choosing any alternative method of payment an additional fee to defray costs incurred by that election.

State Bar and that membership in that organization is voluntary.

to, administrative fees, costs, or expenses of the State Bar.

until January 1, 2030, and after that date, the entire forty-five dollars ($45) shall be allocated only for the purposes established pursuant to Section 6033.

licensees pursuant to the optional increase for lobbying and related activities, as set forth in subdivision (a).

a form comparable to the documents prepared by state departments for inclusion in the Governor’s Budget and the salaries and wages supplement. In addition, the bar shall provide supplementary schedules detailing operating expenses and equipment, all revenue sources, any reimbursements or interfund transfers, fund balances, and other related supporting documentation. The bar shall submit budget change proposals with its final budget, explaining the need for any differences between the current and proposed budgets.

options for lowering the costs associated with leasing the property at 180 Howard Street, San Francisco, including, but not limited to, the following:

The board shall complete and implement a five-year strategic plan to be updated every two years. In conjunction with the submission of the board’s adopted final budget as required by Section 6140.1, the chair shall report to the Supreme Court, the Governor, and the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary on the measures the board has taken to implement the strategic plan and shall indicate the measures the board will need to take in the remaining years of the strategic plan to address the projected needs contained in the plan.

following:

and procedures sufficient to provide adequate guidance to the staff of each unit within the discipline system.

2016.

The State Bar shall set as a goal the improvement of its disciplinary system so that no more than six months will elapse from the receipt of complaints to the time of dismissal, admonishment of the attorney involved, or the filing of formal charges by the State Bar Office of Trial Counsel. As to complaints designated as complicated matters by the Chief Trial Counsel, it shall be the goal and policy of the State Bar to dismiss a complaint, admonish the attorney, or have the State Bar Office of Trial Counsel file formal charges within 12 months after it receives a complaint alleging attorney misconduct.

The State Bar shall have a preference for using in-house employees for information technology projects, whenever possible. Nothing in this section shall be read to be inconsistent with any memorandum of understanding between the State Bar and the recognized employee organizations or any relevant principles of labor law.

by the dishonest conduct of a licensee, the State Bar is subrogated, to the extent of that payment, to the rights of the applicant against any person or persons who, or entity that, caused the pecuniary loss. The State Bar may bring an action to enforce those rights within three years from the date of payment to the applicant.

benefit of the State Bar of California, a public corporation created pursuant to Article VI of the California Constitution, to promote rehabilitation and protect the public. This subdivision is declaratory of existing law.

active license status.

accepting a resignation with a disciplinary matter pending, the State Bar shall file a certified copy of the Notice of Payment of the Client Security Fund with the clerk of the superior court of any county. The clerk shall immediately enter judgment in conformity with the Notice of Payment. The judgment shall have the same force and effect as a judgment in a civil action and may be enforced in the same manner as any other judgment.

for a writ of administrative mandamus pursuant to Section 1094.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure within 90 days after the date the decision was served. This subdivision is declaratory of existing law.

deposited in the State Bar’s general fund.

Security Fund from the State Bar’s general fund in 2017 and the legislative activities fund in 2016.

including, but not limited to, executive salaries and benefits, can be reduced or redirected in order to better fund the Client Security Fund through existing revenue, and, whether, after all other options have been fully and thoroughly exhausted, an increase in license fees is necessary to ensure that the Client Security Fund can timely pay claims.

attorney licensee that is a prerequisite to paying the claim, whichever is later.

The board may increase the annual license fees fixed by Sections 6140 and 6141 by an additional amount not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) to be applied to the costs of the disciplinary system.

Costs assessed against a licensee publicly reproved or suspended, where suspension is stayed and the licensee is not actually suspended, shall be added to and become a part of the license fee of the licensee, for the next calendar year. Unless time for payment of discipline costs is extended pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 6086.10, costs assessed against a licensee who resigns with disciplinary charges pending or by a licensee who is actually suspended or disbarred shall be paid as a condition of applying for reinstatement of his or her license to practice law or return to active license status.

the right of a payee to file an application with the Client Security Fund to recover any portion of the subject restitution as provided by Section 6140.5, or as otherwise provided by law.

