At its Dec. 10, 2019, meeting, the New York State Board of Regents took emergency action to adopt a regulation that implements a law signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which eliminates the three-year exemption from the mandatory continuing education requirement for newly licensed CPAs. That law, Chapter 413 of the Laws of 2018, amended the Education Law, effective Jan. 1, 2020, to require all new licensees to become subject to mandatory continuing education on the first Jan. 1 that falls in their first registration period.

The Society, after discussions with membership groups, lobbied for the legislation as part of an effort to ensure that new CPAs remain knowledgeable in the face of an increase in the volume of standards, as well as become competent in new and emerging skill sets that clients and employers have come to expect in the age of blockchain and artificial intelligence. The legislation, A.10648/S.8522-A, passed the Assembly, 144-0, on June 19, 2018, and the Senate, 60-0, on June 20, 2018. The bill was sponsored by Assemblyman Albert “Al” A. Stirpe Jr. (D-127) in the Assembly and by Sen. Pamela Helming (R-54) in the Senate. On Dec. 21, 2018, Gov. Cuomo signed it into law.

As a result of the new law, CPAs who become licensed in New York state after Jan. 1, 2020, will need to earn up to 120 credit hours of CPE during their first three years of licensure. Specifically, the legislation will require new CPA licensees to earn either 24 credits a year in a concentration (accounting, attest, auditing, taxation, advisory services, specialized knowledge and applications related to specialized industries), or 40 credits a year in general CPE. They will also need to take four hours of ethics CPE during their first three years of licensure.

The emergency regulation that the Board of Regents adopted on Dec. 10 amended subdivision (a) of section 70.9 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, effective Jan. 1, 2020. The emergency regulation states:

“Section 70.9. Continuing education
(a) Applicability of requirement.
(1) All licensees engaged in the practice of public accountancy in this State, as defined in Education Law section 7401, either full time or part time, and required under Article 130 of the Education Law to register triennially with the Department, shall complete the continuing education requirements in accordance with this section, except those licensees exempt from the requirement pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subdivision.
(2) Exemptions and adjustments in the requirement.
(i) A new licensee shall become subject to the mandatory continuing education requirements on the first January 1 that falls in his or her first registration period.”

The regulation deleted this sentence from the previous version of the regulation: “New licensees shall be exempt from mandatory continuing education requirements for the triennial registration period in which they are first licensed by the Department.” It also replaced “second registration period” with “first registration period.”

Because the Board of Regents adopted the regulation on an emergency basis, the regulation will eventually need to be made permanent. In a memo to the Board of Regents’ Professional Practice Committee, Deputy Commissioner Douglas E. Lentivech, who leads the State Education Department’s Office of the Professions, wrote:

“It is anticipated that the proposed rule will be presented for adoption as a permanent rule at the April 2020 Regents meeting, which is the first scheduled meeting after the 60-day public comment period prescribed in [the State Administrative Procedures Act] for State agency rule makings. However, since the emergency regulation will expire before the April Regents meeting, it is anticipated that an additional emergency action will be presented for adoption at the March 2020 Regents meeting.”