Amended in Assembly June 24, 2015

Amended in Senate June 2, 2015

Amended in Senate May 13, 2015

Senate Bill No. 134

Introduced by Senator Hertzberg

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Alejo)

(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Jackson, Leno, Pavley, and Wieckowski)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Cristina Garcia, Santiago, and Steinorth)

January 22, 2015

An act to begin delete amend Section 6032 of end delete begin insert add Section 6032.5 to end insert the Business and Professions Code, begin insert and to add Section 1564.5 to the Code of Civil Procedure, end insert relating to attorneys.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 134, as amended, Hertzberg. State Bar of California: begin delete voluntary fee collection: end delete begin insert Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts: escheated funds: public interest attorney end insert loan repayment program.

begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. begin delete Existing law authorizes the State Bar to collect annual membership dues and voluntary fees, as specified. end delete begin insert Existing law requires an attorney or law firm that receives or disburses trust funds to establish an interest-bearing demand trust account and to deposit in the account all client deposits that are nominal in amount or are on deposit for a short period of time. end insert begin delete Existing end delete

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Existing end insert law creates the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program, which is administered by the Student Aid Commission, to provide loan repayment assistance for licensed attorneys who practice or agree to practice in public interest areas of the law in California.

begin insert

(3) Existing law provides for the escheat of property to the state. Existing law requires all property that escheats to the state to be deposited into the Abandoned Property Account in the Unclaimed Property Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes. Existing law establishes procedures for submitting a claim for property that has escheated.

end insert begin insert

This bill would require unclaimed property in Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) to, instead, be deposited into the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Account established by this bill in the State Treasury for the purposes of providing, upon appropriation by the Legislature, additional funding for the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program.

end insert begin delete

This bill would expressly authorize the State Bar to collect voluntary fees on behalf of, and for the purpose of funding, the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION end insert begin insert 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 6032.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Business and
Professions Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 6032.5. end insert   

(a) Notwithstanding any law, including, but not limited
to, Section 1564 of the Code of Civil Procedure, any escheated
property held in an IOLTA account shall be deposited into the
Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Account which is hereby
established within the State Treasury.

(b) Escheated property in the Public Interest Attorney Loan
Repayment Account shall be used, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, by the Student Aid Commission for the purpose of
providing increased funding for, both the administration of and
the provision of loan assistance pursuant to, the Public Interest
Attorney Loan Repayment Program pursuant to Article 12
(commencing with Section 69740) of Chapter 2 of Part 42 of
Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code.

(c) For the purposes of this section, “escheated property” has
the same meaning as set forth in subdivision (c) of Section 1561
of the Code of Civil Procedure.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 1564.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Code of Civil Procedure end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 1564.5. end insert   

Notwithstanding Section 1564, escheated property
held in an Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account (IOLTA) shall be
deposited into the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment
Account, as set forth in Section 6032.5 of the Business and
Professions Code.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 6032 of the Business and Professions
Code is amended to read:

6032.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
State Bar is expressly authorized to collect, in conjunction with
the State Bar’s collection of its annual membership dues, voluntary
fees on behalf of, and for the purpose of funding, the California
Supreme Court Historical Society, which advances the science of
jurisprudence by preserving and disseminating to the general public
the history of the Supreme Court and the judicial branch.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the State Bar is expressly
authorized to collect, in conjunction with the State Bar’s collection
of its annual membership dues, voluntary fees on behalf of, and
for the purpose of funding, both the administration and provision
of loan assistance for, the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment
Program (Article 12 (commencing with Section 69740) of Chapter
2 of Part 42 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code), which
provides loan assistance to licensed attorneys who practice or agree
to practice in public interest areas of the law in this state.

end delete