BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 385 (Block) - Firearms: Private Patrol Operators:
registration and assignment.
Amended: April 2, 2013 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 385 would authorize a licensed Private Patrol
Operator (PPO), as defined, to be the legal owner of a firearm,
and establish procedures for PPOs to assign its firearms to its
employees who are licensed to carry firearms. This bill:
Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to modify the
Dealers' Record of Sale (DROS) form to record the PPO as the
owner of the firearm and to record the PPO employee to whom
the firearm is transferred as the registered owner pursuant
to a Certificate of Assignment (COA), as specified.
Authorizes the DOJ to charge reasonable fees for the
implementation of this program and deposit those fees in the
DROS account.
Amends existing provisions relating to the permissible uses
of the DROS Special Account to permit the use of DROS funds
to implement the provisions of this security guard transfer
program.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time DOJ costs of about $1 million (Special Fund*) to
enhance the registration database and update forms to
accommodate the new fields for PPO designation, offset by an
undetermined level of fee revenue.
Ongoing workload to the Bureau of Firearms of about
$500,000 (Special Fund)* for investigations and inspections.
Ongoing DOJ costs of $200,000 (Special Fund*) to process
background checks for PPO employees submitting COAs.
*DROS Special Account
Background: Private patrol operators (private security
companies) are licensed and regulated by the Department of
Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.
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Possession and use of firearms by PPO employees (security
guards) is specifically regulated. Under current law, companies
are not authorized to be the legal owner of a firearm (with the
exception of assault weapons), and it has been indicated that
PPOs are utilizing the existing provisions of law that allow for
firearms to be infrequently loaned to a person known to the
owner, as a means of providing firearms to employees.
Pursuant to PC § 27880, firearms may be loaned between persons
who are personally known to each other subject to specified
requirements including that the loan must be for a lawful
purpose, the loan must not exceed 30 days, the individual being
loaned the firearm must have a valid handgun safety certificate
(if the firearm is a handgun), and the loan is infrequent,
meaning less than six transactions per calendar year for
handguns. To the extent PPOs are switching firearms every 30
days between firearm certified employees is not only
administratively burdensome but also potentially not in the best
interests of public safety.
The provisions of this bill seek to alleviate the burdensome
administrative process utilized by PPOs and make an exception to
the normal firearms ownership laws by authorizing PPOs to be the
legal owner of a firearm and assign that firearm to an employee,
who would be the registered owner.
Proposed Law: This bill would authorize a licensed PPO to be the
legal owner of a firearm, and establish procedures for PPOs to
assign its firearms to its employees who are licensed to carry
firearms. This bill:
Defines PPO as a private patrol operator licensed pursuant
to Chapter 11.5 of the Business and Professions Code.
Requires the DOJ to modify the DROS form to record the PPO
as the purchaser and owner of the firearm and to record the
security guard employee of the PPO to whom the firearm is
transferred as the registered owner, as specified.
Requires the DOJ to modify the DROS form to require the PPO
to designate a "firearms custodian" for the PPO. The
firearms custodian shall possess a valid firearm
qualification card issued by the Department of Consumer
Affairs.
Requires the DOJ to prescribe a Certificate of Assignment
(COA). The COA is to contain the same fields as the DROS
form and will be used to identify the PPO employee assigned
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to a firearm.
Requires security guards who receive a firearm pursuant to
a COA to be subject to a background check, as specified.
Authorizes the DOJ to charge reasonable fees for the
implementation of this program to the PPO's and deposit
those fees in the DROS account.
Requires that if the PPO loses its license or goes out of
business, the PPO must, within 30 days and unless otherwise
prohibited by law, complete new DROS forms for all PPO-owned
firearms and transfer those firearms to a new owner.
Requires that a security guard shall, immediately upon the
PPO's request, for any reason, or immediately upon
separation of employment or revocation of the firearm
qualification card, return the firearm to the PPO.
Includes codified legislative findings and declarations.
Related Legislation: AB 811 (Hall) 2011 was similar to this
measure and provided for a registration and assignment process
for firearms for PPOs. This bill was referred to but not
provided a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Public Safety.
Staff Comments: According to the Department of Consumer Affairs,
there are approximately 2,700 licensed PPOs in the state. It is
estimated that firearm permits have been issued to approximately
38,700 security guards. The DOJ will incur significant one-time
and ongoing costs to carry out the provisions of this bill. It
is estimated that DOJ would incur one-time costs of $1 million
(Special Fund) to enhance the firearm registration database to
accommodate the new fields prescribed by this measure, as well
as to revise the DROS form as required to accommodate the new
PPO designation. Ongoing workload to the Bureau of Firearms is
projected of about $500,000 (Special Fund) for investigations
and inspections. In addition, ongoing DOJ costs of about
$200,000 (Special Fund) are estimated to process background
checks for PPO employees submitting COAs.
This bill provides that the DOJ shall charge a fee not to exceed
the reasonable costs to the department for filing and processing
a form identifying the firearms custodian of the PPO, for filing
and processing a COA, and for costs incurred in enforcing the
provisions of this article, including, but not limited to,
processing forms required by this article, and entering
information obtained pursuant to this article into the DOJ's
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Automated Firearms System and other databases as deemed
necessary by the department. The ability for the DOJ to recover
its implementation and operational costs associated with this
measure would be dependent on the fee level established and
charged, which at the time of this analysis, has not been
determined by the DOJ.
Author amendments would make the bill's provisions contingent
upon the availability of sufficient funding to DOJ.