Politicians Call on Legislature to Settle State Bar Dues Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. George Deukmejian, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and Republican leaders of both houses called Tuesday on the state Supreme Court to refuse to let the State Bar collect $18 million in dues next year, saying the dues dispute should be resolved by the Legislature.

The bar asked the court to bail it out of its financial crisis last month by authorizing it to collect dues from the state’s 87,000 lawyers. Unless the court acts within the month, bar officials say the agency will have to lay off 1,000 employees and go out of business.

The court is expected to decide within days whether it should get involved. The bar argues that the court has the authority to act because if the bar cannot collect dues, it cannot carry out its constitutional duty to license and discipline lawyers.

The crisis arose when Assembly Republicans, angry at the bar’s failure to adequately discipline errant lawyers and concerned at the bar’s increased political activity, blocked passage of the bill authorizing the bar to collect dues in 1986.

Faced with the unusual plea, the court called for responses from political leaders, prompting unusual agreement among Republican and Democrats that the dispute should be resolved by the Legislature, which has authorized the bar to collect dues since its inception.