SENATE COMMITTEE ON

BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Senator Steven Glazer, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular

Bill No: SB 609 Hearing Date: September 12, 2019

Subject: Professions and vocations

SUMMARY:

Makes various changes to the operations of the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS), including prohibiting BSIS from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age, consolidating the Private Investigator (PI) Fund and the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund, increasing certain fees within the PI Act, and ensuring Legislative review of BSIS by January 1, 2024.

NOTE: This measure has been referred to the Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10 (d) for consideration. The Committee may, by a vote of the majority, either: (1) hold the bill, or (2) return the bill to the Senate floor for consideration of the bill as amended in the Assembly.

Existing law:

1. Establishes BSIS within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to regulate and license those described in the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Collateral Recover Act, the PI Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, and the Private Security Services Act. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 6980 et seq, 7500 et seq, 7512 et seq, 7574 et seq, 7580 et seq, and 7590 et seq)
2. Requires certain fines and penalties to be deposited in the PI Fund. Requires DCA to receive and account for all money derived from the PI Act, to keep the money in the PI Fund, and to propose a separate budget and expenditure statement and a separate revenue statement outlining all money derived from and expending for the licensing and regulation of PIs.
   (BCP § 7571)
3. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and authorizes the BSIS to specify which courses satisfy the requirement. (BPC § 7541.2)
4. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant is a licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met and when they have determined that carrying and use of a firearm presents no apparent threat to public safety. (BCP §§ 7542.2, 7583.23, and 7596.3)
5. Prohibits any person, corporation, or firm from selling, loaning, or transferring a firearm to a minor or from selling a handgun to anyone under 21 years of age. (Penal Code (PEN) § 27505)
6. Requires sales, loans, or transfers of firearms to occur through a licensed firearms dealer unless certain requirements are met. (PEN §§ 27545, 27875, 27880)
7. Prohibits a person, even a licensed firearms dealer, from selling, supplying, delivering, or giving possession or control to any person under 21 years old, except if the person is an active peace officer, federal officer, law enforcement agent, a reserve peace officer, or a specified military personnel. (PEN § 27510)
8. Prohibits a private patrol officer from failing to properly maintain accurate and current records of proof of completion be each employee of the licensee of the course in the training of the power to arrest, the security officer skills training, and the annual practice and review, as specified. An employee’s completion of the course of training in the exercise of the power to arrest must be certified before the employee is placed at a duty station. Violation of this provision results in a fine of $500. (BCP §§ 7583.2(c-d) and 7587.8(c))
9. Requires a person registered pursuant to the Private Security Services Act to complete at least 32 hours of training in security officer skills within six months from the date the registration card is issued and that that 16 of the hours must be completed within 30 days of the registration card issuance. (BCP § 7583.6(b))
10. Prohibits a security guard or security patrolperson who is employed by a licensed PPO from being issued a registration card before the instructor of the exercise of the power to arrest course properly certifies that the employee has been taught and the certificate has been sent to the DCA. (BCP § 7583.8)
11. Requires a potential security guard employee, before accepting employment by a PPO, to apply for registration as a security guard and to obtain fingerprint cards for submission to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for use as specified.
    (BCP § 7583.9(a))
12. Requires a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applications and fingerprint cards that shall be provided by BSIS upon request. (BCP § 7583.9(c))
13. Requires a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card if it is feasible and practical and requires the employee to display their card upon the request of the client. (BCP § 7583.9(k))
14. Requires a PPO licensee to be responsible for ascertaining that their employees who are subject to registration are currently registered or have made proper application for registration and prohibits a PPO licensee from employing a person whose registration has expired or been revoked, denied, suspended, or canceled. (BCP § 7583.19)
15. Permits a PPO registrant to present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration for up to 90 days after the date of expiration if the renewed registration card has not been delivered prior to the expiration date of the prior registration. (BCP § 7583.20(d)
16. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2020. (BPC §§ 6981, 7511.5, 7573.5, 7576, 7588.8, 7599.80)
17. Establishes various fees related to licensure for PIs. (BCP §§ 7532 and 7570)

This bill:

