BILL ANALYSIS Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair 962 (De Leon) Hearing Date: 08/27/2009 Amended: 06/22/2009 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Public Safety 4-3 _________________________________________________________________ ____ BILL SUMMARY: AB 962 makes numerous statutory changes regarding the sale of ammunition. Specifically, this bill: 1) Creates a system to license vendors of handgun ammunition. Makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by 6 months in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000, to transfer more than 50 rounds per month of handgun ammunition without a handgun ammunition vendor's license, except as specified; 2) Authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue handgun ammunition vendor licenses, as specified, charge license applicants sufficient fees to cover the cost of administering the license program, and establish regulations pertaining to those licenses; 3) Authorizes funds from the Dealers' Record of Sale (DROS) Special Account to be made available for expenditure by DOJ to offset the costs incurred to initiate the license program, and that the funds received by DOJ in relation to this licensing program shall be deposited in the DROS Special Account; 4) Requires that vendors not allow any employee who is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm to handle, sell or deliver handgun ammunition, that employees of ammunition vendors provide to the vendor a certificate of eligibility obtained from DOJ, and that vendors not allow handgun ammunition to be accessible to customers without the assistance of an employee of the vendor; 5) Provide that it is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000, for a vendor to fail to obtain and record specified personal information from ammunition buyers, to maintain that information for no less than five years on the vendor's premises, to make that information available to specified law enforcement officials, or to knowingly make a false entry or fail to obtain the required personal information from a handgun ammunition buyer, except as specified; 6) Creates a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 6 months in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000, is an individual: (A) is enjoined from activity as a member of a criminal street gang, to possess any ammunition or reloaded ammunition, except as specified; (B) transfers ammunition to any person they know or reasonably should know to be prohibited from owning handgun ammunition because that person is prohibited from possessing a firearm or is enjoined as a member of a criminal street gang, as specified; (C) delivers or transfers handgun ammunition in anything other than a face-to-face transaction and being provided with bona fide evidence of the transferee's identity; or (D) delivers or gives possession of any ammunition to any minor who he or she knows, or using reasonable care should know, is prohibited from possessing that ammunition, as specified. Page 2 AB 962 (De Leon) _________________________________________________________________ ____ Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund Creates new crimes **Unknown local costs, non-reimbursable** Local New DOJ Program $306 **Costs recovered from fees** Special* Sales tax loss $1,000-$1,500 $1,000-$1,500 General *DROS Account _________________________________________________________________ ____ STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. This bill makes numerous changes to existing law related to ammunition sales. The majority of the changes could result in local costs for enforcement and prosecution, offset to a degree by new fines. This bill also requires DOJ to create and administer a new program. Projections indicate that DOJ will eventually be able to recover the costs of administering the program through fees allowed in the bill (up to $50 for registry, and the expansion of existing fingerprinting fees). The projected revenue exceeds $500,000 per year in new fees. The cost of consultant services and oversight needed to design and develop enhancements to the Centralized List of ammunition vendors and their employees and Certificate of Eligibility for ammunition vendors, however, cannot be absorbed in DOJ's 2009-10 budget, which is when the work would have to take place. DOJ would need an additional $306,000 for consulting services to develop and implement the new program in 2009-10 and fees could not be collected until 2010-11. This bill will also result in decreased sales tax revenue to the degree that ammunition sales decrease as a result of additional, time-consuming procedures required for consumers. Neighboring states do not have the extensive restrictions on ammunition purchases proposed by this bill. Gun rights groups and members are opposed to this bill, and are resistant to giving the state additional personal information about their gun-related purchases. It is very likely that they will purchase ammunition out of state, especially considering its virtually unlimited storage life. Ammunition purchasers would not have to make a special trip often to a neighboring state, but could, whenever s/he happened to be traveling through another state, buy a substantial amount of ammunition and retain it for future use. If even 10% of purchases were shifted to other states, the sales tax loss to the state of California would be approximately $1,000,000.