BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1999 (Achadjian) - Prohibited Armed Persons File: initial
review
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|Version: March 15, 2016 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: June 27, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 1999 would require the Department of Justice (DOJ)
to complete an initial review of a match in the daily queue of
the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) within seven days, as
specified, and to periodically reassess whether the reviews of
APPS matches can be completed more efficiently.
Fiscal
Impact:
Initial reviews : Ongoing staffing costs (Special Fund*) to
the DOJ of $110,000 in FY 2016-17, and $175,000 in FY 2017-18
and annually thereafter to ensure completion of all initial
reviews of APPS matches within seven days.
Periodic reassessments : Minor, absorbable workload impact
(Special Fund*) to the DOJ.
*Dealers' Record of Sale (DROS) Account. Staff notes the DROS
Account is structurally imbalanced, with an estimated reserve
AB 1999 (Achadjian) Page 1 of
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balance of less than $1 million by year-end FY 2016-17. Current
revenues to the DROS Account may be insufficient to cover the
costs of this bill in conjunction with the numerous other
legislative measures requiring funding from the DROS Account,
should they be enacted. As this bill specifies a program
requirement rather than an enforcement requirement for APPS, the
funding approved by the 2016-17 Budget Conference Committee
action from the Firearms Safety and Enforcement Special Fund
does not appear to be authorized for use for the activities
specified in this bill.
Background: Existing law provides for an automated system for tracking
firearms and assault weapon owners who might fall into a
prohibited status. The online database commonly referred to as
the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), cross-references all
handgun and assault weapon owners across the state against
criminal history records to determine persons who have been, or
will become, prohibited from possessing a firearm subsequent to
the legal acquisition or registration of a firearm or assault
weapon. (Penal Code § 3000, et seq.)
SB 140, (Leno) Chapter 2/2013 appropriated $24 million from the
DROS Account to the DOJ in order to increase regulatory and
enforcement capacity within DOJ's Bureau of Firearms. The
resources financed in SB 140 were provided on a three-year
limited-term basis which was estimated to provide adequate time
to significantly reduce or eliminate the overall number of armed
and prohibited persons in the backlog. Additionally, SB 140
included reporting requirements due annually to the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee. During the 2015 budget hearing
process, the Legislature expressed concern that at the mid-point
of the funding period, the DOJ had spent 40 percent of funds but
the APPS backlog had only been reduced by approximately 3,770
cases. In addition, the Bureau of Firearms had hired 45 agents,
as of the date of their update, but had only retained 18 agents.
Of the agents that left the Bureau, the vast majority went to
other agent positions in DOJ. As a result, some SB 140 funding
that was intended to directly address the APPS backlog was
instead used to conduct background checks, provide training and
to equip newly hired who agents subsequently left the Bureau.
The 2016-17 Budget Conference Committee took the following
actions with respect to APPS enforcement:
AB 1999 (Achadjian) Page 2 of
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Provided an ongoing increase of $4.7 million in Firearms
Safety and Enforcement Special Fund (FSEF) to provide
permanent funding for 22 positions for APPS investigations.
Currently, all APPS-related activities are funded through
the DROS Account, which is structurally imbalanced.
Adopted trailer bill language to remove the continuous
appropriation authority from the FSEF and provide the
Attorney General's office with the authority to increase
FSEF fee authority at a rate not to exceed the Consumer
Price Index.
Provided a $5 million (FSEF) one-time augmentation and
budget bill language (SB 826) establishing a program within
the DOJ that reimburses local law enforcement agencies
through contracts with DOJ that retrieve firearms from
prohibited individuals in APPS.
Proposed
Law: This bill would require the DOJ to complete an initial
review of a match in the daily queue of the Armed Prohibited
Persons System within seven days of the match being placed in
the queue. This bill additionally requires the DOJ to
periodically reassess whether the DOJ can complete those reviews
more efficiently.
This bill provides that for the purpose of this measure, "Armed
Prohibited Persons System" means the Prohibited Armed Persons
File as described in PC § 30000.
This bill provides that for the purpose of this measure, "match"
means the entry into the Automated Criminal History System or
into any DOJ automated information system of the name and other
information of an individual who may be prohibited from
acquiring, owning, or possessing a firearm, and a corresponding
record of ownership or possession of a firearm by that
individual, as described in PC § 30005.
AB 1999 (Achadjian) Page 3 of
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Related
Legislation: See Background section.
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