| This year's Conference of Delegates makes history. It is the first
self-funded conference; it also may be the last "State Bar" conference. This is
not my wish, but simply my assessment of where we have come. Providing a forum for
representatives of voluntary bar associations to debate the merits of proposed changes in
the law is a legitimate function of a state bar. But keeping the conference within the
State Bar structure may no longer be an option. Gov. Wilson's veto of the dues bill turned
many of the bar's functions, including the conference, into unfunded mandates.
The State Bar endorsed legislation that would have spun off the conference and the
sections. From that moment, the conference has been an orphan. Even though the legislation
failed, the conference is now treated as if it is no longer part of the bar structure.
This is a time of challenges and opportunity. We have been handed the challenge of
holding the conference without bar funds. The cost of the event should be covered by
delegates' registration fees.
It is also a time for the conference participants to demonstrate that the lawyers who
represent the voluntary bars and sections want this forum to continue.
 If the State Bar
emerges from the dues crisis as a regulatory agency and nothing more, I believe we will
continue to have our conference as part of an independent professional association
unencumbered by the rules under which the new State Bar must operate.
 Mark Alan Hart is chair of the 1998 Conference
of Delegates.
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