1. Requires an application for a locksmith license to be made online or in writing to the chief of BSIS.
2. Consolidates the PI Fund with the PSS Fund into the PSS Fund.
3. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and requires BSIS to specify which courses and course providers satisfy the requirement on its internet website.
4. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met, including that the applicant is at least 21 years of age.
5. Removes the specific requirements for a PPO to maintain records and certify that a security guard employee has completed of powers to arrest training. Requires an applicant for a security guard registration to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest as a condition of registration.
6. Requires a course provider in the powers to arrest training course to issue a certificate to the person upon satisfactory completion of the specified course and requires a security guard registrant to maintain the certificate of completion for each training course.
7. Requires a PPO licensee to confirm a security guard employee holds a current and valid security guard registration before permitting them to perform the functions and duties of a security guard.
8. Requires a security guard registration applicant, instead of their potential employer, to submit an application, registration fees, and fingerprint cards to BSIS.
9. Removes the requirement for a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applicants and fingerprint cards of their employees.
10. Removes the requirement for a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card.
11. Clarifies that a person is prohibited from performing the duties of a security guard when their registration is expired.
12. Requires BSIS, instead of the DCA, to develop and approve a standard course and curriculum for skills training and removes the requirement for consultation with consumers, labor organizations, and subject matter experts to do so.
13. Requires the application for a security guard registration to be verified and include specified information about the course the applicant has taken in the exercise of the power to arrest.
14. Strikes various references to “applicants” and “employees” throughout the Private Security Services Act to reflect how changes to certain training requirements would be required before an applicant has been issued a registration card.
15. Removes the restriction of 90 days where a registrant may present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration.
16. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2024.
17. Increases various fees related to licensure for PIs.
18. Makes various technical, conforming, and/or non-substantive changes.

FISCAL EFFECT:

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis dated August 12, 2019, this bill will result in ongoing annual costs of approximately $16.9 million to extend BSIS beyond the January 1, 2020 sunset date, ongoing revenue increase of $803,830 annually resulting from the various PI fee changes, estimated revenue loss of $54,800 for no longer issuing a firearm permit to an applicant under 21 years of age, and minor and absorbable costs

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the Author. According to the Author, this bill is necessary to reflect Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee staff recommendations made to remedy issues identified through the BSIS Sunset Review process.  This measure is one of four sunset bills the Author is sponsoring this year.  According to the Author, this bill is necessary to make changes to the six practice Acts in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSIS.
2. Background.
   1. The Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS). There are currently over 433,000 BSIS licenses held by about 350,000 business and individuals serving in the areas of alarm companies, locks, private investigations, private security, repossession, and firearm and baton training facilities.

The Bureau regulates the following Acts:

1. Alarm Company Act
2. Locksmith Act
3. Private Investigator Act
4. Private Security Services Act
5. Proprietary Security Services Act
6. Collateral Recovery Act
   
   1. Oversight Hearings and Sunset Review of Licensing Boards and Programs.  Beginning in 2018, the Senate Business and Professions Committee and the Assembly Business and Professions Committee (Committees) began their comprehensive sunset review oversight of 10 regulatory entities and the DCA including:  California Architects Board, California Landscape Architects Technical Committee, Dental Board of California, Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, Court Reporters Board of California, California State Athletic Commission, BSIS, California Board of Accountancy, and the Contractors State License Board.   

The Committees conducted two oversight hearings in February and March.  This bill and the accompanying sunset bills are intended to implement legislative changes as recommended by staff of the Committees and which are reflected in the Background Papers prepared by Committee staff for each agency and program reviewed this year.

• 1. Firearms Permit and Age Requirement. BSIS is authorized to issue firearms permits to individuals over the age of 18 years old who are licensed to work as security guards, alarm company agents, and PIs. The firearms permit authorizes the permit holder to carry a firearm while performing the duties of their job associated with the license. However, the Penal Code prohibits the sale, loan, or transfer of a firearm to anyone under 21 years of age.

According to BSIS, “and the current business practices in the private security industry do not align with the Penal Code provisions relating to the loan of a firearm from one individual to another.” Although there are exemptions to this prohibition in the Penal Code, none of them align with a common business practice in the private security industry. BSIS claims that the “practice is most prevalent with PPO licensees who provide armed security services to their clients ‘loaning’ their security guard employees a firearm.”

BSIS is prohibited from issuing a firearms permit to any applicant who is prohibited by state or federal law to possess a firearm. Applicants for firearms permits must submit fingerprints for a DOJ and FBI criminal history background check as well as a firearm prohibition clearance from the DOJ Bureau of Firearms. Currently, according to BSIS, “if a firearms permit applicant is 18 to 20 years of age and eligible to possess a firearm, DOJ issues the Bureau a determination of eligibility letter strongly advising the Bureau to ensure the applicant’s receipt of a handgun conforms to [PC §§] 27505, 27875, 27880, or 27885, and that the letter does not in any way approve of the applicant’s receipt of a handgun that violates state or federal law. However, the [BSIS] is unable to provide such an assurance.”

Though other states permit a person under 21 years of age to purchase or possess a firearm, no other state, where the legal requirement to purchase or possess a firearm is 21 years, authorizes a private security licensee under 21 years to work armed.

