BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1006|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1006
Author: Wolk (D), et al.
Amended: 4/11/16
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-2, 3/16/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan
NOES: Huff, Vidak
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 5-2, 4/19/16
AYES: Hancock, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning
NOES: Anderson, Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/16/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Firearm Violence Research Center
SOURCE: American College of Emergency Physicians
American Academy of Pediatrics, California
DIGEST: This bill requests the Regents of the University of
California (UC) establish a Firearm Violence Research Center
(Center) and administer the Center and a grant program pursuant
to, and consistent with, specified principles and goals.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Regulates the use, possession and sale of deadly weapons in
California. (Penal Code § 16000, et. seq.)
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2)Establishes, in the California Constitution, the UC, a public
trust to be administered by the Regents of the UC and grants
the Regents full powers of organization and government,
subject only to such legislative control as may be necessary
to insure security of its funds, compliance with the terms of
its endowments, statutory requirements around competitive
bidding and contracts, sales of property and the purchase of
materials, goods and services. (Article IX, Section (9)(a) of
the California Constitution.)
3)Provides that the statutes related to UC (and most other
aspects of the governance and operation of UC) are applicable
only to the extent that the Regents of the UC make such
provisions applicable. (Education Code § 67400.)
This bill:
1)Requests that the UC Regents establish the Center for purposes
of conducting research related to firearm violence and its
prevention.
2)States the legislative intent that the administration of the
Center be consistent with the following principles:
a) Works to address the nature, consequences, and
prevention of firearm violence, as described.
b) Conducts basic, translational, and transformative
research with a mission to provide the scientific evidence
on which sound firearm violence prevention policies and
programs can be based. Its research shall include, but not
be limited to, the effectiveness of existing laws and
policies intended to reduce firearm violence, including the
criminal misuse of firearms, and efforts to promote the
responsible ownership and use of firearms.
c) Identifies, implements, and evaluates innovative
prevention policies and programs with policymakers and
state agencies.
d) Recruits and provides specialized training opportunities
for new researchers, as specified.
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3)States the Legislature's intent to appropriate funds to a
Firearm Research Center Account for purposes specified in the
bill and further:
a) Authorizes the Center to seek additional federal, state
or private funds.
b) Requires that the Center administer a small grant
program that provides for:
i) An open, competitive peer review process modeled
after the National Institute of Health's granting making
process.
ii) A process by which all qualified investigators have
equal access to compete for funds.
4)States legislative intent that the UC report, on or before
December 31, 2017, and every 5 years thereafter, specified
information regarding the activities of the Center and
information pertaining to research grants.
5)Requires state agencies to comply with data requests initiated
by the Center only to the extent permitted by current law.
6)Requires that the Center provide copies of its research
publications to the Legislature and certain state agencies.
7)Makes a number of findings and declarations relative to the
effects of firearm violence on public health and safety and
the need for expanded research efforts and more funding.
8)Provides that these provisions are applicable to the UC only
if the Board of Regents, by resolution, makes it applicable.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. According to the author:
Research into gun-related injury, violence or death was
once the responsibility of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) and was funded by the federal
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government, along with research on all other public health
issues, including diseases, accidental injuries and deaths,
and food safety. However, in 1996, at the request of the
National Rifle Association, Congress passed the "Dickey
Amendment" by Representative Jay Dickey, a Republican from
Arkansas that put an end to this research at the CDC. As a
result, there are many important questions asked which
remain unanswered. We as policymakers are often left with
insufficient data and evidence to determine the most
effective policies to reduce the number of deaths and
injuries resulting from firearm violence.
Fortunately, California is well situated to fill this
research gap. The University of California has the
capacity to do what Congress has failed to do - get the
facts, apply sound scientific methods, and find answers
that lead to solutions.
Support for more firearm violence research is strong, and
includes the author of the Dickey Amendment, Jay Dickey
himself, the Republican and NRA member from Arkansas who
has since changed his mind. Congressman Dickey has come
out strongly in favor of more research, including SB 1006.
Let me quote from Congressman Dickey who co-wrote the
following with Mark Rosenberg, the former Director of the
CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control:
"Our nation does not have to choose between
reducing gun-violence injuries and safeguarding
gun ownership? States can serve as democracy's
laboratories for firearm violence prevention
research, as they do for other major health and
social problems? This research could have been
continued on gun violence without infringing on
the rights of gun owners, in the same fashion
that the highway industry continued its research
(on deaths and injuries from head-on collisions)
without eliminating the automobile."
2)Effect of this bill. Various research centers and programs
focus on public safety research, including firearms violence
prevention, such as the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and
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Research, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, and the
National Consortium for Violence Research supported by grant
funding from the National Science Foundation. In California,
the Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) at the UC
Davis Health System describes itself as follows:
The VPRP is a multi-disciplinary program of research and
policy development focused on the causes, consequences,
and prevention of violence. We place a particular focus on
firearm violence, and on the connections between violence,
substance abuse, and mental illness.
We helped develop the public health approach to violence
in the 1980s, and we apply that approach to everything we
do. Our mission is to develop and disseminate the research
evidence on which informed policy and practice are based.
Our approach to research and prevention is hemispheric,
focusing on areas that face the highest burden from
violence.
Our program of research on firearm violence is
internationally recognized as among the best of its kind.
We are now expanding in size and scope, adding new areas
of emphasis in alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, and
the social factors that determine risk for violence,
substance abuse, and mental illness.
