Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 87A of chapter 112 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following definition:-

"Reviewer", a person, firm, professional society or association, or a member or committee thereof, carrying out, supervising, conducting, advertising, participating in, or overseeing quality review.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 112 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 87E the following section:-

Section 87E>. A reviewer shall not be permitted or required to testify or otherwise provide evidence or discovery in any civil action, arbitration, judicial or administrative proceeding relating to a quality review in which the reviewer was involved, and any proceeding, record, report, finding, recommendation, opinion and work paper prepared by or on behalf of a reviewer in connection with a quality review shall not be subject to subpoena, discovery or other means of legal process in any such proceeding and shall not be admissible evidence in any such proceeding, except that: (i) quality review reports voluntarily submitted to the board by the reviewed accountant or accounting firm may be reviewed and relied upon by the board; and (ii) quality reviews required by the board pursuant to section eighty-seven C>, and any documentary record, report, finding, recommendation, opinion and work paper prepared by or on behalf of a reviewer in connection therewith, and the testimony of the reviewer, shall be made available to the board upon its request and may be relied upon by the board. Disclosure to the board under the provisions of clause (i) or (ii) shall not render such materials or testimony publicly available or otherwise discoverable or subject to legal process or admission in a civil proceeding; provided, however, that if otherwise admissible, such materials or testimony may be admitted under seal in a proceeding brought by the reviewed accountant challenging an action of the board taken in reliance, in whole or in part, on said review.

No person or firm shall be liable as a result of providing information or documents to a reviewer as part of a quality review.

No reviewer acting in good faith shall be liable as a result of any act or omission in connection with a quality review.