2029, and as of that date is repealed.

Protection of the public shall be the highest priority for the California Board of Accountancy in exercising its licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions. Whenever the protection of the public is inconsistent with other interests sought to be promoted, the protection of the public shall be paramount.

No public member shall be a current or former licensee of the board or an immediate family member of a licensee, or be currently or formerly employed by a public accounting firm, bookkeeping firm, or firm engaged in providing tax preparation as its primary business, or have any financial interest in the business of a licensee. Each public member shall meet all of the requirements for public membership on the board as set forth in Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 450) of Division 1.

Each member shall be appointed for a term of four years and shall hold office until the appointment and qualification of his successor or until one year shall have elapsed since the expiration of the term for which he was appointed, whichever first occurs.

Vacancies occurring shall be filled by appointment for the unexpired term of a person licensed in the same capacity as the person being replaced. No person shall serve more than two terms consecutively. The Governor shall remove from the board any member, except a public member, whose permit to practice has become void, revoked or suspended. The Governor may, after hearing, remove any member of the board for neglect of duty or other just cause.

The officers of the board are a president, vice president and a secretary-treasurer.

The president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer shall be elected by the board for a term of one year from among its members at the time of the annual meeting. The newly elected president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer shall assume the duties of their respective offices at the conclusion of the annual meeting at which they were elected.

The officers of the board shall continue in office until their successors are elected and qualify.

The president shall preside at all meetings of the board, and in the event of the president’s absence or inability to act, the vice president shall preside. If both the president and vice president are absent or unable to act, the secretary-treasurer shall preside at meetings of the board. The president may designate a board member who is not an officer to preside at a meeting of the board if all officers of the board are absent or unable to act at that meeting. Other duties of the president, vice president, and the duties of the secretary-treasurer, shall be such as the board may prescribe.

The board shall, from time to time, but not less than twice each year, prepare and distribute to all licensees, a report of the activities of the board, including amendments to this chapter and regulations adopted by the board, and may likewise distribute reports of other matters of interest to the public and to practitioners. The board may meet this requirement by electronically distributing these materials via email or making them available on the board’s internet website.

The board shall compile and maintain, or may have compiled and maintained on its behalf, a register of licensees that contains information that the board determines is necessary for the purposes for which the board was established. The board shall make the register available to any licensee and to the public.

In the interest of protecting the privacy of applicants and licensees, an email address provided by applicants or licensees to the board pursuant to this chapter shall not be considered a public record and shall not be disclosed pursuant to Section 27 or pursuant to a request under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code), unless required pursuant to a court order by a court of competent jurisdiction.

The board may adopt, repeal, or amend such regulations as may be reasonably necessary and expedient for the orderly conduct of its affairs and for the administration of this chapter. The regulations shall be adopted in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

The board shall designate the location of its principal office and may establish branch offices in other locations.

The board shall have a seal.

The board shall keep records of all proceedings and actions by and before the board and before its committees. In any proceeding in court, civil or criminal, copies of those records certified as correct by the executive officer of the board under seal of the board shall be admissible in evidence and shall be prima facie evidence of the correctness of the contents thereof.

The board may employ clerks, examiners and, except as provided by Section 159.5, other assistants in the performance of its duties, and pay salaries and necessary expenses.

The board may appoint a person exempt from civil service who shall be designated as an executive officer and who shall exercise the powers and perform the duties delegated by the board and vested in the executive officer by this chapter.

This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed.

A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business at any meeting of the board. Notice of each meeting of the board shall be given in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). The board shall meet at the call of the president and executive officer, but not less than twice each year. Any two members of the board may request the executive officer to call a special meeting, and the executive officer, upon receiving that notice, shall call a meeting pursuant to the procedure prescribed herein.

All meetings of the board shall be open and public, except that the board may hold executive sessions to deliberate on the decision to be reached upon the evidence introduced in a proceeding conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500), Part 1, Division 3, Title 2, of the Government Code.

The members of the board may hold executive sessions to prepare, approve, grade, or administer examinations and shall have jurisdiction or vote over these functions of preparing, approving, grading, or administering examinations in executive session as provided for in Section 11126 of the Government Code.