Wednesday. August 29, 2018
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Senate Passes Bill Maintaining 2019 State Bar Dues at $390
‘Members’ to Become ‘Licensees,’ Admission Can’t Be Denied Illegal Aliens
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The State Bar dues bill was approved in the Senate yesterday by a vote of 34-0, maintaining 2019 dues for active members at the current level of $390, changing the status of those who are now “members” to “licensees,” changing the word “dues” to “fees,” and paving the way for licensure of noncitizens illegally present in the United States.
The bill remained on call to allow absent senators to add their votes when they return to the chambers.
AB 3249 passed the Assembly on May 30. It was introduced by members of the Committee on the Judiciary.
Yesterday, it was presented to the full Senate by member Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, who chairs the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
There was no discussion or debate on the bill.
The bill provides that the State Bar (as well as the Department of Real Estate) “shall not require an individual to disclose either citizenship status or immigration status for purposes of licensure” and “shall not deny licensure to an otherwise qualified and eligible individual based solely on his or her citizenship status or immigration status.”
Responsibility for placing an attorney on involuntary inactive status is shifted from the Board of Trustees to the State Bar Court.
Early versions of the bill declared “the intent of the Legislature…that the State Bar adopt a prescribed rule regarding mandatory continuing legal education credit for pro bono work.” That provision was deleted July 3.
Copyright 2018, Metropolitan News Company