BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 2245 (Cooper) - Firearms: prohibitions: exemptions:
probation departments
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| |
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Version: June 30, 2016 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0 |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Hearing Date: August 8, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 2245 would exempt probation departments and sworn
members of a probation department from the prohibition related
to the purchase or sale of unsafe handguns, as specified. This
bill would additionally make it an infraction to leave a
handgun, purchased as authorized above, in an unattended vehicle
without locking the handgun in the vehicle's trunk or securing
the handgun in a locked container placed out of plain view.
Fiscal
Impact:
Department of Justice : Significant one-time costs potentially
in excess of the hundreds of thousands of dollars (Special
Fund*) over 24 months to update existing automation systems.
Probation departments : Unknown net impact on the ongoing
operational costs of probation departments resulting from the
authorization to purchase non-roster handguns. Any fiscal
impact to probation departments would be non-reimbursable.
New infraction : Minor non-reimbursable local enforcement
costs, offset to a degree by fine revenue for infraction
AB 2245 (Cooper) Page 1 of
?
violations.
*Dealers Record of Sale (DROS) Account - Staff notes the DROS
Account is structurally imbalanced, with an estimated reserve
balance of less than $1 million by year-end FY 2016-17. Current
revenues to the DROS Account are 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 a result, support from an alternate fund source,
potentially the Firearm Safety and Enforcement Special Fund
(FSEF), may be required to support the costs of this measure.
Background: Existing law makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment in
county jail for up to one year for any person in this state to
manufacture, import into the state for sale, offer for sale,
give, or lend a handgun not listed on the DOJ certified handgun
roster. (Penal Code (PC) § 32000 (a).)
Under existing law, this prohibition does not apply to the sale
or purchase of a handgun if the handgun is sold to, or purchased
by the following entities or sworn members of these entities for
use in the discharge of their official duties:
The Department of Justice
A police department
A sheriff's official
A marshal's office
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Highway Patrol
Any district attorney's office
Any federal law enforcement agency
The military or naval forces of this state or of the
United States
(PC § 32000 (b)(4).)
Proposed Law:
This bill would exempt probation departments, and sworn members
of a probation department, from the prohibition related to the
purchase or sale of unsafe handguns, for those officers who have
completed the firearms portion of the training course (PC §
832) prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training (POST). Additionally, this bill:
AB 2245 (Cooper) Page 2 of
?
Provides that a probation department or sworn member of
a probation department who obtains an unsafe handgun shall
not sell the handgun or otherwise transfer ownership of the
handgun to a person who is not exempt from the prohibition
to purchase or sell an unsafe handgun.
Makes it an infraction for a person who obtains an
unsafe handgun pursuant to the bill's provisions (a
probation department or sworn officer of a probation
department) to leave a handgun, purchased as authorized
above, in an unattended vehicle without locking the handgun
in the vehicle's trunk or securing the handgun in a locked
container placed out of plain view. Provides that a
violation of this requirement would be an infraction
punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.
Includes an exception to the infraction violation during
circumstances requiring immediate aid or action that are
within the course of a peace officer's official duties.
Related
Legislation: AB 2165 (Bonta) 2016 would extend the exemption
from the prohibition on the sale or purchase of a handgun not
listed on the DOJ certified handgun roster if the handgun is
sold to, or purchased by, specified state and local entities or
sworn members of those entities who have satisfactorily
completed the firearms portion of a training course prescribed
by POST. AB 2165 would additionally make it an infraction for a
person who obtains an unsafe handgun pursuant to the exemption
to leave the handgun in an unattended vehicle without locking
the handgun in the vehicle's trunk or without securing the
handgun in a locked container out of plain view. AB 2165 is
pending on the Senate Floor.
AB 2245 (Cooper) Page 3 of
?
Staff
Comments: Any additional local costs for enforcement of the new
infraction established in this bill are anticipated to be minor
and potentially offset to a degree by fine revenue.
The DOJ has indicated significant one-time costs over 24 months
to update existing automation systems. The additional workload
required would include assisting with the necessary analysis,
development, testing, and implementation of the required new
business and processing functionality to various systems.
Staff notes the DROS Account is structurally imbalanced, with a
projected reserve balance of less than $1 million at year end FY
2016-17. In order for the DOJ to fully fund the associated costs
of the mandates of this bill, support from an alternate fund
source, potentially the Firearms Safety and Enforcement Special
Fund, may be required, as the estimated costs cannot be absorbed
in FY 2016-17. The FSEF has a projected reserve balance of $15.3
million at year end FY 2016-17.
-- END --