State Updates
Four States Add 120-Credit CPA Pathways in 19-Day April 2026 Stretch
Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas, and New Hampshire each signed 120-credit CPA pathway legislation between April 3 and April 22, 2026, pushing the national count to roughly 32 states.
Published April 28, 20264 min readVerified as of July 27, 2026
What Happened
Four governors signed 120-credit CPA pathway bills in a 19-day stretch from April 3 to April 22, 2026, bringing the count of states with enacted alternatives to the 150-hour rule to roughly 32. Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas, and New Hampshire each added a path to licensure built around a bachelor's degree and two years of supervised experience, while keeping the traditional 150-credit option available for candidates already on that track.
Kentucky: HB 45 signed April 3
Governor Andy Beshear signed House Bill 45 into law on April 3, 2026, with the new pathway taking effect July 16, 2026. Under the new rule, candidates can qualify for licensure with a bachelor's degree, two years of CPA-verified work experience, and a passing score on the Uniform CPA Exam. The traditional 150-credit pathway with one year of experience remains available, so candidates already working toward 150 hours do not lose their place. Coverage in The Lane Report describes HB 45 as a response to Kentucky's declining CPA pipeline, and Inside Public Accounting noted that the bill cleared both chambers with strong bipartisan support before the governor's signature. The full requirements are on our Kentucky CPA requirements page.
Arizona: SB 1181 signed in early April
Governor Katie Hobbs signed Senate Bill 1181 in early April 2026, with the Office of the Governor confirming the signing in its April legislative action update. The new pathway becomes effective December 31, 2026, and creates two changes at once. The first is a 120-credit plus two-year experience option alongside the existing 150-credit plus one-year pathway. The second is individual mobility provisions that let CPAs licensed in other states practice in Arizona without obtaining a separate Arizona license, provided their home-state requirements are comparable. The Arizona Society of CPAs had been pushing for both changes since 2025. The updated rules are on our Arizona CPA requirements page.
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Kansas: HB 2573 signed April 9, effective on statute book publication (~July)
Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2573 on April 9, 2026, with the new pathway taking effect upon publication in the Kansas statute book (customarily around July 1, 2026). The bill adds a bachelor's degree plus two years of supervised experience pathway, and it also makes a structural change to how Kansas evaluates out-of-state CPA credentials. Kansas previously used the term "substantial equivalency" to determine whether a CPA from another state could practice in Kansas. HB 2573 replaces that language with explicit licensure criteria spelled out in section 8 of the bill. Representative Bergkamp, a sponsor, told the House Federal and State Affairs Committee that the change was meant to help rural Kansas retain accounting talent by letting candidates work and study concurrently rather than spending an extra year on additional coursework. Our Kansas CPA requirements page reflects the new pathway.
New Hampshire: HB 1259 signed and effective April 22
Governor Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 1259 on April 22, 2026 (Chapter 34), with the new pathway taking effect the same day. HB 1259 modifies New Hampshire's education requirements for CPA certification and grants practice privileges to CPAs licensed in other states with comparable requirements. The bill follows the same general model as Kentucky, Arizona, and Kansas: a bachelor's degree with accounting concentration, two years of supervised experience, and a passing exam score. New Hampshire was already friendly to non-traditional candidates because the state does not require a Social Security Number to apply, and HB 1259 extends that accessibility further by formalizing interstate mobility. The full New Hampshire requirements are on our New Hampshire CPA requirements page.
Where the count stands now
The April 2026 signings pushed the running total of states with enacted 120-credit pathway legislation past 30. The pace has continued into May with Colorado (SB 26-076, signed May 4) and Oklahoma (HB 4317, signed May 6) bringing the national count to 39 enacted states as of mid-May 2026. For coverage of the four signings that followed in March through May (South Dakota, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Oklahoma), see our Four More States Add Pathways article. CFO Dive's Q2 2026 coverage estimates 40 or more states will have enacted alternatives by year-end. The model is converging on a single template (bachelor's plus two years experience), which follows the third-pathway framework AICPA and NASBA approved in May 2025 (codified in the July 2025 UAA Ninth Edition).
What candidates in these states should do
If you are studying in Kentucky, Arizona, Kansas, or New Hampshire, the new pathway likely changes your timeline. A candidate planning a fifth year of college specifically to hit 150 credits can now skip that step and start working sooner. Each state's effective date is different (New Hampshire April 22, 2026; Kansas July 1, 2026; Kentucky July 16, 2026; Arizona December 31, 2026), so verify the exact start date with your state board before changing your plan. The fastest reference is our interactive state pathway map, which color-codes each state by pathway status and links directly to source legislation.
Sources
- 1.The Lane Report — Kentucky modernizes CPA licensure with HB 45(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
- 2.Inside Public Accounting — Kentucky Passes CPA Licensure Modernization Bill(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
- 3.Office of the Arizona Governor — Legislative Action Update (April 2026)(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
- 4.Kansas Legislature — HB 2573(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
- 5.New Hampshire General Court — HB 1259 (2026 session)(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
- 6.MNCPA — Broadening Pathways to CPA Licensure (national tracker)(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
- 7.CFO Dive — Will 2026 be a decisive or disruptive year for CPA pathways?(accessed Apr 28, 2026)
Brennan Kolar
Founder, Atlas CPA Index
Brennan Kolar is the founder of Atlas CPA Index, an independent CPA review comparison platform covering all 55 U.S. jurisdictions. With over 10 years of experience with CPA review, he built Atlas to help candidates find the right review course based on how they actually learn, not which provider has the biggest ad budget.
Learn more about the author