BILL ANALYSIS
SB 585
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 585 (Leno)
As Amended July 8, 2009
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-18
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-3 APPROPRIATIONS 10-6
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Furutani, Hill, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Coto, |
| |Ma | |Davis, Fuentes, Hall, |
| | | |John A. Perez, Skinner, |
| | | |Solorio, Torlakson |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Arambula, Hagman, Gilmore |Nays:|Nielsen, Charles |
| | | |Calderon, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, Audra Strickland |
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SUMMARY : Prohibits more than five events per year at which firearms
or ammunition are sold on Cow Palace property for the years 2010
through 2012. Commencing January 1, 2013, no such event shall be
authorized or allowed on Cow Palace property. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Prohibits any officer, employee, operator, or any lessee of
District 1-A (see EXISTING LAW 1) below) to contract for,
authorize, or allow an event at which any firearm or ammunition is
sold on the property or in the buildings that comprise the Cow
Palace property in San Mateo County and the City and County of San
Francisco or any successor or additional property owned, leased, or
otherwise occupied or operated by the District except as specified.
2)Provides that commencing January 1, 2010, no more than five events
at which firearms or ammunition are sold shall be authorized or
allowed per year on Cow Palace property. The District shall phase
out those events by replacing them with non-firearm or
non-ammunition related events and shall add no event that increases
the number of these events at the Cow Palace property from the
number in the preceding year.
3)Defines a "firearm" as the following:
SB 585
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a) Any device, designed to be used as a weapon, from which is
expelled through a barrel, a projectile by the force of any
explosion or other form of combustion;
b) The term "firearm" includes the frame or receiver of the
weapon; and,
c) A "firearm" also shall include any rocket, rocket propelled
projectile launcher, or similar device containing any explosive
or incendiary material whether or not the device is designed for
emergency or distress signaling purposes.
4)Defines "ammunition" to include assembled ammunition for use in a
firearm and components of ammunition including smokeless and black
powder, and any projectile capable of being fired from a firearm
with deadly consequence.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "State-designated fairs" as specified fairs that may
receive financial support or are otherwise governed pursuant to
specified sections of law. The district agricultural associations
and their locations are as follows: ". . . (2) District 1-A, held
in the City of San Francisco".
2)Provides that an association, with the approval of both the
Department of Food and Agriculture and the Department of General
Services, may engage in a variety of specified commercial
activities, including lease, let, or grant licenses for the use of
its real estate or personal property, or any portion of that
property, to any person or public body for whatever purpose may be
approved by the board of directors of an assoication.
3)Punishes any person who brings or possesses within any state or
local public building or at any meeting required to be open to the
public, a firearm, is guilty of a public offense punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or in the
state prison. The aforementioned shall not apply to a person who,
for the purpose of sale or trade, brings any weapon that may
otherwise be lawfully transferred, into a gun show conducted
pursuant to existing law.
4)Requires the sale, loan or transfer of a firearm in California,
including private party transactions, and including transactions at
gun shows, must be conducted through a state-licensed firearms
dealer or through a local sheriff's department in counties of less
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than 200,000 in population. A 10-day waiting period, background
check, and Handgun Safety Certificate for handgun transfers are
required prior to delivery of the firearm. Firearms dealers are
allowed to conduct business only in their licensed premises, sell
their gun inventory at gun shows or events, or process private
sales or transfers of any firearms at gun shows or events. Handgun
purchases are limited to no more than one per 30-day period.
Transferees must be California residents, no person under age 21
may buy a handgun, and no person under 18 years of age may buy a
rifle or shotgun.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, minor state general fund revenue loss, less than $150,000,
as a result of rental payments for five guns shows per year at the
Cow Palace should the agricultural district be unable to book
alternatives to these gun shows.
COMMENTS : According to information provided by the author, "The
Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco and the
County of San Mateo have adopted resolutions on unanimous votes to
seek Legislative help to end the gun shows at the Cow Palace. The
state-owned facility straddles both counties, and is located near the
Sunnydale public housing project and the communities of Visitacion
Valley, Bayview-Hunters Point and the Mission District. These
communities have been plagued by violence for many years. But,
unlike similar facilities owned by the county in which they are
located, the Cow Palace is owned and operated by the California
Department of Agriculture's Division of Fairs and Expositions. For
this reason, local residents have no local control over the types of
events that take place at the facility.
"Because the Cow Palace is a state-owned facility, legislation is
needed to provide the neighboring residents and communities with
local control equivalent to communities with county-run facilities.
SB 585 would provide the communities of San Francisco and San Mateo
with an outcome that the counties of Alameda, Marin and Los Angeles
have been able to implement at similar locally-operated facilities."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Nicole J. Hanson / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0001974