Bar battles against time New bill attempts to restrict bar further while board votes to spend voluntary fees to keep doors open by KATHLEEN O. BEITIKS Staff Writer ———————— ... CONTINUED FROM FRONTPAGE The bar has thrown its support behind a measure authored by Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, AB 1669, which would divide the bar into mandatory and voluntary components and lower dues for most attorneys from $458 to $419 this year and $399 next year. IOLTA targeted Like Hertzberg's bill, Morrow's proposal would cut out the Conference of Delegates and law practice sections. However, unlike Hertzberg's bill, Morrow's would eliminate IOLTA, the program which funnels the interest on lawyers' trust accounts to legal services programs. Hertzberg has said that although he is willing to compromise on many aspects of his bill, he will not budge when it comes to IOLTA. If it is cut, said Hertzberg, "I will not carry that bill. I have made that clear to everyone and to the governor's office." The Client Security Fund, which reimburses clients who have been financially harmed by errant lawyers, would be eliminated under Morrow's bill. Morrow has said that he thinks it is unfair to make all lawyers pay $40 a year for the misdeeds of dishonest attorneys. The Client Security Fund reimburses up to $50,000 to client victims of attorneys. Morrow's bill also would prohibit the State Bar from paying bar membership fees for its employees. The board of governors would be subject to the open meeting policies of the Ralph M. Brown Act, and the board would not be allowed to take a position on any issue except by a vote of the membership. At last month's meeting of the board of governors in Los Angeles, member Jeffrey Tidus made a motion to authorize the expenditure of voluntary dues in an effort to keep the State Bar afloat after Gov. Wilson's veto of the organization's annual funding bill. Until the bar is authorized to collect dues, active attorneys are required by statute to send in $77, compared to last year's fees of $458. By the first week of February, about 23 percent of attorneys had voluntarily paid more than the $77 mandated fee. Money gone by May The bar's chief financial officer, T. William Melis, said that despite the elimination of 45 positions, a freeze on travel and other cutbacks, the State Bar may be forced to close its doors by May. Tidus criticized the board as a whole for its lack of action and efforts to trim specific areas of the budget. "We haven't made a single cost-cutting recommendation in a day and a half [of meetings]," complained Tidus. Samuel Jackson, chair of the board's administration and finance committee, appealed to his colleagues to come up with suggestions for trimming the budget. "Please, folks, I'm really concerned," he said. Board member Palmer Madden of Walnut Creek opposed Tidus' motion, saying that the bar has promised a refund to members once a dues bill has been approved, but the amount of that refund remains unknown until then. "Under this scheme we're going to burn through all our reserves and have a deficit," he said. Spending voluntary dues Other board members, however, felt the authorization was justified. "Why would we ask for voluntary dues if we can't spend them?" asked member Andrew Guilford of Costa Mesa. "In the solicitation we made [to bar members], we requested the funds to be paid at the full rate," said Ray Marshall of San Francisco, "with the expectation that the money would come in and the board would spend at its discretion. But I appreciate the potential liability." However, Hertzberg made an appearance before board members and said he expects the dues figure will be even lower after assessing the political climate in Sacramento. No constituency Because his bill has no constituency, said Hertzberg, it is difficult to garner support. "In somewhat stark terms we face the governor's veto and those who want to eliminate the State Bar," said Hertzberg. "And those forces in Sacramento are extremely pervasive," he added. However, Hertzberg said he is confident that passage of the funding bill is "doable," and although changes would be made, "some key elements are salvageable." Unfortunately, he said, in the best case scenario, the bill would not be on the governor's desk until the first week of April. Another critic of the bar, Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-San Francisco, introduced legislation (SB 1371) which would abolish the State Bar and turn over discipline to the courts. Kopp's bill also would establish a separate voluntary attorney organization.