Senate committee hears SB 796 to let Board of Accountancy fund need-based scholarships

A public hearing before a Senate committee on Feb. 10 considered Senate Bill 796, a proposal to let the Oregon Board of Accountancy use money from its operating fund to pay for existing need-based scholarships for students in accredited accounting programs and to declare an emergency with an effective date of July 1, 2025.

Ellen, a committee staff member, summarized the bill: "Senate Bill 796 permits the Oregon Board of Accountancy to use money in its operating fund to fund existing need based scholarships for students in accredited accounting programs. It permits the Board to establish eligibility criteria for the program and declares an emergency, takes effect 07/01/2025." The bill was heard at a short morning session that drew testimony from the board's executive director and university accounting educators.

Martin Petioni, executive director of the Oregon Board of Accountancy, told the committee the measure makes a permanent statutory change allowing the fee-funded board to spend operating resources on scholarships but does not itself appropriate recurring funding. "What is not permanent is funding," Petioni said,…