ILA | California: Firearm-Related Bills Sent to Assembly Appropriations Suspense File

This week the Assembly Appropriations Committee sent Assembly Bills 18, 1064 and 1254 to the Suspense file for consideration at a later date and the Senate passed Senate Bill 220.  Bills in the Suspense file for both the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees will be considered later this month. Additionally several anti-gun bills remain eligible for votes on the Assembly floor.

Bills Sent to Suspense by the Assembly Appropriations Committee during the May 1 Hearing:  

Assembly Bill 18, sponsored by Assembly Member Marc Levine (D-10), would impose a $25 excise tax on a handgun, semiautomatic rifle or shotgun purchased as new from a retailer. AB 18 also creates the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Firearm Tax Fund, which the new excise tax will fund and the funds will be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to award competitive grants for the purpose of violence intervention and prevention.  

Assembly Bill 1064, sponsored by Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi (D-66), would place further restrictions on licensed firearms dealers including expressly allowing localities to impose requirements beyond state law and imposes an insurance an onerous insurance requirement including vicarious liability coverage.  

Assembly Bill 1254, sponsored by Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-54) would prohibit the ability to hunt, trap or otherwise take a bobcat except in specified circumstances including depredation permits.  

Passed by the Senate:

Senate Bill 220, sponsored by Senator Jerry Hill (D-13), would further increase the mandatory storage and security requirements for licensed firearms dealers. California already has some of the strictest laws in the country regarding how dealers must store and secure firearms.  This bill simply places more costs and mandates on law-abiding business owners.  SB 220 was passed by the Senate and will now move to the Assembly for further consideration.  

Bills Eligible for a Vote on the Assembly Floor:

Assembly Bill 61, sponsored by Assembly Member Philip Ting (D-19), would expand the list of those eligible to file “gun violence” restraining orders (GVRO) beyond the currently authorized reporters which include immediate family and law enforcement.  The new list is expanded to employers, coworkers and employees of a secondary or postsecondary school that the person has attended in the last 6 months.  GVRO’s can remove a person’s Second Amendment Rights, not based on criminal convictions or mental adjudications, but based on third party allegations often without due process until weeks after a person’s rights have been suspended.​  

Assembly Bill 1297, sponsored by Assembly Member Kevin McCarty (D-7), would remove the maximum fee a local authority can charge on the concealed carry permit application.  

Assembly Bill 1602, sponsored by Assembly Member Evan Low (D-7), would limit the ability of insurance companies to provide liability protections for firearm owners beyond loss of property or damage other than commercial policies. 

Assembly Bill 1669, sponsored by Assembly Member Rob Bonta (D-18), would raise the DROS fees paid by consumers when purchasing firearms and to vastly expand the scope of how these monies can be utilized by the California Department of Justice (DOJ). The DROS account at times has generated a massive surplus at times, so much so that tens of millions of dollars have been utilized to fund other DOJ programs including a $24 million dollar loan to the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) just a few short years ago. This legislation appears nothing more than an effort to put more cost constraints on gun owners to foot the bill for the massive cost pressures the legislature has put on DOJ in the recent years including ammunition background checks and long gun registration to name a few.   

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