BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1196
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 2, 2007

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mark Leno, Chair

                AB 1196 (Gaines) - As Introduced:  February 23, 2007 

          Policy Committee:                              Governmental  
          Organization Vote:                            13 - 0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill exempts firefighters who use flamethrowers in the  
          scope of their work from having to obtain a permit from the  
          State Fire Marshall (SFM).

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)There are no significant costs associated with this  
            legislation.  

          2)This bill results in a significant workload savings for the  
            SFM, compared with current law, because they will not be  
            required to process permit applications for many of the 30,000  
            fire fighters statewide.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpos  e.  This bill seeks to rectify an oversight in current  
          law.  In 2004, SB 1781 (Knight; Chapter 396, statutes of 2004)  
          deleted flame throwers from the definition of destructive  
          devices and required the SFM to adopt regulations governing the  
          possession and use of flamethrowers.  In doing this, the bill  
          erroneously eliminated the exemption for firefighters from  
          needing to obtain permits for flamethrowers.  This bill simply  
          corrects that inadvertent error.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081