Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California (State Bar) , a public corporation governed by a board of trustees. Existing law prescribes the manner of appointment of members of the board by the Supreme Court, the Senate Committee on Rules, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Governor. Existing law establishes 4-year terms of office for attorney and public members of the board, and authorizes attorney members to be appointed for only one additional term.
This bill would authorize an appointing authority to remove from office at any time a member of the board appointed by that appointing authority for continued neglect of duties, incompetence, or unprofessional or dishonorable conduct.
Existing law requires the State Bar to collect fees for the California Lawyers Association, provided the board determines that the California Lawyers Association continues to serve a public purpose, as prescribed, and continues to comply with certain legal requirements related to establishing criteria for membership in the California Young Lawyers Association.
This bill would delete the above-described requirement on establishing criteria for membership in the California Young Lawyers Association.
Existing law requires the Committee of Bar Examiners to adopt rules for the regulation and oversight of unaccredited law schools that are required to be authorized to operate as a business in California and to have an administrative office in California that are not accredited by the American Bar Association or the Committee of Bar Examiners, and to adopt rules for the regulation and oversight of nonlaw school legal programs leading to a juris doctor (J.D.) degree, bachelor of laws (LL.B.) degree, or other law study program.
This bill would instead make the Committee of Bar Examiners responsible for the approval, regulation, and oversight of degree-granting unaccredited law schools that award the juris doctor (J.D.) degree and that are not approved by the American Bar Association or examining committee.
Existing law makes the examining committee of the State Bar responsible for the approval, regulation, or oversight of certain law schools and law study programs that do not meet specified criteria that became inoperative on January 1, 2008.
This bill would repeal those provisions and instead would make the examining committee responsible for the approval, regulation, and oversight of degree-granting law schools that award the juris doctor professional degree in California and are not approved by the American Bar Association.
This bill, beginning on July 1, 2026, until January 1, 2030, would require the State Bar to annually report to the Legislature on the number of complaints regarding access issues relating to the biannual state bar exam.
Existing law exempts certain full-time employees from continuing legal education otherwise required to be completed by active licensees.
This bill would define "full-time employees" for those purposes to include employees of the California State Legislature, and would declare that this provision is declaratory of existing law.
Existing law provides for the appointment of a presiding judge and hearing judges to the State Bar Court. Existing law requires a hearing judge to be paid a certain percentage of the salary of a superior court judge and requires the presiding judge to be paid the same salary as a superior court judge.
This bill would instead require a hearing judge to be paid the salary of a superior court judge and would require the presiding judge to be paid the same as a justice of the court of appeal. The bill would limit the use of license fees to compensate State Bar Court judges, as specified.
Existing law requires the Board of Trustees of the State Bar to establish and administer a Client Security Fund to relieve or mitigate pecuniary losses caused by the dishonest conduct of licensees of the State Bar, among others, arising from the practice of law.
This bill would state that judicial review of a decision to approve or deny an application for reimbursement from the Client Security Fund may be had by filing a petition for a writ of administrative mandamus, and would declare that this provision is declaratory of existing law.
Existing law authorizes the State Bar to impose various annual fees on active and inactive licensees, including an annual license fee. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, requires the board to fix the annual license fee for active licensees for 2024 at a sum not exceeding $390. Existing law also requires the board to fix the annual license fee for inactive licensees for 2024 at a sum not exceeding $97.40.
This bill would instead authorize the board, until January 1, 2026, to fix the annual license fee for active licensees for 2025 at a sum not exceeding $400 and to fix the annual license fee for inactive licensees for 2025 at a sum not exceeding $100. The bill would require the date set for payment of the annual license fee for active licensees to be not less than 12 months from the prior year's due date, and would require individuals who qualified for a specified waiver to pay the fee on an installment basis. The bill would authorize the State Bar to annually collect additional annual fees from active and inactive licensees, including, until January 1, 2030, an annual fee to pay for costs associated with leasing space in a certain building in San Francisco; until January 1, 2028, an annual fee to fund salaries and benefits of State Bar employees; until January 1, 2029, an annual fee to fund the cost of administering compliance reviews and audits of client trust accounts; and, until January 1, 2029, an annual fee to fund certain disciplinary diversion pilot programs.
Existing law, until December 31, 2024, requires $5 of specified annual fees authorized to be imposed on licensees, unless a licensee elects otherwise, to be allocated to qualified legal services projects or qualified support centers to fund law student summer fellowships for the purpose of supporting law students interested in pursuing a career in legal services for indigent persons.
This bill would extend that requirement until January 1, 2030.
Existing law requires a financial institution that is a depository for attorney trust accounts to report to the State Bar in the event any properly payable instrument is presented against an attorney trust account containing insufficient funds.
This bill would require a financial institution, commencing January 1, 2026, to collect an attorney's license number upon the establishment of a new client trust account. The bill would require a financial institution, commencing January 1, 2026, to annually furnish to the State Bar a statement of account for every client trust account, and, commencing January 1, 2027, to annually furnish to the State Bar a report for every client trust account known to the financial institution. The bill would require the State Bar to provide certain information to the financial institutions, and would authorize the State Bar to collect an annual fee from licensees to cover the cost of implementing those provisions.
Existing law, the California Financial Information Privacy Act, generally prohibits a financial institution from disclosing a consumers nonpublic personal information with any nonaffiliated third party without the consumer's consent, and makes an entity that violates those provisions subject to specified civil penalties. Existing law exempts from this prohibition the disclosure of a consumer's nonpublic personal information when the nonpublic personal information is released to the extent specifically required or permitted by law to specified entities, including, among others, law enforcement agencies.
This bill would also authorize the disclosure of a consumer's nonpublic personal information to the extent specifically required or permitted by law to the State Bar.
Existing law requires the State Bar, by April 30 of each year, to include in its Annual Discipline Report certain information on the number of complaints filed against California attorneys alleging a violation of specified financial service provisions. Existing law also requires the State Bar to report, no later than April 30 of each year, as part of its Annual Discipline Report to the Legislature and the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees, certain information relating to demand letters received by the State Bar, including the number of investigations opened concerning a violation of construction-related accessibility claim.
This bill would delete the above-described April 30 deadline for those annual reports.
Existing law, when an affidavit is taken before a judge or court in another state or foreign country, requires the clerk of the court to certify the genuineness of the signature of the judge, the existence of the court, and the fact that the judge is a member of the court.
This bill would make those provisions inapplicable to oaths administered for admission to the State Bar.

Statutes affected:
AB3279: 6031.5 BPC, 6140 BPC, 6141 BPC, 6177 BPC, 55.32 CIV
02/29/24 - Introduced: 6031.5 BPC, 6140 BPC, 6141 BPC, 6177 BPC, 55.32 CIV
05/02/24 - Amended Assembly: 6031.5 BPC, 6060.7 BPC, 6079.1 BPC, 6140 BPC, 6140.03 BPC, 6141 BPC, 6177 BPC, 55.32 CIV, 4056 FIN
06/05/24 - Amended Senate: 6031.5 BPC, 6046.7 BPC, 6060.7 BPC, 6079.1 BPC, 6140 BPC, 6140.03 BPC, 6140.5 BPC, 6141 BPC, 6177 BPC, 55.32 CIV, 4056 FIN
AB 3279: 6031.5 BPC, 6140 BPC, 6141 BPC, 6177 BPC, 55.32 CIV