Committee advances CPA licensure, PLA updates and broker-disclosure bills; holds public-records and farm-food bills for amendment

The Senate Commerce and Technology Committee advanced three bills to the Senate floor and held two others for further amendment.

Licensing updates: HB 11-47 permits eligible candidates to sit for the CPA exam at 120 credit hours or upon earning a bachelor’s degree with an accounting concentration. The committee moved the bill to the floor on a roll-call vote recorded as 11-0.

Professional Licensing Agency: HB 12-30, carried by Representative Miller on behalf of the Professional Licensing Agency, consolidates duplicate Title 25 administrative provisions, updates licensing-board membership rules, extends the timeframe to correct violations from 30 to 90 days, and increases maximum civil penalties for PLA business licenses. The committee voted 11-0 to send the bill to the floor.

Broker compensation disclosure: HB 12-52 would require a broker company to disclose in writing at time of referral if the company may be compensated for the referral; the Indiana Association of Realtors supported the measure. The committee advanced HB 12-52 by an 11-0 roll-call vote.

Public records and AI/data scraping: Representative Layman presented HB 13-60 to allow public entities to require online requestors to verify they are human (CAPTCHA), provide a physical address and to give priority and no-fee access to Indiana residents and civic/journalistic requests. The bill also allows capped fees for out-of-state requesters and requires reporting to the public access counselor about suspected automated scraping. The committee held HB 13-60 for amendment so sponsors can refine verification and fee language.

Committee procedure: For bills moved to the floor, roll-call tallies were recorded as 11-0 in committee. For HB 14-24 and HB 13-60 the chair announced holds to permit sponsor-driven amendments; amended votes were expected at the committee’s next meeting.