§466-42 Peer review oversight committee. (a) The board shall establish a peer review oversight committee for the purpose of:
(b) Except to the extent otherwise required under this section and section 466-41(b), information concerning a specific firm or reviewer obtained by the peer review oversight committee during oversight activities shall be confidential and shall not be subject to discovery, pursuant to section 466-32, and reports submitted to the board by the peer review oversight committee shall not contain information concerning specific firms or reviewers. Members of the peer review oversight committee shall be required to execute confidentiality statements for the sponsoring organization that they oversee.
(c) The peer review oversight committee shall consist of three individuals approved by the board who hold permits to practice under section 466-7 and who are currently in the practice of public accountancy at the partner or equivalent level. No member of the peer review oversight committee shall be a current member of the board, the Hawaii Society of Certified Public Accountants Peer Review or Professional Ethics Committees, or the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Professional Ethics Executive Committee. In selecting committee members, the board shall consider, among other things, the prospective member's experience with attest engagements and the peer review rating of the prospective member's firm.
(d) The peer review oversight committee shall make an annual recommendation to the board as to the qualifications of an approved sponsoring organization to continue as an approved sponsoring organization on the basis of the results of the following procedures:
(e) In the evaluation of policies and procedures of sponsoring organization applicants, the peer review oversight committee shall:
(f) Annually, the peer review oversight committee shall provide the board with a report on the continued reliability of sponsoring organizations' peer reviews. The peer review oversight committee report shall provide reasonable assurance that peer reviews are being conducted and reported on consistently and in accordance with the Standards for Performing and Reporting on Peer Review adopted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. A summary of oversight visits shall be included with the annual report.
(g) The members of the peer review oversight committee shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses, including travel expenses, that are incurred in the performance of their duties.
(h) No member of the peer review oversight committee shall bear any civil liability for any action taken as a member of the peer review oversight committee in furtherance of the purposes for which the peer review oversight committee was established. [L 2012, c 324, pt of §1; am L 2016, c 145, §6; am L 2021, c 114, §1]