BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 345
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 345 (Evans)
As Amended September 3, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :37-0
JUDICIARY 10-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-1
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Garcia, Gorell, | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
| |Maienschein, Muratsuchi, | |Gomez, Hall, Holden, |
| |Stone | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Wagner, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Donnelly |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes attorney license fees. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Authorizes the State Bar (Bar) to collect active membership
dues of up to $390 for the year 2014.
2)Extends the opportunity for members of the Bar to voluntarily
contribute to the support of legal aid programs for the needy
at a suggested rate of $30 if they choose to do so.
3)Allows the Bar's $2 million financial support of legal aid
programs to sunset.
4)Authorizes and directs the Bar to participate in the Franchise
Tax Board's (FTB) interagency intercept collections program
for unpaid fines and penalties, with any potential receipts to
be for the support of legal aid programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, no net state costs. All administrative costs to the
FTB and the State Controller for the interagency intercept
collections are paid from a small portion of funds recovered for
the agencies.
SB 345
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COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill would continue the
Bar's authority to assess and collect dues from licensed
attorneys in California in order to support the Bar's
operations, including discipline.
Attorneys who wish to practice law in California generally must
be admitted and licensed in this state and must be a member of
the Bar. (California Constitution, Article VI, Section 9.) The
State Bar of California is the largest state bar in the country.
As of May 2013, the Bar had 178,050 active members and 51,985
inactive members, which represents a slight annual increase in
both active members and inactive members. Total Bar membership
is listed at 242,738, which includes 2,122 judge members and
10,580 members who are "Not Eligible to Practice Law." The
Bar's programs are financed almost exclusively by annual
membership dues paid by attorneys as well as other fees paid by
applicants seeking to practice law.
This bill would authorize the Bar to collect active membership
dues of up to $390 for the year 2014, in addition to a $30
optional fee for members who voluntarily choose to contribute to
the support of nonprofit legal aid organizations that make free
legal services available to poor Californians. The mandatory
fee of $390 reflects a $20 reduction from last year due to the
sunset of both a $10 assessment to fund information technology
upgrades and a $10 assessment for the Los Angeles Building Fund.
The optional legal aid fee continues the existing mechanism by
which members who choose to do so can help defray the cost of
ensuring that legal services are available without regard to
ability to pay market rates for, consistently with each lawyer's
professional responsibility. The amount would increase from $20
to $30 which would continue to be allocated to qualified legal
services projects and support centers.
Under this bill, funding for legal aid is expected to diminish
next year, despite significantly greater needs for legal
services and dramatically lower funding from other sources.
While the continuation of the voluntary contribution option,
increased by $10, is expected to help prevent further
deterioration of funding, it is not expected to compensate for
the loss of the $2 million the Legislature has required the Bar
to contribute toward the support of legal aid over the past two
years. Although the Bar's annual contribution of $2 million
SB 345
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would be allowed to sunset, despite the continuing crisis in
legal aid funding, it is hoped that individual members will
voluntarily increase their participation to a level that will be
sufficient to address the shortfall before considering whether
other measures are needed.
The Bar has imposed substantial fines and penalties against
members that it has not collected for many years. This bill
would direct the Bar to participate in the FTB's Interagency
Intercept Collections (IIC) program in an effort to see if any
of these outstanding assessments can be collected, with any
potential proceeds going to the qualified legal aid providers
affected by the reduction in the interest on lawyer trust
accounts (IOLTA) program (after paying off higher priority
creditors such as tax and child support obligations). Because
many of these outstanding assessments are quite old, the
potential for collection is speculative. Nevertheless, it would
appear to be a worthy effort. If any monies can be collected,
however, the earliest recovery would apparently occur in 2015.
Analysis Prepared by : Kevin G. Baker / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0002288