BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 505
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 6, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                   SB 505 (Jackson) - As Amended:  August 4, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                             Public  
          SafetyVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires, except in exigent circumstances, and  
          provided sufficient identifying information is available through  
          "reasonable" efforts, a peace officer to search the Department  
          of Justice (DOJ) Automated Firearms System (AFS) via the  
          California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) to  
          determine if a person is the registered owner of a gun, before  
          checking on the welfare or well-being of that person, if the  
          check is motivated by a concern the person may be a danger to  
          self or others. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Current law authorizes such AFS checks now, at the discretion of  
          the officer and department policy. This bill creates a  
          reimbursable mandate that would allow law enforcement entities  
          to file state mandate claims for AFS searches in a welfare check  
          situation in which the subject is suspected of being a danger to  
          self or others. AFS checks are generally conducted via office or  
          patrol car terminals, and take only a few minutes. But by making  
          these checks mandatory, the state must pay for all such checks  
          statewide. 

          Extrapolating from the number of service calls by the LA  
          Sheriff's Office that would likely fall under this proposal, if  
          L.A. City and County conducted 30 related welfare checks per day  
          total, spending an average of 15 minutes obtaining  
          identification and running it through CLETS, the annual mandated  
          cost of the CLETS checks would be about $140,000. Assuming  L.A.  
          City and County account for 33% of the state mandate, the  
          statewide cost would be in the range of $400,000.








                                                                  SB 505
                                                                  Page  2


           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author's intent, citing the recent Isla Vista  
            shooting spree by Elliot Rodger near the UC Santa Barbara  
            campus, is to require law enforcement to use the existing AFS  
            system by computer link or phone to determine the presence of  
            guns prior to making safety checks on persons to determine if  
            they are a danger to self or others. (Law enforcement is  
            authorized, but not required, to do so now.)

            According to the author, "Although law enforcement may not  
            have had the legal authority to seize Elliott Rodger's three  
            guns had they known about them, a gun database search could  
            have provided additional information that might have helped  
            them better assess the danger that Rodger posed to himself and  
            others.  Law enforcement could potentially have asked Rodger  
            what he intended to do with the guns, asked to see the guns,  
            or asked him to voluntarily surrender the guns. 

            "We will never know for sure if the outcome in Isla Vista  
            might have been different with a gun database search, but the  
            next time California experiences a similar tragedy, we  
            shouldn't be left wondering.  Searches of the gun database can  
            be done in as little as 90 seconds, and those 90 seconds can  
            help save lives."

           2)This bill was a gut and amend in the Assembly and has not been  
            heard in this form in the Senate  . 


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081