BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 819
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 819 (Leno)
As Amended April 14, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :22-16
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Cedillo, Hill, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Mitchell, Skinner | |Bradford, Charles |
| | | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight, Hagman |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Provides that the Department of Justice (DOJ) may use
dealer record of sale (DROS) funds for costs associated with its
firearms-related regulatory and enforcement activities regarding
the possession, as well as the sale, purchase, loan, or
transfer, of firearms, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the using the DOJ purchaser fee to fund the DOJ's
firearms-related regulatory and enforcement activities related
to the possession of firearms.
2)Makes the following findings and declarations:
a) California is the first and only state in the nation to
establish an automated system for tracking handgun and
assault weapon owners who might fall into a prohibited
status;
b) DOJ is required to maintain an online database, which is
currently known as the "Armed Prohibited Persons System"
(APPS), which cross-references all handgun and assault
weapon owners across the state against criminal history
records to determine persons who have been, or will become,
prohibited from possessing a firearm subsequent to the
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legal acquisition or registration of a firearm or assault
weapon;
c) The DOJ is further required to provide authorized law
enforcement agencies with inquiry capabilities and
investigative assistance to determine the prohibition
status of a person of interest;
d) Each day, the list of armed prohibited persons in
California increases by about 15 to 20 people. There are
currently more than 18,000 armed prohibited persons in
California. Collectively, these individuals are believed to
be in possession of over 34,000 handguns and 1,590 assault
weapons. The illegal possession of these firearms presents
a substantial danger to public safety;
e) Neither the DOJ nor local law enforcement has sufficient
resources to confiscate the enormous backlog of weapons,
nor can they keep up with the daily influx of newly
prohibited persons;
f) A DROS fee is imposed upon every sale or transfer of a
firearm by a dealer in California. Existing law authorizes
the DOJ to utilize these funds for firearms-related
regulatory and enforcement activities related to the sale,
purchase, loan, or transfer of firearms pursuant to any
provision listed in Penal Code Section 16580, but not
expressly for the enforcement activities related to
possession; and,
g) Rather than placing an additional burden on the
taxpayers of California to fund enhanced enforcement of the
existing armed prohibited persons program, it is the intent
of the Legislature in enacting this bill to allow the DOJ
to utilize the DROS Account for the additional, limited
purpose of funding enforcement of the APPS.
EXISTING LAW :
1)States that it shall be unlawful for any person to sell or
otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to persons if
that person is under indictment or has been convicted of
specified crimes, is under a restraining order, has been
committed to a mental institution, and other specified
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disqualifying factors.
2)Requires that persons who sell, lease, or transfer firearms be
licensed by California.
3)Sets forth a series of requirements to be state licensed by
DOJ, which provides that to be recognized as state licensed, a
person must be on a centralized list of gun dealers and allows
access to the centralized list by authorized persons for
various reasons.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, significant ongoing increase in the use of existing
DROS fees, in the range of $1 million.
This bill does not appropriate funds or raise a fee; this bill
explicitly authorizes the use of DROS funding for an additional
purpose. According to DOJ (the sponsor of this bill), upon
passage of this bill, DOJ will pursue a Budget Change Proposal
(BCP) for the 2012-13 budget bill to fund APPS efforts from the
DROS fund. DOJ estimates that BCP will request about $1 million
for special agents to assist other agents and local law
enforcement in APPS sweeps.
In addition, DOJ states it will seek one-time funds of about
$500,000 for APPS DOJ task forces.
Currently there is a DROS reserve of about $5.5 million. This
assumes a one-time $11.5 million budget transfer to the General
Fund.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "SB 819 will amend the
Penal Code to allow the DOJ to use existing Department resources
to provide enhanced enforcement of the APPS which has identified
over 36,000 handguns and assault weapons in the hands of more
than 18,000 prohibited persons such as convicted felons and the
mentally ill.
"Recently, the New York Times reported on California's Armed
Prohibited Persons File and the problems it seeks to address:
"By law, Roy Perez should not have had a gun three years ago
when he shot his mother 16 times in their home in Baldwin Park,
Calif., killing her, and then went next door and killed a woman
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and her 4-year-old daughter.
"Mr. Perez, who pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and was
sentenced last year to life in prison, had a history of mental
health issues. As a result, even though in 2004 he legally
bought the 9-millimeter Glock 26 handgun he used, at the time of
the shootings his name was in a statewide law enforcement
database as someone whose gun should be taken away, according to
the authorities.
"The case highlights a serious vulnerability when it comes to
keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally unstable and
others, not just in California but across the country.
"In the wake of the Tucson shootings, much attention has been
paid to various categories of people who are legally barred from
buying handguns - those who have been 'adjudicated as a mental
defective,' have felony convictions, have committed domestic
violence misdemeanors and so on. The focus has almost entirely
been on gaps in the federal background check system that is
supposed to deny guns to these prohibited buyers.
"There is, however, another major blind spot in the system.
"Tens of thousands of gun owners, like Mr. Perez, bought their
weapons legally but under the law should no longer have them
because of subsequent mental health or criminal issues. In Mr.
Perez's case, he had been held involuntarily by the authorities
several times for psychiatric evaluation, which in California
bars a person from possessing a gun for five years.
"Policing these prohibitions is difficult, however, in most
states. The authorities usually have to stumble upon the weapon
in, say, a traffic stop or some other encounter, and run the
person's name through various record checks.
"California is unique in the country, gun control advocates say,
because of its computerized database, the APPS. It was created,
in part, to enable law enforcement officials to handle the issue
pre-emptively, actively identifying people who legally bought
handguns, or registered assault weapons, but are now prohibited
from having them.
"The list had 18,374 names on it as of the beginning of this
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month - 15 to 20 are added a day - swamping law enforcement's
ability to keep up. Some police departments admitted that they
had not even tried.
"SB 819 addresses the critical need to enforce existing firearm
prohibition laws. Increased confiscation of unlawfully
possessed firearms could result in the prevention of future
crimes and potentially major future cost savings associated with
avoided prosecution and incarceration. This bill is strongly
supported local law as well organizations working to reduce
firearms violence in our communities."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
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0002208