The chair of the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday threatened to nix the state bar’s authority to collect licensing fees in 2024 in response to damning reports documenting the influence Tom Girardi wielded at the agency that declined to discipline him for decades.

Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, said in an interview that he will not include a fee in the annual lawyer-licensing bill he is carrying this year “until the state bar demonstrates they’ve taken adequate steps to address transparency and conflicts of interest.”