BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1131
Author: Skinner (D)
Amended: 9/4/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 7/2/13
AYES: Hancock, Block, De León, Knight, Liu, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-1, 8/30/13
AYES: De León, Walters, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant
SUBJECT : Firearms
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill increases the period of time during which a
person is prohibited from possessing a gun based on a mental
illness or mental disorder, or a serious threat of violence
communicated to a licensed psychotherapist.
The current provisions of this bill were previously contained in
AB 48 (Skinner, 2013).
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/13 add double-jointing language
with SB 755 (Wolk).
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides that a person shall not have in his or her possession
or under his or her custody or control, or purchase or
receive, or attempt to purchase or receive, any firearms
whatsoever or any other deadly weapon for a period of six
months whenever, on or after January 1, 1992, he or she
communicates to a licensed psychotherapist, as defined, of a
serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably
identifiable victim or victims. The six-month period shall
commence from the date that the licensed psychotherapist
reports to the local law enforcement agency the identity of
the person making the communication. The prohibition provided
for in this subdivision shall not apply unless the licensed
psychotherapist notifies a local law enforcement agency of the
threat by that person. The person, however, may own, possess,
have custody or control over, or receive or purchase any
firearm if a superior court, upon petition of the person, has
found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the person is
likely to use firearms or other deadly weapons in a safe and
lawful manner.
2.Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ), upon receiving a
report from the local law enforcement agency of the identity
of a person described in the section above, to notify by
certified mail a person subject to this prohibition, of the
following.
3.Provides that a violation of these prohibitions against
possessing a firearm or deadly weapon shall be punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail as a felony for 16 months, two
or three years, or as a misdemeanor for not more than one
year, by a fine not exceeding one $1,000, or by both that
imprisonment and fine.
4.Requires DOJ to request each public and private mental
hospital, sanitarium, and institution to submit to DOJ
information that DOJ deems necessary to identify those persons
who are prohibited from possessing firearms, in order to carry
out its duties in relation to firearms, destructive devices,
and explosives.
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This bill:
1. Increases from six months to five years the period of time a
person is prohibited from possessing or owning a firearm
based on his or her communication with a licensed
psychotherapist, on or after January 1, 2014, of a threat of
physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or
victims.
2. Specifies that, if a hearing is requested, the People have
the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that
the person is not likely to use firearms in a safe and lawful
manner, and if the court finds that the People have not met
their burden, the court shall order that the person shall not
be subject to the five-year prohibition and submit a copy of
the order to the DOJ.
3. Specifies procedures to be followed for the return, sale,
transfer, or destruction of confiscated firearms by persons
found not to be subject to the five-year prohibition for
having communicated a threat to a therapist as well as those
subject to a five-year prohibition as a result of being taken
into custody for a mental health examination.
4. Specifies where the district attorney declines or fails to
go forward in a hearing to restore ownership and possession
of firearms, the court shall order that the person shall not
be subject to the five-year prohibition and a copy of the
order shall be submitted to the DOJ.
5. States upon receipt of the order, DOJ shall, within 15 days,
delete any reference to the prohibition against firearms from
the person's state mental health firearms prohibition system
information.
6. Provides that, where a firearm has been confiscated, as
specified, the period of forfeiture is 180 days, during which
the person it was taken from may contact the law enforcement
agency to facilitate transfer to a firearms dealer, and after
which the firearm will be subject to destruction.
7. Provides that nothing in this bill shall prohibit the use of
reports filed to determine the eligibility of persons to own,
possess, control, receive, or purchase a firearm if the
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person is the subject of a criminal investigation, a part of
which involves the ownership, possession, control, receipt,
or purchase of a firearm.
8. Requires the court to "as soon as possible, but no later
than two court days after issuing the certificate" notify DOJ
whenever the court has issued a certificate stating that a
person, adjudicated by a court of any state to be a danger to
others as a result of a mental disorder or mental illness, or
who has been adjudicated to be a mentally disordered sex
offender, may now possess a firearm or any other deadly
weapon without endangering others.
9. Requires any notice or report required to be submitted to
DOJ to be submitted in an electronic format, in a manner
prescribed by DOJ.
10.Requires the Department of State Hospitals, upon request, to
make its records regarding prohibited persons available to
DOJ within 24-hours.
11.Requires that reports by a licensed psychotherapist to a
local law enforcement agency of the identity of a person who
has communicated to that therapist a serious threat of
physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or
victims be made within 24 hours.
12.Requires that local law enforcement agencies, when they
receive such reports, notify DOJ electronically and within 24
hours of that report.
13.Adds double-jointing language with SB 755 (Wolk) to avoid
chaptering-out issues.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs to the DOJ of $260,000 (Special Fund*) in FY
2013-14 and $100,000 in FY 2014-15 to design, develop, and
implement enhancements to several automated tracking systems
and databases.
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Potential state-reimbursable costs for the mandated
notification process placed on peace officers and law
enforcement agencies.
Minor, absorbable impact to the DSH to accommodate DOJ
requests electronically.
Minor impact to the DOJ with regard to the notification
changes.
Potential ongoing minor court-related costs (General Fund**)
for additional misdemeanor/felony court filings resulting from
the extended period of prohibition.
Potential increase in non-reimbursable local incarceration
costs offset to a degree by fine revenue to the extent
additional violations of the firearms prohibition occur under
the extended period of prohibition.
*Dealers' Record of Sale (DROS) Special Account
**Trial Court Trust Fund
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/5/13)
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Sheriffs Association
Emeryville Police Department
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
In 2012, a total of 191,416 people in California were
prohibited from owning a firearm because of a prior mental
health determination. While the vast majority of
individuals with mental health issues are not violent,
research has shown that the risk of violence towards others
is higher among those with serious mental illnesses, in
part because this population also has high rates of other
risk factors such as substance abuse, trauma, and
unemployment.
A 2009 study found that 5% of people with serious mental
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illnesses committed violent acts, compared to 2% of those
without. There is also a link between mental illness and
self- harm, and studies suggest that more than 90% of
people who commit suicide suffer from mental illness. And
there is also a strong correlation between access to
firearms and successful suicide attempts. The suicide rate
in homes with guns is 3-5 times higher than in homes
without guns.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-2, 05/29/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Mansoor
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Holden, Vacancy
JG:nl 9/5/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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