California Gov. Newsom signs bill requiring state bar to reconsider bar exam
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last week requiring the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners to weigh the pros and cons of adopting a uniform bar exam over a state-specific exam.
The move comes in the wake of California’s disastrous rollout of its new, proprietary bar exam in February, which the cash-strapped state bar attempted to launch to save money.
It resulted in technical failures, troubles with exam proctors and the use of questions created by artificial intelligence. Many candidates were left hanging for months as attempts to fairly grade the test were made. Lawsuits are pending, including the state bar suing ProctorU, which administered the early 2025 test.
The bill states that the Committee of Bar Examiners now must provide a report to the state bar’s board of trustees, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court and the judiciary committees of the state Assembly and the state Senate to determine whether it would be more efficient and less costly to administer a uniform bar exam, such as the Uniform Bar Examination now administered or the new NextGen UBE bar exam—which were created by the National Conference of Bar Examiners—by Nov. 30, 2026.
“This measure will require the California state bar to conduct a cost-benefit analysis and submit its findings to the California Supreme Court and the legislature before making any changes to the California bar examination,” according to the bill.
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