California Bar Sections Split Off Under Dues Bill

California lawmakers approved a bar dues bill (S.B. 36) that splits the sections from the rest of the State Bar of California’s functions.

Senate Bill 36 would spin off the bar’s 16 voluntary membership sections into nonprofit organizations that operate independently. Currently, the bar is a public agency under the auspices of the California Supreme Court.

S.B. 63 would also change bar governance, including by converting the board of trustees from 19 mostly lawyer members to 13 members, six of whom would be nonlawyers.

“The goal of this legislation is to make the bar less political and more ...