BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1014 (Skinner) - Gun violence restraining orders.
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 5-2
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 14, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill Summary: AB 1014 would authorize a law enforcement officer
or immediate family member of a person, to seek, and a court to
issue, a gun violence restraining order, as specified,
prohibiting a person from having in his or her custody or
control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving any
firearms or ammunition, as specified.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on August 14, 2014):
One-time significant costs potentially in excess of
$250,000 (General Fund*) to the Judicial Council to develop
forms and documents, and promulgate rules of court.
Potentially significant ongoing costs to the trial courts,
potentially in the hundreds of thousands to low millions of
dollars (General Fund*) to hold hearings, issue warrants,
and issue gun violence restraining orders. Actual costs
would be dependent of the volume of petitions filed by law
enforcement and family members.
One-time and ongoing costs of about $200,000 (General Fund)
to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to upgrade automation
systems to accommodate the new information, provide training
to various entities to facilitate the process of submittal,
recording, and tracking of gun violence restraining order
status.
Ongoing potentially significant state-reimbursable costs
(General Fund) for law enforcement to retain surrendered
firearms and ammunition during the restraining order period,
issue a receipt to the restrained person at the time of
surrender, and serve ex parte restraining orders.
Non-reimbursable local law enforcement agency costs for
enforcement and incarceration, offset to a degree by fine
revenue for misdemeanor violations of the provisions of this
measure.
AB 1014 (Skinner)
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*Trial Court Trust Fund
Background: Existing federal and state laws regulate the sale,
transfer, possession, and ownership of firearms, including
prohibiting specified persons from owning or possessing
firearms. Existing state law provides that certain persons are
prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm, including the
following:
Lifetime Ban
Anyone convicted of a felony;
Anyone addicted to a narcotic drug;
Any juvenile convicted of a violent crime with a gun and
tried in adult court;
Any person convicted of a federal crime that would be a
felony in California and sentenced to more than 30 days in
prison, or a fine of more than $1,000;
Anyone convicted of certain violent misdemeanors, e.g.,
assault with a firearm; inflicting corporal injury on a
spouse or significant other, brandishing a firearm in the
presence of a police officer. (Penal Code (PC) §§ 29800;
23515; 29805.)
Ten Year Ban
Anyone convicted of numerous misdemeanors involving violence or
threats of violence. (PC § 29805.)
Five Year Ban
Any person taken into custody, assessed, and admitted to a
designated facility due to that person being found to be a
danger to themselves or others as a result of a mental disorder,
is prohibited from possessing a firearm during treatment and for
five years from the date of their discharge. (Welfare and
Institutions Code (WIC) §§ 8100, 8103(f).)
Temporary Ban
Persons who are bound by a temporary restraining order or
injunction or a protective order issued under the Family Code or
the Welfare and Institutions Code, may be prohibited from
firearms ownership for the duration of that court order. (PC §
29825.)
This bill's provisions, which are modeled on the state's
AB 1014 (Skinner)
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existing domestic violence restraining order statutes, would
establish a process for the request and issuance of gun violence
restraining orders to temporarily prohibit the possession and .
Proposed Law: This bill would establish a system authorizing
persons to seek, and the courts to issue, various types of gun
violence restraining orders (GVROs), as follows:
Defines a "gun violence restraining order" as an order,
in writing, signed by the court, prohibiting a named person
from having in his or her custody or control, owning,
purchasing, possessing, or receiving any firearms or
ammunition.
Requires the Judicial Council to prescribe the form of
the orders and any other documents required, and shall
promulgate forms and instructions for applying for orders.
Requires the court to notify the DOJ and district
attorney when a GVRO has been issued or renewed no later
than one court day after issuing or renewing the order.
Requires the court to notify the DOJ and district
attorney when a GVRO has been dissolved or terminated no
later than five court days after dissolving or terminating
the order.
Requires notices submitted to the DOJ to be submitted in
electronic format.
Provides for the following three types of GVROs:
o Emergency GVRO - may be issued only if a law
enforcement officer asserts and a judicial officer
finds that there is reasonable cause to believe that a
person poses an immediate and present danger of
causing personal injury to himself, herself, or others
by having in his or her custody or control, owning,
purchasing, possessing, or receiving firearms.
§ Prohibits the person from having in
his or her custody or control, owning,
purchasing, possessing, or receiving, or
attempting to purchase or receive a firearm or
ammunition, and shall expire 14 days from the
date of the order.
§ Requires the law enforcement officer
who requested the emergency GVRO to serve the
order on the restrained person and enter into the
DOJ computer database system for protective and
restraining orders (CARPOS).
§ Requires the courts to designate at
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least one judge, commissioner, or referee to be
reasonably available to issue emergency GVROs at
all times, whether or not court is in session.
o Ex Parte GVRO - may be requested by an
immediate family member of a person or a law
enforcement officer by filing a petition requesting
the court issue an order enjoining the person from
having in his or her custody or control, owning,
purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or
ammunition.
§ Authorizes a court to issue an ex
parte GVRO if the petition is supported by a
written and signed affidavit or oral statement,
as specified, showing good cause to believe that
there is a substantial likelihood that the person
will, in the near future, cause personal injury
to himself, herself, or another by having in his
or her custody or control, owning, purchasing,
possessing or receiving a firearm.
§ Requires an ex parte GVRO to be
issued or denied on the same day the petition is
submitted to the court, or no later than the next
day of judicial business under specified
circumstances.
