SACRAMENTO—One week after California’s state bar leader declared a “crisis” in legal education due in part to a decline in student applicants, a first-year lawmaker has introduced legislation endorsing the creation of a new law school at UC Riverside.

Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes, D-Corona, said her bill, AB 951, offers the state a chance to study the possible economic benefits of opening a public law school in one of California’s fastest-growing regions.