Committee advances bill to end mandatory bar membership for Kentucky attorneys

Representative Steve Doan, the bill sponsor, told the House Licensing and Occupations Committee that House Bill 526 would prohibit requiring attorneys in Kentucky to “join or pay dues to a private association as a condition of continuing, obtaining, renewing, or holding a license to practice law.” He framed the bill as protecting constitutional rights and individual economic freedom while preserving the Supreme Court’s authority over admissions and discipline.

Doan said the bill would prevent “compelled association or financial support” connected to licensure and leave programs such as continuing legal education, ethics hotlines and lawyer-referral services available on a voluntary basis. “This bill removes unnecessary financial burdens on attorneys,” Doan said, adding he expected opponents to raise concerns about services currently supported by mandatory dues.

The Kentucky Bar Association’s president, Todd McMurtry, and Young Lawyers Division chair Kyle Bunnell appeared in opposition. McMurtry said the KBA functions as an agent of the Kentucky Supreme Court and provides operational efficiencies for roughly 20,000 Kentucky licensees. He warned that moving away from a mandatory-dues model could increase costs for lawyers and the public (he cited $310 as the KBA’s annual licensing-related charge and contrasted that with $670 in Tennessee), and said the association provides about $600 in free CLE value per lawyer and free legal-research access used by roughly 1,000 attorneys.

Bunnell described student- and early-career programs, pro bono disaster-response work and charitable fundraising coordinated through the Young Lawyers Division; he said the group’s volunteer efforts and infrastructure would be “severely diminished” without the support currently embedded in mandatory dues.

Committee members pressed both sides on legal and practical questions. Proponents said several other states regulate licensure without a mandatory bar association membership and that state supreme courts can continue to oversee admissions, continuing education and discipline. Opponents emphasized Keller and other constitutional constraints on compelled funding of political or ideological activity and disputed the characterization that convention speakers and KBA programming are political.

Members also questioned costs and transition logistics if disciplinary or administrative functions moved from the KBA to state management. KBA witnesses said they had not conducted a membership survey in advance and warned that converting functions to state employees would require new administrative spending for staff, facilities and IT.

After discussion the committee recorded a roll call: HB 526 advanced out of committee with 14 ayes, 3 nays and 2 passes. The bill will proceed to the House floor for further consideration.