BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Senator Loni Hancock, Chair S 2013-2014 Regular Session B 5 0 5 SB 505 (Jackson) As Amended August 20, 2014 Hearing date: August 21, 2014 Penal Code JD:mc PURSUANT TO SENATE RULE 29.10(d) PEACE OFFICERS: WELFARE CHECKS: FIREARMS COMMENTS Please see the attached Senate Floor analysis. This bill is before the Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d). The Committee, by a majority vote of the membership, may either: 1. hold the bill, or 2. return the bill to the Senate Floor for consideration of the bill as amended in the Assembly. (SR 29.10(d).) (More) SB 505 (Jackson) Page 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 505| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 505 Author: Jackson (D) Amended: 8/18/14 Vote: 21 PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/20/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Police officers: welfare checks: weapons SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill requires law enforcement agencies to develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standard (More) SB 505 (Jackson) Page 3 protocols pertaining to the best manner to conduct a "welfare check," when the inquiry into the welfare or well-being of the person is motivated by a concern that the person may be a danger to himself or herself or to others. Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of the bill related to education technology and add the current language relating to policies and protocols for the conduct of police officers, relative to welfare checks. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to establish, by July 1, 2006, and keep updated a continuing education classroom training course relating to law enforcement interaction with mentally disabled persons. Requires the training course to be developed in consultation with appropriate community, local, and state organizations and agencies that have expertise in the area of mental illness and developmental disability, and with appropriate consumer and family advocate groups. Requires POST, in developing the course, to examine existing courses certified by POST that relate to mentally disabled persons. Requires POST to make the course available to law enforcement agencies in California. 2.Authorizes, upon probable cause, a peace officer or other specified mental health treatment individuals to take, or cause to be taken, a person into custody for a period of up to 72 hours for assessment, evaluation, and crisis intervention, or placement for evaluation and treatment in a facility designated and approved, as specified, when the person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to himself/herself, or others, or is gravely disabled. 3.Requires that whenever a person, who has been detained or (More) SB 505 (Jackson) Page 4 apprehended for examination of his/her mental condition or who is a person that is a danger to himself/herself, or others as a result of a mental illness or disorder, is found to own, have in his/her possession or under his/her control, any firearm whatsoever, or any other deadly weapon, the firearm or other deadly weapon be confiscated by any law enforcement agency or peace officer, who shall retain custody of the firearm or other deadly weapon. This bill: 1.Requires every law enforcement agency to develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standard protocols pertaining to the best manner to conduct a "welfare check" when the inquiry into the welfare or well-being of the person is motivated by a concern that the person may be dangerous to himself/herself or others. 2.Requires the policies to encourage a peace officer before conducting a welfare check, and whenever possible and reasonable, to conduct a search of the Automated Firearms System (AFS) to determine if a person is the registered owner of a firearm. 3.Defines "reasonable" to mean that the officer can conduct the AFS check without undue burden on the execution of the officer's other duties, that there are no exigent circumstances demanding immediate attention, and that the officer has access to, or can reasonably ascertain, relevant identifying information. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: Existing law authorizes such AFS checks now, at the discretion of the officer and department policy. This bill creates a reimbursable mandate that will allow law enforcement entities (More) SB 505 (Jackson) Page 5 to file state mandate claims for AFS searches in a welfare check situation in which the subject is suspected of being a danger to himself/herself 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 will 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 the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), the annual mandated cost of the CLETS checks will be about $140,000. Assuming L.A. City and County account for 33% of the state mandate, the statewide cost will be in the range of $400,000. (More) SUPPORT : (Verified 8/20/14) Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence California Police Chiefs Association City Attorney of Los Angeles Friends Committee on Legislation Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Los Angeles District Attorneys Association Physicians for Social Responsibility (Sacramento) Ventura County Board of Supervisors OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/20/14) California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "SB 505 will help ensure that peace officers have pertinent information about gun ownership when conducting a well-being check in those instances where the check is motivated by a concern that the subject is potentially a danger to self or others, providing law enforcement with more information with which they can assess a potentially dangerous situation, protecting not only public safety, but also the safety of officers involved." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees writes: "Law enforcement officers are free to access such information in the course and scope of their duties under existing law. Not only would your proposed mandate cost taxpayers into the millions of dollars and interfere with the judgment of local law enforcement, it would further stigmatize law-abiding gun owners as being a 'social risk' simply because they choose to exercise fundamental Second Amendment rights. "A welfare check on an elderly gun owner experiencing health issues does not require invasions of privacy, general warrants, and armed S.W.A.T. teams." (More) SB 505 (Jackson) Page 7 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/20/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Vacancy JG:e 8/20/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****