Bill Text: CA AB2878 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Attorneys: State Bar: board of trustees.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-11-30 - Died on unfinished business file, concurrence pending. [AB2878 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB2878-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2878	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 18, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Judiciary (Assembly Members Mark Stone
(Chair), Alejo, Chau, Chiu, Cristina Garcia, and Holden)

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2016

   An act to amend Section 6140  of   of, and to
repeal Section   6008.5 of,  the Business and
Professions Code, relating to attorneys.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2878, as amended, Committee on Judiciary. Attorneys: annual
membership fees.
   The State Bar Act provides for the licensure and regulation of
attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation
governed by a board of trustees. Existing law, until January 1, 2017,
requires the board to charge an annual membership fee for active
members of up to $315 for 2016.  Existing law prohibits the
Legislature, when the board of trustees places a charge upon or
otherwise makes available all or any portion of the income or revenue
from membership fees for the payment of security of an obligation of
the State Bar and so long as any obligation remains unpaid, from
reducing the maximum membership fee below the maximum in effect at
the time the obligation is created or incurred and provides that this
provision constitutes a covenant to the holder of such an
obligation. 
   This bill would, until January 1, 2018, require the board to
charge an annual membership fee in the same amount for 2017.  The
bill would repeal the above provision prohibiting the Legislature
from reducing the maximum membership fee and would state various
findings and declarations of the Legislature. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:  
   (a) The protection of the public is required, by statute, to be
the highest priority of the State Bar of California and must be the
paramount focus of the State Bar, its employees, and, most
importantly, its board of trustees. All other duties and activities
of the State Bar are ancillary to its regulatory oversight of the
state's more than 250,000 attorneys, over 185,000 of whom are active
members.  
   (b) Throughout its history, the State Bar has been the subject of
substantial controversies, including allegations of serious fiscal
and management improprieties, and most recently failure to properly
protect the public against the unauthorized practice of law,
including allowing hundreds of complaints to languish in a drawer.
 
   (c) In May 2015, the California State Auditor released its
biannual performance audit of the State Bar, reviewing the State Bar'
s backlog of discipline cases and its recent $75,000,000 purchase and
renovation of a building in Los Angeles at three times the cost
originally estimated and requiring a loan against the Public
Protection Fund, which is designed to be an emergency fund to protect
the public in the event of a financial emergency. The audit
uncovered significant, questionable decisions made by the State Bar
in the handling of both matters, including that the State Bar had not
fully or consistently reported its backlog of discipline cases and
that, in order to reduce its backlog of discipline cases, the State
Bar made questionable choices, potentially causing "significant risk
to the public."  
   (d) Most recently and without consultation with the Legislature,
the State Bar chose to replace the loan on the Los Angeles building,
along with a brand new loan for updating its San Francisco building,
with a securitization on future members dues, potentially tying the
hands of the Legislature in setting future dues amounts.  
   (e) As a result of the troubling findings of the audit, the
Legislature, as part of the 2015 State Bar dues legislation, imposed
important new preliminary reforms on the State Bar. First, the
Legislature mandated that the State Bar be subject to both the
California Public Records Act and the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act.
These good government reforms help ensure the integrity,
transparency, and accountability of the State Bar. Second, the
Legislature directed the California State Auditor to conduct a full
financial audit of the State Bar, which is due on May 15, 2016.
Finally, the State Bar must develop a workforce plan for its attorney
discipline system and a spending plan to determine the level for
dues to recommend to the Legislature, which are both due on May 15,
2016. These reports should help inform the Legislature regarding the
appropriate actions to take in its oversight responsibility of the
State Bar and its own determination of the proper dues amount. 

   (f) In 2011, the Legislature directed the State Bar to establish a
Governance in the Public Interest Task Force to make recommendations
to the Governor, the Supreme Court, and the Legislature every three
years, beginning May 15, 2014, for, among other things, enhancing the
protection of the public and ensuring that protection of the public
is the highest priority in the licensing, regulation, and discipline
of attorneys, to be reviewed by the Assembly and Senate Committees on
Judiciary in their regular consideration of the annual State Bar
dues measure. That first report is now two years overdue and,
although the Governance in the Public Interest Task Force finally
began holding meetings this year, it appears that this already long
overdue report will not be completed during this legislative session.
 
   (g) It is the intent of the Legislature, in fulfilling its
important oversight responsibility over the State Bar and the proper
amount State Bar members must pay in annual dues, that this bill
serve as the vehicle to implement possible recommendations for
substantially improving the operations, effectiveness, and efficiency
of the State Bar based on the 2016 California State Auditor's audit
of the State Bar, along with the State Bar's discipline workforce and
spending plans and any draft Governance Task Force report or other
information, in order to ensure that the dues are the appropriate
amount, that the State Bar becomes more accountable to the public,
and that public protection is, and remains, the State Bar's top
priority. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 6008.5 of the  Business
and Professions Code   is repealed.  
   6008.5.  Whenever the board has pledged, placed a charge upon, or
otherwise made available all or any portion of the income or revenue
from membership fees for the payment of security of an obligation of
the State Bar or any interest thereon, and so long as any such
obligation or any interest thereon remains unpaid, the Legislature
shall not reduce the maximum membership fee below the maximum in
effect at the time such obligation is created or incurred, and the
provisions of this section shall constitute a covenant to the holder
or holders of any such obligation. 
   SECTION 1.   SEC. 3.   Section 6140 of
the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:
   6140.  (a) The board shall fix the annual membership fee for
active members for 2017 at a sum not exceeding three hundred fifteen
dollars ($315).
   (b) The annual membership fee for active members is payable on or
before the first day of February of each year. If the board finds it
appropriate and feasible, it may provide by rule for payment of fees
on an installment basis with interest, by credit card, or other
means, and may charge members choosing any alternative method of
payment an additional fee to defray costs incurred by that election.
   (c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and, as of that date, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.              
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