Related/Prior Legislation
AB 2600 (Lackey, 2015) requests the UC Regents to establish the
California Institute for Aerospace, and specifies implementation
only to the extent that the Regents determine that adequate
funding for its purposes has been provided from federal, local,
or private sector sources in the annual Budget Act or in another
statute. The bill is pending hearing in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SB 466 (DeSaulnier, 2014) would have established the California
Institute for Criminal Justice Policy (CICJP) at the request of
the Legislature to the UC to house the CICJP to facilitate
independent and nonpartisan research on issues related to
criminal justice and public safety by experts in the UC system
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and beyond. The bill was held on the Suspense File of the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
UC Research Center: To the extent the Regents of the UC
resolve to make the provisions of this bill applicable,
potential one-time and ongoing funding of $1 million to $2
million (General Fund) annually would be required to establish
and support the Center, including staffing, administrative
costs, and the grant program.
State agencies: Potentially significant costs (General Fund /
Special Funds*) to specified state agencies to provide the
data necessary for the Center to conduct its research as
required upon proper request by the Center. It is unclear what
would constitute a "proper request" as it is undefined in this
bill. To the extent state agencies do not currently collect,
track, or have access to the data requested, costs could
potentially be very significant. The DPH and DMV have
indicated no significant fiscal impact to meet any potential
data requests.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/18/16)
American College of Emergency Physicians (co-source)
American Academy of Pediatrics, California (co-source)
Dave Jones, Insurance Commissioner
Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor
All Saints Church, Pasadena
Americans for Responsible Solutions
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians
California Academy of Family Physicians
California Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence
California College and University Policy Chiefs Association
California Medical Association
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California Police Chiefs Association
California Psychiatric Association
California Public Defenders Association
California School Nurses Association
Doctors for America
International Health & Epidemiology Research Center
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Los Angeles City Attorney
National Association of Social Workers
Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter
Violence Prevention Coalition of Orange County
United States Senator, Dianne Feinstein
Youth Alive!
Several individuals
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/18/16)
California Sportsman's Lobby
Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership
Firearms Policy Coalition
Gun Owners of America
Gun Owners of California
Outdoors Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Safari Club International
Several individuals
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the California Chapters of
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence:
Senate Bill 1006 seeks to establish the California
Firearm Violence Research Center at the University of
California to conduct basic research on
firearm-related violence. Specifically the Center is
charged with studying: 1) the nature of firearm
violence, including individual and societal
determinants of risk for involvement in firearm
violence, 2) the individual, community, and societal
consequences of firearm violence; and 3) strategies
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for prevention and treatment of firearm violence at
the individual, community, and societal levels. The
Center would be funded by the legislature and be
required to report annually on its activities.
Basic research is an essential element in formulating
and carrying out good public policy. California has
been at the forefront of passing strong firearm laws.
However, there is a need to conduct more research on
the efficacy of these laws and to suggest areas where
future legislative actions may be beneficial.
The limited research that has been conducted to date
is promising, however the large sample sizes needed to
draw robust conclusions has been inhibited by lack of
funding and lack of access to federal data. Since
1996, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has been banned from using federal funds to "advocate
or promote gun control", which has been construed as a
ban on any firearm violence research whatsoever. In
2011, this limitation on collecting scientific data
was extended to the National Institutes of Health.
Accordingly, for the past twenty years it has been
nearly impossible to conduct research into this
important public safety issue.
As the most populous state, California has both the
ability and the duty to take the lead in this area.
Over the years, California has been a beacon on many
policy issues to other states and the nation and so
too should it be on formulating policies to reduce gun
violence.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:According to the Firearms Policy
Coalition:
Our concerns with the measure are many fold but share
the common root; that the program is one-sided and the
"research" is to be used to guide the legislature on
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gun control, euphemistically called "firearms violence
prevention."
SB 1006 presumes that violence that uses firearms is a
"health issue," it presumes that studying things like
"?risk for involvement in firearm violence, whether as
a victim or a perpetrator." rather than being includes
and studying things like the effect of an armed
citizenry on crime and violence prevention, show how
the measure is transparently biased before the first
dollar is doled out.
SB 1006 is so sure of its pre-determined outcomes it
requires a grant applicant to agree that firearms
violence can be treated like a disease, going so far
as to say "Prevention and treatment of firearm
violence at the individual, community, and societal
levels." Yes, that's right "treatment." Given that
this is really to fund one narrow worldview, it isn't
surprising, but when it comes to appropriating
taxpayer monies, it is controversial.
This type of academic limitation discourages actual
social scientists from applying for the grant for fear
their research will not match up with the
pre-determinations of SB 1006, which seem to revolve
around the opinions of one man who is a medical doctor
affiliated with the UC Davis violence prevention
research program.
Sadly, the positive use of firearms and their
inoculating presence in the community is not part of
the narrow grant requirements. Violent crime thwarted
by firearms is not either, nor the deterrent effect of
having millions of armed households and over a million
firearms sold annually with no rise in "gun violence."
It would appear that the outcome has already been
decided and it only needs to pre-fund an existing
worldview and program at UC Davis--the obvious and
transparent sole-source recipient of this gift of
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public monies, to report back with new ways to harass
and burden law abiding citizens who contribute
positively to the public good by being responsible gun
owners, and concealed carry licensees.
Violence, in general, regardless of the form it takes
deserves our careful study. No academic grant,
funding or appropriation should be do narrow in its
requirements as to discourage honest evaluation and
competition by those who view violence and its
deterrence more holistically and have relevant
backgrounds in the social sciences than are allowed
for in SB 1006.
Prepared by: Jonas Austin / SFA / (916) 651-1520
5/18/16 18:37:28
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