6210.5. (a) There shall be created, within the State Bar, a Legal Services Trust Fund Commission to administer IOLTA accounts, Equal Access Funds, or similar funds or grant moneys intended for the support of qualified legal services projects and qualified support centers, as those terms are defined in Section 6213.
(b) (1) The Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall be comprised of 24 commissioners as follows:
(A) Six commissioners shall be appointed by the State Bar Board of Trustees.
(B) Two commissioners shall be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(C) Two commissioners shall be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(D) Ten commissioners shall be appointed by the Chair of the Judicial Council, of which three shall be nonvoting judicial advisors. The three nonvoting judicial advisors shall be comprised of two superior court judges and one appellate justice.
(E) Four commissioners shall be appointed by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission, of which at least two shall be, or have been within five years of appointment, indigent persons as defined by Section 6213.
(2) No employee or independent contractor acting as a consultant to a potential recipient of Legal Services Trust Fund grants shall be appointed to the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission. All commissioners shall be designated employees under the Conflict of Interest Code of the State Bar.
(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), each commissioner shall serve for a term of four years that begins upon appointment. Upon completion of an initial term, a commissioner may be reappointed for a second four-year term. An initial or second term may be extended by one or two years, for a maximum of 10 years, to allow a commissioner to serve as chair or vice chair. A commissioner currently serving as of January 1, 2022, may be reappointed to two additional full terms following the completion of their current term pursuant to paragraph (5).
(4) A commissioner appointed by the chair of the Judicial Council shall have no term limits.
(5) Each commissioner shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing entity. Each appointing entity may stagger their appointments so one-half of the commissioners are appointed in 2022 and the other one-half are appointed in 2023. A commissioner serving as of January 1, 2022, may continue to serve until replaced by the appointing entity or January 1, 2024, whichever occurs first.
(6) Commissioners who are not currently and have never been attorneys licensed in California or another jurisdiction and who submit a form designated by the commission to request a per diem shall be entitled to receive fifty dollars ($50) per day for each day that they attend a commission meeting of at least one hour in length.
(c) The chair and the vice chair of the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall be selected by the Chair of the Judicial Council. The chair of the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall preside over the commission’s meetings. The Chair of the Judicial Council may select up to two chairs and two vice chairs to lead the commission.
(d) The Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall be subject to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code) and the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(e) (1) The Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall recommend to the Board of Trustees of the State Bar rules to determine an applicant’s eligibility for grants under this article and for rules related to grant administration, including rules to monitor and evaluate a recipient’s compliance with Legal Services Trust Fund requirements and grant terms based on criteria established by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission.
(2) The Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall recommend to the Board of Trustees of the State Bar the amount proposed to be made available for grant distribution from IOLTA funds, along with the amount to be maintained as a fiscally responsible reserve.
(3) The Board of Trustees of the State Bar shall approve each recommendation made pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) unless the Board of Trustees of the State Bar makes a finding in writing that a recommendation conflicts with a statutory, fiduciary, or legal obligation of the State Bar.
(4) The decisions of the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission regarding individual grant awards shall take effect without approval by the Board of Trustees of the State Bar. However, the board may reverse or modify an individual grant award if it makes a finding in writing that the award violates Legal Services Trust Fund rules or a statutory, fiduciary, or legal obligation of the State Bar.
(f) Except as provided by subdivision (a) of Section 6033 and by Section 6140.03, the State Bar’s actual administrative costs to administer the Legal Services Trust Fund Program, including IOLTA, Equal Access Funds, and similar funds and grant moneys shall be fully funded through these grant programs. The State Bar shall not provide administrative services to the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission in excess of the administrative costs allocated to the State Bar by the Legislature, or by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission as part of any request by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission’s request for administrative support.
(g) At the conclusion of each fiscal year, the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission shall include a report of receipts of funds under this article, expenditures for administrative costs, and disbursements of the funds on a county-by-county basis, in the annual report of the State Bar’s receipts and expenditures required pursuant to Section 6145. To ensure that awards made by the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission are consistent with statute, rules, and other governing authority, the State Bar shall develop a program to audit a representative sample of grant awards each year. The results of the most recent audit shall be included with the report of receipt of funds described in this subdivision.
(h) This section supersedes any conflicting State Bar rules regarding the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission or its responsibilities or oversight by the State Bar’s board of trustees.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 28, Sec. 10. (SB 1380) Effective January 1, 2023.)