BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó







                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                            Senator Loni Hancock, Chair              S
                             2013-2014 Regular Session               B

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          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).)















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                                 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  




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          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  




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            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  




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            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.



























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           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."





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           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



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