Key points:
- Three new laws impose stricter controls on how California’s bar exam is administered and modified.
- The State Bar must provide extended notice before changing test formats, vendors, or introducing AI tools.
- A state audit will investigate the February exam’s technical failures and financial fallout.
- Lawmakers are requiring cost-benefit reviews of future exam changes and consideration of adopting the national bar test.
Governor Gavin Newsom this week signed into law a bill requiring the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners to give two years’ notice before shifting between in-person and online formats and 18 months’ notice before changing the vendor responsible for multiple-choice questions. The same measure also mandates public disclosure if artificial intelligence is used in test creation or grading.
The legislation, sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chair Tom Umberg, effectively locks the bar exam’s format and content in place through 2027. It follows the February 2025 testing debacle, when the state bar replaced the long-used Multistate Bar Exam with a version developed by Kaplan Exam Services. The new format—intended to save up to $3.8 million annually—was plagued by technical glitches and ultimately cost the bar more than $6 million to fix. California has since reverted to the traditional MBE and fully in-person testing.
Newsom also approved a companion bill directing the California State Auditor to review the February exam’s failures and financial impacts, with findings to be delivered to the California Supreme Court and the legislature “as soon as possible.” The audit, funded by the State Bar, is expected to clarify what went wrong during the rollout and how future disruptions can be prevented.
“These bills will provide public oversight into what happened and hopefully ensure that all future bar exams are administered fairly and competently,” Umberg said in a statement. The State Bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners is scheduled to discuss aspects of the legislation during its upcoming meeting.
A third measure requires the committee to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before any major changes to the bar exam and to evaluate whether California should adopt the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), used by most U.S. jurisdictions. The UBE, administered by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, is being replaced by the NextGen UBE starting in July 2026. The updated test emphasizes applied legal skills over rote memorization and has been adopted by 45 states and territories so far.
California’s bar leaders previously declined to adopt the NextGen UBE, citing the state’s preference for a distinct licensing standard. The new legislative mandates suggest that position may soon face renewed scrutiny.
