BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
962 (De Leon)
Hearing Date: 08/27/2009 Amended: 06/22/2009
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety
4-3
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 962 makes numerous statutory changes regarding
the sale of ammunition. Specifically, this bill:
1) Creates a system to license vendors of handgun ammunition.
Makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by 6 months in county jail
and/or a fine of up to $1,000, to transfer more than 50 rounds
per month of handgun ammunition without a handgun ammunition
vendor's license, except as specified;
2) Authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue handgun
ammunition vendor licenses, as specified, charge license
applicants sufficient fees to cover the cost of administering
the license program, and establish regulations pertaining to
those licenses;
3) Authorizes funds from the Dealers' Record of Sale (DROS)
Special Account to be made available for expenditure by DOJ to
offset the costs incurred to initiate the license program, and
that the funds received by DOJ in relation to this licensing
program shall be deposited in the DROS Special Account;
4) Requires that vendors not allow any employee who is
prohibited by law from possessing a firearm to handle, sell or
deliver handgun ammunition, that employees of ammunition vendors
provide to the vendor a certificate of eligibility obtained from
DOJ, and that vendors not allow handgun ammunition to be
accessible to customers without the assistance of an employee of
the vendor;
5) Provide that it is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six
months in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000, for a vendor to
fail to obtain and record specified personal information from
ammunition buyers, to maintain that information for no less than
five years on the vendor's premises, to make that information
available to specified law enforcement officials, or to
knowingly make a false entry or fail to obtain the required
personal information from a handgun ammunition buyer, except as
specified;
6) Creates a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 6 months in jail
and/or a fine of up to $1,000, is an individual: (A) is enjoined
from activity as a member of a criminal street gang, to possess
any ammunition or reloaded ammunition, except as specified; (B)
transfers ammunition to any person they know or reasonably
should know to be prohibited from owning handgun ammunition
because that person is prohibited from possessing a firearm or
is enjoined as a member of a criminal street gang, as specified;
(C) delivers or transfers handgun ammunition in anything other
than a face-to-face transaction and being provided with bona
fide evidence of the transferee's identity; or (D) delivers or
gives possession of any ammunition to any minor who he or she
knows, or using reasonable care should know, is prohibited from
possessing that ammunition, as specified.
Page 2
AB 962 (De Leon)
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Creates new crimes **Unknown local costs,
non-reimbursable** Local
New DOJ Program $306 **Costs
recovered from fees** Special*
Sales tax loss
$1,000-$1,500 $1,000-$1,500 General
*DROS Account
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
This bill makes numerous changes to existing law related to
ammunition sales. The majority of the changes could result in
local costs for enforcement and prosecution, offset to a degree
by new fines.
This bill also requires DOJ to create and administer a new
program. Projections indicate that DOJ will eventually be able
to recover the costs of administering the program through fees
allowed in the bill (up to $50 for registry, and the expansion
of existing fingerprinting fees). The projected revenue exceeds
$500,000 per year in new fees. The cost of consultant services
and oversight needed to design and develop enhancements to the
Centralized List of ammunition vendors and their employees and
Certificate of Eligibility for ammunition vendors, however,
cannot be absorbed in DOJ's 2009-10 budget, which is when the
work would have to take place. DOJ would need an additional
$306,000 for consulting services to develop and implement the
new program in 2009-10 and fees could not be collected until
2010-11.
This bill will also result in decreased sales tax revenue to the
degree that ammunition sales decrease as a result of additional,
time-consuming procedures required for consumers. Neighboring
states do not have the extensive restrictions on ammunition
purchases proposed by this bill. Gun rights groups and members
are opposed to this bill, and are resistant to giving the state
additional personal information about their gun-related
purchases. It is very likely that they will purchase ammunition
out of state, especially considering its virtually unlimited
storage life. Ammunition purchasers would not have to make a
special trip often to a neighboring state, but could, whenever
s/he happened to be traveling through another state, buy a
substantial amount of ammunition and retain it for future use.
If even 10% of purchases were shifted to other states, the sales
tax loss to the state of California would be approximately
$1,000,000.