republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20252026/sb-253.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "State Bar of California."
description: "Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation governed by a board of trustees. Existing law authorizes the State Bar to establish an examining committee, also known as the Committee of Bar Examiners, with powers that include examining all applicants for admission to practice law. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, generally requires all meetings of a state body to be open and public. The State Bar Act makes the State Bar subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, with specified exceptions. The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act authorizes a state body that is an advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, advisory subcommittee, or similar multimember advisory body to hold an open meeting by teleconference if certain requirements are satisfied."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20252026"
identifier: "SB 253"
citation: "California SB 253 (20252026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["StateBarofCalifornia"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Umberg"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2025-02-03"
last_action: "2025-10-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/65154d39-d544-4f4e-8283-035c4c431fb0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253"
source_hash: "a29e7ff2f7071330e5368d32c26d778c45d23e928f15357dff1f9f8e0d303957"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 253 (20252026) — State Bar of California.

Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation governed by a board of trustees. Existing law authorizes the State Bar to establish an examining committee, also known as the Committee of Bar Examiners, with powers that include examining all applicants for admission to practice law. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, generally requires all meetings of a state body to be open and public. The State Bar Act makes the State Bar subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, with specified exceptions. The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act authorizes a state body that is an advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, advisory subcommittee, or similar multimember advisory body to hold an open meeting by teleconference if certain requirements are satisfied.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/03/25 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253&version=20250SB25399INT)
2. **06/13/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253&version=20250SB25398AMD)
3. **06/25/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253&version=20250SB25397AMD)
4. **09/02/25 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253&version=20250SB25396AMD)
5. **10/06/25 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253&version=20250SB25394CHP)
6. **SB253** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253)
7. **09/12/25 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB253&version=20250SB25395ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB253 Umberg et al. Concurrence — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 253 Umberg Senate Third Reading By Kalra — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **12–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Umberg — primary (person)
- Dixon — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-02-03** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-02-04** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 6.
- **2025-02-14** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-04** Set for hearing May 6.
- **2025-05-07** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0. Page 1026.) (May 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-08** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-05-28** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1269.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-05-28** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2025-06-05** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-13** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-06-24** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (June 24). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-25** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-06-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2025-09-02** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-02** Ordered to third reading.
- **2025-09-08** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 2976.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2025-09-08** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2025-09-10** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2828.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2025-10-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2025-10-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 405, Statutes of 2025. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/65154d39-d544-4f4e-8283-035c4c431fb0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).