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Bar governors seek bylaw change to expand hardship exemption for dues; request fiscal and equity analyses
Summary
The Board of Governors discussed a proposal to allow members to request a hardship exemption for bar dues three times in a career and to raise the income threshold from 200% to 270% of the federal poverty level (the ALICE metric). Governors asked for fiscal and equity analyses and for draft bylaw language to return for formal readings.
Governor Jordan Couch introduced a proposal to expand the Bar Association’s hardship exemption for annual dues and asked the Board of Governors to authorize staff to draft bylaw language and prepare fiscal and equity analyses before formal readings.
Couch said the proposal would do two things: increase the number of times a member may request a hardship exemption in a career from two to three, and change the income threshold for eligibility from 200% of the federal poverty level to 270% (the ALICE metric). “This proposal is very straightforward,” Couch said, adding the change would likely increase requests and that a rough estimate for the cost would be about one dollar per member in dues.
The proposal grew out of an earlier 2020 board decision that extended the exemption from one year to two and a later suggestion, credited to Nancy Clark in prior discussion, to consider broader hardship-based relief. Couch told the board that after the 2020 change the number of second-time requests rose sharply in…
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