The State Bar seeks public comment for proposed revisions to a rule governing the procedures for requesting review of a staff decision to deny or partially grant testing accommodations.
Deadline: March 12, 2021
Comments should be submitted using the online Public Comment Form. [Link removed; this comment process is archived.] The online form allows you to input your comments directly and can also be used to upload your comment letter and/or other attachments.
Applicants with disabilities may file a Petition for Testing Accommodations to take an examination administered by the Committee of Bar Examiners. State Bar Rule 4.90 provides that when a Petition for Testing Accommodations has been denied or partially granted by staff, the applicant may request the committee to review the staff decision. The proposed revisions to the rule seek to clarify and streamline existing review procedures related to the scope of the Committee of Bar Examiners’ review, the number of times committee review can be sought, and the timing of when requests for review must be received.
The proposed revision to Rule 4.90 will clarify that applicants are limited to one appeal per exam administration, so that the same applicant may not repeatedly request review by the Committee of Bar Examiners’ own decision before a particular administration of an exam.
The proposed amendments also specify that the committee’s review is to be limited to those accommodations that have been denied by staff, and that the committee is not charged with reviewing accommodation requests which have been granted.
Finally, due to the high volume of requests for review customarily received on or near the current deadline set forth in Rule 4.90, and the fact that the rule does not require that the request be received a certain number of days prior to the exam, there is a proposal to amend the rule to require that all requests for review be received no later than 35 days before the first day of the exam. This amendment will allow sufficient time for processing and consideration by the director of Admissions and the committee, if the director does not grant all of the accommodations initially denied by staff. In addition, providing for a deadline that is a specific number of days before an exam, rather than the first business day of the month in which the exam is to be administered, is workable in circumstances when the exam will not take place on the typical last Tuesday and Wednesday of the month.
At its January 22, 2021, meeting, the Board of Trustees directed that this proposal be circulated for a 45-day public comment period.
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Committee of Bar Examiners
March 12, 2021