Senate modernizes CPA licensure, bars AI from holding CPA licenses and adds penalties
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Summary
The Senate advanced a revised accountant licensure bill to perfection that broadens pathways to CPA licensure, tightened reciprocity language, and—after floor amendments—explicitly barred AI from obtaining CPA licenses and created a misdemeanor penalty for using AI to perform public accounting.
The Missouri Senate moved Senate Bill 12‑33 forward after a lengthy floor debate over licensure pathways, reciprocity and the role of emerging technologies. The bill’s sponsor said the measure expands routes to CPA licensure to address a statewide shortage by allowing a post‑baccalaureate pathway and permitting two years of relevant experience in lieu of additional semester credits.
Supporters said the change offers flexibility to qualified candidates who gain practical experience, while preserving standards such as passage of the Uniform CPA Examination. "We're creating an additional avenue for licensure without jeopardizing the quality of the graduates," the sponsor said on the floor. Senators asked whether the change could affect reciprocity with other states that require 150 semester hours and whether Missouri licensees might find reduced mobility as a result.
The bill drew multiple floor amendments. Senator from the 24th offered language to allow speech‑language pathologists who completed clinical fellowships out of state to qualify if they are in good standing; that amendment was debated and defeated after a standing-division vote. Senator from Lawrence introduced an amendment defining artificial intelligence and explicitly preventing any AI system from obtaining licensure under chapter 326; that amendment was then modified by an additional amendment from the Senator from the first to make it unlawful for a CPA or CPA firm to "perform public accounting with the use of artificial intelligence," punishable as a class A misdemeanor. The combined AI language passed on roll call, recorded as 16 ayes and 12 noes.
Other amendments, including an apprenticeship pathway for aesthetics/manicuring proposed by the senator from the 9th, were considered; some failed on roll call. The Senate ultimately perfected and ordered SB12‑33 printed as amended. Sponsors and critics agreed the bill aims to address workforce shortages in licensed professions, but the floor exchanges underscore tension between increasing supply and preserving interstate mobility and professional standards.
Next steps: SB12‑33 was perfected for printing and will continue through the legislative calendar; the AI prohibition and criminal penalty language will now be part of the bill text as it advances.