6140.5, the licensee or former licensee shall reimburse the Client Security Fund for that payment.

ten-dollar ($10) fee paid by each active licensee pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be transferred by the State Bar to a statewide nonprofit corporation established by attorneys that has, for the last 25 years or more, provided peer support to attorneys recovering from alcohol and substance abuse in a confidential and anonymous manner, to fund the support of recovery efforts of the nonprofit corporation. In 2020 only, the statewide nonprofit corporation shall receive the one-dollar ($1) fee paid by each active licensee.

accounting of all receipts and expenditures of the funds.

on January 1, 2025.

adjusted for 20 years of inflation pursuant to the Consumer Price Index, shall presumptively qualify for a waiver of 25 percent of the annual license fee.

discipline functions of the State Bar or to support the Client Security Fund.

operating the programs, up to a maximum of 12 percent of the revenue received, and less the taxes incurred by Cal Bar Affinity in operating the programs, shall be distributed as follows from January 1, 2019, until December 31, 2019:

in accordance with the formula provided in Section 6216, and 50 percent of the revenue shall be used to support the discipline functions of the State Bar or to support the Client Security Fund.

fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) received in 2021 shall go to the California Commission on Access to Justice, payable as follows:

utilize a competitive grant application process for determining grant awards. In awarding these statewide grants, preference shall be given to qualified legal services projects or support centers that serve rural or underserved communities and that serve clients regardless of immigration or citizenship status. The minimum grant amount shall be ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

shall not create or operate, or participate in the creation or operation, or otherwise solicit its members, or arrange to have its members solicited, for any affinity or royalty program involving similar insurance or noninsurance products or services with a percentage or share of costs being distributed to the California Lawyers Association, other than as provided in this section. If the California Lawyers Association creates or operates, or participates in the creation or operation, or otherwise solicits its members, or arranges to have its members solicited for any affinity or royalty program involving the sale of insurance or noninsurance products or services with a percentage or share of costs being distributed to the California Lawyers Association, all funds that would have been provided to the California Lawyers Association from affinity or royalty programs that transferred from the State Bar or are similar to programs that transferred from the State Bar shall be provided to California ChangeLawyers,

which shall distribute 50 percent of that revenue to support the programs of California ChangeLawyers and 50 percent of that revenue to qualified legal services projects and support centers as provided in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of this section.

Upon the payment of the annual license fees, including any costs imposed pursuant to Section 6140.7, and penalties imposed pursuant to Section 6143, each licensee shall receive a certificate issued under the direction of the board evidencing the payment.

Any licensee, active or inactive, failing to pay any fees, penalties, or costs after they become due, and after two months written notice of his or her delinquency, shall have his or her license suspended.

The licensee may be reinstated upon the payment of accrued fees or costs and such penalties as may be imposed by the board, not exceeding double the amount of delinquent fees, penalties, or costs.

Any licensee, active or inactive, failing to pay any child support after it becomes due shall be subject to Section 17520 of the Family Code.

and the minimally reasonable costs of acquiring and relocating its facilities, if any, may be utilized by the State Bar to cover employee salaries, and to cover operational costs associated with the State Bar’s discipline system and administration of the biannual admissions exam.

It is the intent of the Legislature to confirm, validate, and declare effective the annual license fees, and all augmentations, including, but not limited to, those made under Sections 6140.3 and 6140.6, fixed and collected by the board for 1990, and all other acts arising from and related thereto.

The audit also shall examine the receipts and expenditures of the State Bar to ensure that the funds collected on behalf of the Conference of Delegates of California Bar

Associations as the independent successor entity to the former Conference of Delegates of the State Bar are conveyed to that entity, that the State Bar has been paid or reimbursed for the full cost of any administrative and support services provided to the successor entity, including the collection of fees or donations on its behalf, and that no mandatory fees are being used to fund the activities of the successor entity.

