Executive Director's
Budget Message
The State Bar holds paramount its responsibility to protect the public through the licensing, regulation, and discipline of California’s 266,000 attorneys.
The 2024 budget allocates resources to support the continued provision of core services to further this responsibility and to advance the organization’s 2022–2027 Strategic Plan. The budget also supports the institutional reform underway at the State Bar, as evidenced by investments in critical transparency and accountability measures.
The budget relies heavily on one-time revenue generated by the sale of the State Bar’s headquarters at 180 Howard Street, San Francisco. The State Bar ended 2023 with a General Fund reserve balance of $36 million, $30 million of which came from proceeds from the building sale, and the budgeted 2024 deficit of $22.1 million is closed entirely by building sale proceeds. Selling the organization’s historic flagship headquarters was a necessary step toward interim financial stability. An ongoing licensing fee increase effective 2025 is, however, the only permanent solution to the State Bar’s long-standing financial challenges.
The 2024 budget anticipates revenues of $428.9 million and expenses of $400.9 million. Although this picture looks positive, General Fund revenue, generated primarily by attorney licensing fees and the main source of funding for the attorney discipline system, is projected at $96.3 million and expenses at $118 million. The State Bar’s reserve policy sets a floor of 17 percent for reserves in most funds. However, the 2024 adopted budget will result in a General Fund reserve balance totaling $13.9 million, or 11.8 percent, at the end of 2024.
The State Bar has prudently managed its fiscal resources over the last two decades, enabling it to sustain and grow operations with only one fee increase in nearly 25 years. That said, the budget presented today reflects an undeniable reality: that a fee increase in 2025 is critically needed.
