BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 1354 (Knight) - Deadly weapons: applications to the
Department of Justice.
Amended: May 6, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 19, 2014 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1354 would require the Department of Justice
(DOJ) to make a determination on applications related to deadly
weapons, and notify the applicant in writing of that
determination, within 90 days of receipt, as specified.
Fiscal Impact: Significant new resource costs potentially in
excess of $500,000 (Special Fund*) annually for additional staff
to process the applications within the timeframes specified in
this measure.
*Dealers' Record of Sale (DROS)
Background: Existing federal law prohibits a person from
engaging in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing
in firearms, or importing or manufacturing ammunition, until he
or she has filed an application with and received a license to
do so from the Attorney General (18 U.S.C. 923). Under existing
state law, the DOJ is required to accept and process a variety
of deadly weapon-related applications, as follows:
Permit for manufacture, sale, or use of a
destructive device (PC § 18900)
Permit for possession and transportation of tear gas
(PC § 23000)
Certificate of eligibility for firearms (PC § 26710)
Centralized list of licensed firearms dealers (PC §§
26700 and 26715)
Centralized list of exempted federal firearms
licenses (PC §28450)
License to manufacture firearms (PC §§ 29050 and
29060)
Entertainment firearms permits (PC § 29500)
Permit for assault weapons and .50 BMG rifles (PC §
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31000)
Permit for possession, transportation, sale of
large-capacity magazines (PC § 32315)
Permit for possession, manufacture, and
transportation of machineguns (PC § 32650)
License to sell machineguns (PC § 32700)
Permit for short-barreled rifle or short-barreled
shotgun (PC § 33300)
Application for return (PC § 33850)
Handgun safety certificate certified instructors (PC
§ 31635)
There are currently no statutory limits on the time period
within which the DOJ must process the firearms-related
applications noted above. This bill seeks to set parameters
within which DOJ must process these applications to mitigate
unreasonable delays.
Proposed Law: This bill would require the DOJ to adhere to the
following provisions in reviewing and approving an application,
as specified:
Requires DOJ to notify each applicant in writing within
30 calendar days from the date the application is received
if the application is incomplete.
Requires DOJ to make a determination on each
application, and provide written notice to the applicant,
within 90 calendar days from receipt of application.
If DOJ is unable to make a determination within 90 days
due to circumstances beyond its control, the 90-day limit
may be extended by written notice to the applicant setting
forth the reasons for the extension and an expected
determination date, not more than 90 days beyond the
original due date.
Denied applications must set forth the reasons for the
denial and provide the applicant with a form for appealing
the decision.
Provides that the DOJ is not required to approve an
application if the DOJ is not able to make a determination
within the time limits prescribed.
Staff Comments: The DOJ has indicated that approximately 325
applications are received annually, approximately 10 percent (32
applications) of which are initial applications. Processing
times for initial applications are generally between three to
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nine months, while renewal applications are processed much more
quickly, usually within 30 days. The initial applications for
deadly weapons are more time intensive due to the inclusion of
background investigations and on-site inspections prior to
application approval.
In order to meet the timeframes specified in this measure, the
DOJ has indicated significant additional resources in excess of
$1 million would be needed on an ongoing basis. Given that about
10 percent of total applications consist of the initial
applications that require the more intensive workload to
investigate, it's unclear at this time if this level of
additional staffing is required.
Recommended Amendments: To clarify that the 90 calendar days
within which the DOJ has to make a determination on an
application commences upon the receipt of a complete
application, staff recommends the following amendment:
Section 16030, as added to the Penal Code:
(a)(2)(A) The department shall make a determination on each
application, and provide written notice of that determination to
the applicant, before the expiration of 90 calendar days from
the date the department receives the complete application.
In the absence of this clarification, it could be interpreted
that the DOJ is required to process subsequently resubmitted and
complete applications within 90 days of the initially submitted,
incomplete applications.
To further reduce costs, the author may wish to consider an
amendment to extend the time period within which the DOJ must
make determinations on applications to within 120 days of
receipt of a complete application.