Senate Passes Gramm-Leach-Bliley Privacy Exemption for CPA’s

Written by:Lewis Sheffield

The United States Senate recently, unanimously passed legislation that exempts CPA’s from the disclosure of the use of financial information as previously required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The legislation, titled, “Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006” (S2856), states in Section 609 of the bill that, “This section exempts certified public accountants from compliance with the disclosure requirements of section 503(a) of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This exemption was also passed in a bill by the United States House of Representatives earlier in the year. However, there are a few differences in the two bills, and currently, Senator Mike Crapo’s (R-ID) staff is talking with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Mike Oxley (R-OH) about resolving the differences between the Senate and House bills. If the negotiations are successful, there could be a compromise bill introduced and voted on fairly soon, and the CPA profession could gain the exemption for which it has fought long and hard.

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