§ Provides for numerous factors for
the court to consider prior to issuing an ex
parte GVRO.
§ Provides that the ex parte GVRO
expires no later than 21 days from the date of
the order.
§ Provides for a scheduled hearing to
be held within 21 days of the order to determine
if a more permanent GVRO should be issued.
Failure to appear could result in an order valid
for one year.
o GVRO Issued After Notice and Hearing - may be
requested by an immediate family member of a person or
a law enforcement officer, which would enjoin the
person from having in his or her custody or control,
owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm
or ammunition for a period of one year.
§ Provides that at the hearing, the
petitioner has the burden of proving by clear and
convincing evidence that there is a substantial
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likelihood that the person will cause personal
injury to himself, herself, or others by having
in his or her custody or control, owning,
purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm.
§ If the court finds that there is not
clear and convincing evidence to support the
issuance of a GVRO, the court shall dissolve any
emergency or ex parte GVROs in effect.
§ GVROs issued under this section may
be renewed for one year by further order of the
court.
§ Provides that the restrained person
is entitled to one hearing to request a
termination of the order, and the court is to
provide a form to request such a hearing.
§ Provides that an immediate family
member of the restrained person or a law
enforcement officer may request a renewal of a
GVRO at any time within the three months before
expiration of a GVRO.
Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to file a petition
for a GVRO knowing the information to be false or with the
intent to harass.
Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to violate a GVRO,
and would prohibit the person from having firearms or
ammunition for a five-year period, to commence upon the
expiration of the existing GVRO.
Mandates that if a specified peace officer is serving a
GVRO, that officer shall take temporary custody of any
firearm or other deadly weapon in plain sight or discovered
pursuant to a lawful search, and adds DOJ peace officers to
the list of persons required to take temporary custody of
firearms in these situations.
Provides that a search warrant may be issued when the
property or things to be seized are firearms or ammunition
that are in the custody or control of, or is owned or
possessed by, a person who is the subject of a GVRO.
Upon issuance of a GVRO, the court shall order the
restrained person to surrender to the local law enforcement
agency any firearms or ammunition in the person's custody
or control, or which the restrained person owns or
possesses.
Provides that if the surrender is not requested by a law
enforcement agency, the surrender must occur within 24
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hours of being served the order, to the law enforcement
agency or by selling the firearms or ammunition to a
licensed gun dealer, as specified.
Requires the firearms or ammunition surrendered to a law
enforcement agency to be retained until the expiration of
the GVRO.
Related Legislation: SB 580 (Jackson) 2014 would appropriate
funds from the Firearms Safety and Enforcement Special Fund to
contract with local law enforcement agencies to reduce the
backlog in the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), and
redesign and update specified firearms computer systems. This
bill is pending hearing in the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations.
Staff Comments: Establishing a court process for the issuance of
GVROs, as specified, will result in one-time and ongoing costs
to the courts. The Judicial Council will incur one-time costs
potentially in excess of $250,000 (General Fund*) to develop the
necessary forms and orders, instructions, standards, and
procedures for the process.
While it is unknown how many petitions from law enforcement and
family members will be filed for emergency, ex parte, or other
GVROs, the potential impact associated with ensuring each court
designates at least one judge, commissioner, or referee to be
reasonably available to issue emergency GVROs at all times,
whether or not court is in session, as well as the potential
workload to hold hearings, issue warrants and GVROs could result
in significant ongoing costs in the hundreds of thousands to low
millions of dollars. Actual costs would be dependent of the
volume of petitions filed by law enforcement and family members,
number of hearings required, and violations of law resulting
from the orders.
The DOJ has indicated one-time and ongoing costs of about
$200,000 (General Fund) for various activities including but not
limited to providing technical assistance to the data center on
system enhancements and testing, providing training to various
entities (law enforcement, court staff, records staff and
dispatchers) to facilitate the process of submittal, recording,
and tracking of gun violence restraining order status, and
By increasing the duties of law enforcement officers, this bill
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creates a state-mandated local program potentially requiring
reimbursement by the state (General Fund) for law enforcement
officers to serve ex parte restraining orders that have been
requested by family members (emergency orders are at law
enforcement officer request, so are not estimated to result in
state-reimbursable costs), retain surrendered firearms and
ammunition during the restraining order periods, and issue
receipts for the firearms/ammunition surrendered to restrained
persons. Costs would be dependent upon the volume of orders
mandated to be served, the volume of firearms and ammunition to
retain and the length of time required for storage, and
workload/time involved with providing receipts to the restrained
persons. To the extent law enforcement officers incur costs for
informing/training officers on the new process could also result
in additional state-reimbursable costs.
Misdemeanor violations of this measure will result in
non-reimbursable local law enforcement agency costs for
enforcement and incarceration, offset to a degree by fine
revenue.
Recommended Amendments: The author may wish to consider an
amendment to delay implementation of the bill's provisions in
order to provide the Judicial Council with adequate time to
develop forms, instructions, and procedures for courts, as well
as to provide law enforcement agencies to be informed/trained on
the new provisions of law.
Author amendments:
Specify that the bill establishes a civil restraining
order process.
Require the court to notify the law enforcement agency,
in addition to the district attorney, in the jurisdiction
in which a GVRO was issued when a GVRO has been issued or
renewed, dissolved or terminated.
Rename "Emergency" GVROs as "Temporary Emergency" GVROs.
Make numerous other technical and clarifying changes.