Under State Bar procedures, members of the bar may
file a specific objection to challenge the accuracy of any of the determinations by the
board of governors that a legislative position is chargeable to the annual membership fee
under Keller v. State Bar (1990) 496 U.S. 1. A challenge by a member to any of the
legislative positions listed below must be made individually and in writing. The written
challenge must include the challenger’s name, address, telephone number and bar
membership number and should identify the challenged legislative position. A challenger
must sign the challenge, postmarked on or before Nov.16, 2000, which is the 45th day following the publication
date of this issue of the California Bar Journal, or delivered in person to the State Bar’s
San Francisco office by 5 p.m. on or before Nov.16, 2000, directed to Judy Johnson,
executive director, State Bar of California,180 Howard St., San Francisco 94105-1639.
Challengers are still required to submit payment of the 2000 membership fee less only the
$5 lobbying deduction. Failure to timely submit a challenge shall constitute a waiver of
any right to object to a particular legislative position within this notice.
Objections properly filed within the deadline will be considered by
the board of governors at its next regularly scheduled meeting following the deadline or
as soon thereafter as the matter may be considered. The board shall decide whether to give
a pro rata refund to the challenger or to submit the dispute for expeditious arbitration
before an impartial arbitrator according to procedures described in the January 2000
California Bar Journal. If the dispute is submitted to arbitration, the arbitration
process will determine whether the challenged positions are within the scope of
permissible activities for which mandatory fees may be used under applicable
constitutional law. Upon receipt of a properly submitted and timely challenge, the State
Bar will place the disputed amount of the challenger’s fee in an interest-bearing
escrow account.
The list of legislative positions approved and determined chargeable
on Aug. 26, 2000, by the board of governors for the year 2000 is as follows:
1. Supports AB 1858 (Romero) relating to immigration consultants, as
amended, to require immigration consultants to include in all advertising a statement that
the consultant is not an attorney, to require disclosure by attorneys in all
advertisements seeking professional employment relating to immigration or naturalization
that they are active members of the State Bar, licensed to practice law in this state and
to delete the provision which would have required attorneys to place State Bar numbers on
all advertisements, letterhead, and business cards.
2. Supports AB 2069 (Corbett) that requires the State Bar to conduct
a study concerning the legal and professional responsibility issues that may arise as a
result of the relationship between an attorney and an insurer when the attorney is
retained by the insurer to represent an insured, and subsequently, the attorney is
retained to represent a party against another party insured by the insurer.
3. Removes opposition to AB 2107 (Scott) relating to elder abuse,
since it was amended to delete provisions that would have prohibited a lawyer from selling
an annuity, as defined, to an elder with whom the lawyer has or has had an attorney-client
relationship, and to delete a provision that would have prohibited a lawyer from entering
into a compensated referral arrangement with a financial services agent that put the bill
at odds with the Rules of Professional Conduct, 3-300 and 3-310.
4. Supports SB 1782 (Morrow) insofar as it requests the Supreme Court
to appoint a task force to study and make recommendations whether, and under what
circumstances, attorneys who are licensed to practice law in other states and who have not
passed the California bar examination may be permitted to practice law in California. |
