(a) With the approval of the Supreme Court, the members of the State Bar may formulate by initiative, pursuant to the provisions of this section, rules of professional conduct for all members of the bar in the state.
(b) Only active members of the State Bar shall be proponents of initiative measures pursuant to this section.
(c) Prior to the circulation of any initiative petition for signatures, the proponents shall file the text of the proposed initiative measure with both the Secretary of the State Bar and the Clerk/Executive Officer of the Supreme Court.
(d) Upon receipt of the text of a proposed initiative measure, the secretary shall prepare a summary of the chief purposes and points of the proposed initiative measure. The summary shall give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure in such language that it shall not be an argument or likely to create prejudice either for or against the measure. The secretary shall provide a copy of the summary to the proponents within 30 days after receipt of the final version of the proposed measure. If during the 30-day period the proponents submit amendments, other than technical, nonsubstantive amendments, to the final version of such measure, the secretary shall provide a copy of the summary to the proponents within 30 days after receipt of such amendments.
(e) The proponents of any proposed initiative measure shall, prior to its circulation, place upon each section of the petition, above the text of the measure and across the top of each page of the petition on which signatures are to appear, in boldface type not smaller than 12-point, the summary prepared by the secretary.
(f) All such initiative petitions shall have printed across the top thereof in 12-point boldface type the following: “Initiative measure to be submitted directly to the members of the State Bar of California.”
(g) Any initiative petition may be presented in sections, but each section shall contain a full and correct copy of the title and text of the proposed measure.
(h) The petition sections shall be designed so that each signer shall personally affix his or her:
(1) Signature;
(2) Printed name;
(3) State Bar membership number; and
(4) Principal office address for the practice of law.
Only a person who is an active member of the State Bar at the time of signing the petition is entitled to sign it.
The number of signatures attached to each section shall be at the discretion of the person soliciting the signatures.
(i) Any member of the State Bar, or employee or agent thereof, may circulate an initiative petition anywhere within the state.
Any person circulating a petition may sign the section he or she is circulating if he or she is otherwise qualified to do so.
(j) Each section shall have attached thereto the affidavit of the person soliciting the signatures stating:
(1) The qualifications of the solicitor;
(2) That the signatures affixed to the section were made in his or her presence;
(3) That to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, each signature is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be;
(4) That to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, each State Bar membership number is the genuine membership number of the person whose number it purports to be; and
(5) The dates between which all signatures were obtained.
The affidavit shall be verified free of charge by any officer authorized to administer oaths.
Petitions so verified shall be prima facie evidence that the signatures thereon are genuine and that the persons signing are active members of the State Bar. Unless and until it be otherwise proven upon official investigation, it shall be presumed that the petition presented contains the signatures of the requisite number of active members of the State Bar.
(k) All sections of the petition shall be filed with the Secretary of the State Bar within 180 days after the date upon which the secretary mailed or delivered to the proponents a copy of the summary specified in subdivision (d), but all sections circulated in any State Bar district shall be filed at the same time.
(l) An initiative shall not be submitted to the members of the State Bar for a vote unless with regard to each State Bar district the petition has been signed by at least 20 percent of the number of active members whose principal office for the practice of law was within the district as of the January 1 preceding the date upon which all sections of the petition from all State Bar districts were filed with the secretary.
(m) The secretary shall promptly determine the total number of signatures from each State Bar district affixed to the petition. If the total number of signatures from any State Bar district is less than the number required by subdivision (l), the secretary shall so notify the proponents and no further action shall be taken in regard to the petition. If the total number of signatures from each and every State Bar district is equal to or greater than the number required by subdivision (l), the secretary shall verify the names and State Bar membership numbers, and may, in his or her discretion, verify the office addresses and signatures of the persons who signed the petition. If the total number of verified signers of the petition from any State Bar district is less than the number required by subdivision (l), the secretary shall so notify the proponents and no further action shall be taken in regard to the petition. If the total number of verified signers of the petition from each and every State Bar district is equal to or greater than the number required by subdivision (l), the secretary shall cause the initiative measure to be submitted within 90 days to all of the active members of the State Bar for mail vote pursuant to such rules and regulations as the board may from time to time prescribe.
(n) The board of trustees, without petition, may also direct the secretary to cause an initiative measure embodying a rule of professional conduct formulated by the board to be submitted to all of the active members of the State Bar for mail vote in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the board.
(o) If a majority of the active members of the State Bar fail to approve the initiative measure, the secretary shall so notify the proponents and the Clerk/Executive Officer of the Supreme Court.
If a majority of the active members of the State Bar approve the initiative measure, the secretary shall cause the measure to be submitted to the Supreme Court for its consideration as a rule of professional conduct.
(p) The rules of professional conduct submitted to the Supreme Court pursuant to the provisions of this section, when approved by the Supreme Court, shall have the same force and effect as the rules of professional conduct formulated by the board of trustees and approved by the Supreme Court pursuant to Sections 6076 and 6077.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 36, Sec. 1. (AB 452) Effective January 1, 2018.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018