edie Adams (786-7180).

Background:

Inaccuracies in the Revised Code of Washington may occur in a variety of ways.  Words may be inadvertently omitted, or typographical, drafting, or grammatical errors may be made in bill drafts and floor amendments.  Sections  may be repealed, recodified or amended in a way that changes their internal numbering.  References to these sections or subsections in other provisions of the code then become incorrect.  A bill may change a particular term, or an entity may be renamed or abolished, and references to these terms or entities in other provisions of the code become inaccurate. 

There are a number of decodified sections in the code.  Decodification of a section occurs when the Legislature passes two bills affecting a section, one that amends the section, and the other that repeals that same section.

The Board of Accountancy regulates certified public accountants (CPAs), setting the qualifications of CPAs, including licensing and continuing professional education requirements.   The board may adopt continuing professional education standards that differ from those provided in statute if the new standards are consistent with the standards of other states in order to provide consistent national standards.

Summary of Bill:

Technical corrections are made to various provisions of Titles 18 and 19 RCW which relate to businesses and professions.

The technical corrections include changes to correct:  grammatical, drafting, and typographical errors; inaccurate references to terms that have been changed or entities that have been abolished or renamed; and inaccurate cross-references resulting from amendments, recodifications, or repealers.  In addition, various decodified sections of the code are repealed.

A substantive change is made to a provision relating to continuing professional education standards for certified public accountants.  If the Board of Accountancy adopts standards that are different than those required under the statute, the standards must be at least as strict as those specified in statute.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  This is a technical correction bill that removes deficiencies, conflicts, and obsolete provisions of the code.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Dennis Cooper, Code Reviser.