In selecting the accounting firm, the board shall consider the value of continuity, along with the risk that continued long-term engagements of an accounting firm may affect the independence of that firm.

inclusive. A copy of the performance audit shall be submitted by May 1, 2001, to the board, to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary.

Every two years thereafter, the board shall contract with the California State Auditor’s Office to conduct a performance audit of the State Bar’s operations for the respective fiscal year, commencing with January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2002, inclusive. A copy of the performance audit shall be submitted within 120 days of the close of the fiscal year for which the audit was performed to the board, to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary.

For the purposes of this subdivision, the California State Auditor’s Office may contract with a third party to conduct the performance

audit. This subdivision is not intended to reduce the number of audits the California State Auditor’s Office may otherwise be able to conduct.

inactive licensees.

perform existing tasks and responsibilities.

existing resources are used.

(ii) What evaluation criteria were used to determine whether Meazure Learning had experience with, and was capable of, conducting an examination similar to the State Bar examination.

(iii) Whether the State Bar appropriately evaluated and authorized any changes, including cost changes, to the executed contract.

(iv) Whether there were appropriate protections from, and evaluations of, any potential conflicts of interest that may have existed between relevant staff at the State Bar and Meazure Learning.

(B) Evaluate the bidding and contracting process that the State Bar engaged in that led to awarding the contract to Kaplan, Inc. for administration of the State Bar examination multiple choice questions, as well as the final terms of the contract for those services, and determine all of the following:

(ii) What evaluation criteria was used to determine whether Kaplan,

Inc. had experience with, and was capable of, creating relevant and appropriate questions similar to existing comparable entities like the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

(iii) Whether the terms of the contract allowed for oversight and monitoring of the question development process, and whether the State Bar appropriately utilized its oversight and monitoring to ensure that sufficient processes were engaged in to develop questions, ensure accuracy, and ensure fairness in the question development.

(iv) Why Kaplan, Inc. provided 100 multiple choice questions for the February 2025 bar exam, instead of 200.

(C) Evaluate the process that the

State Bar engaged in leading up to the administration of the February 2025 State Bar examination to ensure that the examination was conducted in a way that allowed participants to engage fairly in the examination process, and determine all of the following:

limits or problems with examination locations, and how those potential problems were addressed.

(ii) How the process for remote examination employed for the February 2025 State Bar examination differed from the processes used for remote examination during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reasons for those differences.

(iii) The process and reasoning for determining that a makeup examination date should be offered, and the timeline for making that determination.

(iv) The process for determining what specific equipment would be permitted for test-takers, such as white boards, and the reasoning and processes utilized to make any changes to those requirements leading up to the examination date.

(D) Evaluate the events that led the State Bar to use artificial intelligence to create multiple choice questions for use on the February 2025 State Bar examination, including all of the following:

(ii) Who or what department made the decision.

(iii) The rationale for making the decision.

(iv) When executive leadership at the State Bar knew that artificial intelligence was used to create questions for the February 2025 State Bar examination.

(vi) What deficiencies in oversight by executive leadership at the Office of Admissions existed, if any, and how have any such deficiencies been remedied.

(E) (i) Itemize the State Bar costs arising from administration of the February 2025 State Bar examination, including, but not limited to, costs arising from existing contracts, legal representation, remedies provided to takers of the February 2025 State Bar examination, and any other associated costs. The costs itemized in this clause should include money already spent, money the State Bar is legally obligated to spend going forward, and other anticipated costs.

(ii) Identify how much money the State Bar claimed it would save by using the February 2025 State Bar examination format and compare that amount to the total of the costs itemized

pursuant to clause (i).

activities.

redirect the funding for other purposes should an increase in the annual fee be approved.

related to operational efficiency raised by the California State Auditor and the Legislative Analyst’s Office have been addressed or are planned to be addressed.