BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1999|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1999
Author: Achadjian (R)
Amended: 3/15/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/14/16
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Prohibited Armed Persons File: initial review
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to
both complete an initial review of a match in the Armed
Prohibited Persons System (APPS) within seven days of the match
being placed in the queue, and periodically reassess whether the
department can complete reviews of APPS matches more
efficiently, as specified.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Provides for an automated system for tracking firearms and
assault weapon owners who might fall into a prohibited status.
The online database, which is currently known as the APPS,
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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 §
30000, et seq.)
2)Prohibits persons who know or have reasonable cause to believe
that the recipient is prohibited from having firearms and
ammunition to supply or provide the same with firearms or
ammunition. (Penal Code §§ 27500 and 30306; Welfare and
Institutions Code § 8101.)
3)Provides that various categories of persons are prohibited
from owning or possessing a firearm, including persons
convicted of certain violent offenses, and persons who have
been adjudicated as having a mental disorder, among others.
(Penal Code §§ 29800 to 29825, inclusive, 29900, 29905,
30305; Welfare and Institutions Code §§ 8100 and 8103.)
4)Establishes the Dealer's Record of Sale (DROS) Account, a
special fund, which receives various firearm registration
fees, and which may be used by the DOJ for firearms related
regulatory activities, including enforcement activities
related to possession. (Penal Code §§ 28225 and 28235.)
5)Establishes, in penal code section 28300, the Firearms Safety
and Enforcement Special Fund (FSESF), a continuously
appropriated fund, for use by the DOJ for specified purposes
related to weapons and firearms regulation. Monies in the
fund may be used for the following purposes:
a) Implementing and enforcing the provisions of the Firearm
Safety Certificate program;
b) Implementing and enforcing various gun law enforcement
programs; and,
c) Establishment, maintenance, and upgrading of equipment
and services necessary for firearms dealers to comply with
the DROS system.
6)Requires the DOJ, upon submission of firearm purchaser
information, to examine its records to determine if the
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purchaser is prohibited from possessing, receiving, owning, or
purchasing a firearm. Existing law prohibits the delivery of
a firearm within 10 days of the application to purchase, or,
after notice by the DOJ, within 10 days of the submission to
the DOJ of any corrections to the application to purchase, or
within 10 days of the submission to the DOJ of a specified
fee. (Penal Code §§ 28200 to 28250.)
7)Mandates those dealers notify DOJ that persons in applications
actually took possession of their firearms. (Penal Code §
28255.)
8)Requires that in connection with any sale, loan or transfer of
a firearm, a licensed dealer must provide the DOJ with
specified personal information about the seller and purchaser
as well as the name and address of the dealer. This personal
information of buyer and seller required to be provided
includes the name; address; phone number; date of birth; place
of birth; occupation; eye color; hair color; height; weight;
race; sex; citizenship status; and a driver's license number;
California identification card number; or, military
identification number. A copy of the DROS, containing the
buyer and seller's personal information, must be provided to
the buyer or seller upon request. (Penal Code §§ 28160,
28210, and 28215.)
9)Requires, in penal code section 30015(b) and (c), DOJ to
report, until March 1, 2019, on the following APPS statistics:
a) The degree to which the backlog in APPS has been reduced
or eliminated;
b) The number of agents hired for enforcement of APPS;
c) The number of people cleared from APPS;
d) The number of people added to APPS;
e) The number of people in APPS before and after the
relevant reporting period, including a breakdown of why
each person in APPS is prohibited from possessing a
firearm;
f) The number of firearms recovered due to enforcement of
APPS;
g) The number of contacts made during the APPS enforcement
efforts; and
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h) Information regarding task forces or collaboration with
local law enforcement on reducing the APPS backlog.
This bill:
1)Requires DOJ to complete an initial review of a match in the
daily queue of APPS within seven days of the match being
placed in the queue.
2)Requires DOJ to periodically reassess whether the department
can complete reviews of APPS matches within the daily queue
more efficiently.
3)Defines "match" as "an entry into the Automated Criminal
History System, or into any department automated information
system, of the name and other information of an individual who
may be prohibited from acquiring, owning, or possessing a
firearm, matched with a corresponding record of ownership or
possession of a firearm by that individual, as specified."
Background
On March 13, 2013, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee
approved a request for an audit of the DOJ's Armed Prohibited
Persons Program. (http://legaudit. assembly.
ca.gov/sites/legaudit.assembly.ca.gov/files/
March%2013%20Vote%20Tally.pdf.) The focus of the audit was on
"the reporting and identification of persons with mental illness
who are prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm." (Armed
Persons with Mental Illness, California State Auditor (2013)
Report 2013-103.) This audit revealed:
Justice has faced obstacles throughout the three-year
period we reviewed-2010 through 2012-in meeting its
workload demands for both the daily and the historical
review queues of prohibited persons in the APPS database.
During this time, Justice focused staff efforts on
addressing a rise in background checks that state law
requires when someone attempts to purchase a firearm, which
resulted in the APPS unit experiencing a daily backlog that
at times exceeded its internal goal of having no more than
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1,200 matches pending for initial review at any one time.
Although, on average, the APPS unit reviewed its daily APPS
database workload within a time frame of five days, a few
potential armed prohibited person cases waited more than
three years before the APPS unit made a final determination
about the person's prohibited status. Further, the APPS
unit has also experienced delays in processing a historical
backlog of firearms owners-nearly 380,000 as of July
2013-who remain to be reviewed from more than six years ago
when it implemented the APPS database.
(http://www.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/ 2013-103.pdf.)
On July 9, 2015, the State Auditor issued a follow-up report
that found:
. . . [I]n our previous report we noted that Justice had
backlogs in its two processing queues: a daily queue and a
historical queue. During late 2012 and early 2013, Justice
had a backlog of more than 1,200 matches pending initial
review in its daily queue-the queue that contains the daily
events from courts and mental health facilities that
indicate a match and may trigger a prohibition for an
individual to own a firearm. Because a backlog in this
queue means that Justice is not reviewing these daily
events promptly, we recommended that Justice establish a
goal of no more than 400 to 600 cases in the daily queue.
However, during this follow-up audit, we found that
Justice's daily queue during the first quarter of 2015 was
over 3,600 cases; this is six times higher than its revised
goal of no more than 600 cases. Just as it did during the
previous audit, Justice continues to cite its need to
redirect staff to another Bureau of Firearms (bureau)
priority, which has a statutory deadline, as the reason for
this backlog. We believe that, if Justice had a statutory
deadline on the initial processing of the matches in the
APPS database, it would encourage Justice to avoid
redirecting APPS unit staff. The chief of the bureau
believes that seven days would be a reasonable time frame
to complete an initial review of matches.
(http://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2015-504/summary.html.)
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The report recommended that the legislature require DOJ to
complete an initial review of cases in the daily queue within
seven days. (Id.) This legislation would simply implement this
recommendation.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis the
fiscal impact includes:
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.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/16)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/11/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
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Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Burke, Jones-Sawyer
Prepared by:Jessica Devencenzi / PUB. S. /
8/15/16 19:36:16
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