BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin Murray, Chairman
585 (Kehoe)
Hearing Date: 1/19/06 Amended: 1/4/06
Consultant: Nora Lynn Policy Vote: Public Safety 5-0
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY:
SB 585 authorizes a law enforcement officer serving a domestic
violence protective order that includes an order to relinquish
firearms to request that the firearms be relinquished
immediately in a safe manner upon service of the order. The bill
retains other firearm relinquishment procedures available in
current law. In addition SB 585 shortens the time within which
the person must provide a receipt of firearm relinquishment to
the court from 72 to 48 hours. Violation of these terms is a
misdemeanor.
SB 585 also requires local law enforcement agencies to work with
the Attorney General's office to develop and disseminate model
policies and standards for firearm relinquishment pursuant to
this measure, constituting a state mandated local program.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Fund
Misdemeanor expansion Unknown increase in incarceration
costs,Local
offset by increased fine revenues
Mandate Unknown, potentially in excess of
$150General
(model policies)
Policies, forms Minor, absorbable costs General
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: This bill may meet the criteria to be placed on
the Suspense file.
Existing law prohibits a person subject to a protective order
from owning or acquiring a firearm while the protective order is
in effect. Willful violation of this prohibition is a crime. In
addition current law requires courts, when issuing protective
orders, also to order the respondent to relinquish any firearms
in his or her possession within 24 hours of being served with
the order by surrendering them to a law enforcement agency or
selling them to a licensed firearms dealer. The respondent must
also file a receipt with the court confirming his or her
firearms were relinquished within 72 hours of receiving the
order.
SB 585 would instead require a person ordered to surrender his
or her firearms pursuant to a protective order to do so
immediately upon the request of a law
-1-
Page 2
SB 585 (Kehoe)
enforcement officer or, consistent with current law, within 24
hours of being served with the protective order. The respondent
would also have 48 hours after being served with the order to
file a receipt with the court showing he or she surrendered his
or her firearms to a law enforcement agency or sold them through
a licensed firearms dealer. Failure to meet these requirements
would be a misdemeanor.
SB 585 further states the Attorney General (AG) "shall work"
with local law enforcement agencies to craft and disseminate
model policies and standards for the immediate relinquishment of
firearms. As currently drafted, this provision constitutes a
state-mandated local program. Reimbursable costs for some number
of the state's 58 county sheriffs and 336 municipal law
enforcement agencies to craft firearm relinquishment policies
are unknown, but if 200 of these agencies were to spend $750
each in staff time and materials to complete this work and then
seek reimbursement, General Fund costs would exceed $150,000. AG
costs should be minor and absorbable.
Last, SB 585 requires Judicial Council and the Department of
Justice to amend and approve protective order application form
changes requiring the petitioner to describe the number, types
and locations of any firearms known by the petitioner to be
owned or controlled by the respondent. Costs associated with
amending these forms are absorbable to these agencies as any
changes could be incorporated into the current form review and
adoption process.
STAFF NOTES the Governor's proposed 2006-07 Budget includes
$98.1 million for the first year of a 15-year payment plan to
reimburse counties for mandated costs for which funding was
deferred in years prior to 2004-05. This indicates a total
mandate debt of $14.7 billion.