Assembly Bill 2220 (Daly, Chapter 423, Statutes of 2014) allows PPO licensees to be the registered owner of a firearm as long as he or she meets certain conditions with the California DOJ. The firearm may also be associated with a security guard employee who holds a firearms permit. This program has not gone live and the DOJ is still in the process of making the required changes to its tracking system and regulations. However, once the system does go live, it will not address the issues relating to lending a firearm to an individual 18 to 20 years of age.

• 1. The Private Investigator Fund. BSIS oversees two funds: the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund and the PI Fund. The licensee population described in the PI Act has historically, and currently, preferred a separate fund as a means of hopefully prevent their fees from subsidizing other licensee populations and to prevent their relatively small licensee population from being overlooked in comparison with larger licensee populations within the BSIS.

The PI Fund currently supports four (4) full-time positions and one (1) half-time position. According to BSIS, “PI licensing and enforcement activities exceed the workload of these positions. Having to maintain separate revenue-expenditure, personnel, and other accounting records for two separate funds may be unnecessary and increases the BSIS’s overall administrative costs.”

A recent independent audit recommended workload analyses to be completed every three to five years to ensure the PSS Fund is not subsidizing the PI Fund. In 2015, BSIS carried out such a review “because of cross-fund concerns and increased the amount the PI Fund reimburses the PSS Fund through the 2016-17 budget process.” BSIS reports that “absent establishing a time accounting system, which would be costly to develop and time-consuming to use, conducting routine analyses creates a workload that cannot be absorbed within existing staff resources without impacting other Bureau operations” and that “the use of independent auditors to ensure one fund is not subsidizing another is expensive.”

Additionally, the audit recommended exploring the possibility of combining the two funds due to the cross-funding issue and the PI Fund’s fluctuating revenue stream. BSIS reports that “for the past several years PI revenues have been dropping due to a decline in initial and renewal PI applications resulting in a revenue-expenditure fund imbalance and the need to increase fees.”

BSIS believes that “its operations would be optimized by having all fees support only one fund.”

Additionally, some portions of the Alarm Company Act and the Collateral Recovery Act require moneys to be deposited into the PI Fund. This is understood to be a drafting error from when the funds were separated.

• 1. Continued Education in Security Guard Skills Training. Currently, a PPO licensee is required to provide its security guard employees eight hours of guard skills training annually. Guard registrants who are not working are not required to complete the annual training. And, guards who are employed by businesses to provide solely unarmed security services are not required to complete the annual training. As such, BSIS frequently encounters guard registrant who have not completed this required continuing education training. BSIS lacks the statutory authority to take action against registrants who have not kept their guard skills current and untrained guards can compromise public safety.

This bill would place the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant, instead of the employing PPO, and require the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training. Guard registrants would be able to obtain the annual training from either their PPO employer or any BSIS-licensed Firearms or Baton Training Facility or any BSIS-approved trainer authorized to provide security guard skills training.

This bill would additionally require security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be similarly responsible for completing annual guard skills training if they wish to maintain a valid registration. This would place the financial burden of obtaining this continuing education requirement on security guard registrants instead of on their employers, though some employers may continue to provide it. BSIS estimates that this training costs approximately $50 for a four hour continuing security guard skills training class. PPO employers are not required currently to pay for this training.

Currently, if a PPO has failed to provide its employees the required annual training, BSIS can take disciplinary action against the PPO licensee. According to BSIS, “there may be Guard registrants no longer in that Operator’s employ who did not complete the training and have moved on to another employer. The Bureau believes placing the responsibility for completing the annual training on the Guard registrant better ensures these individuals are completing it so that they are more likely to carry out their duties, whether in the employ of an Operator or other lawful, licensed business, competently and in a manner that supports and promotes consumer protection and public safety.”

• 1. The Powers to Arrest Training. An application for a security guard registration is required to include the applicant’s employing PPO licensee’s name and license number and the employer’s signature attesting that the applicant has completed a training course in the exercise of the power to arrest. According to BSIS, “these requirements appear to be an inadvertent carryover from when the Private Security Services Act authorized the Operator employer to issue a temporary registration to an individual it has hired provided the individual submitted an application for Guard registration prior to the individual posting duty to provide Guard services.”

BSIS reports that, “currently, many Guard registration applicants are not employed by an Operator at the time they submit their application” and that “many Operators seek to hire individuals who already hold a Guard registration instead of having the individual submit the application upon employment and wait for a registration to be issued.” Because of this, there is currently no way for an unemployed security guard registration applicant to submit an application that complies with statue. In practice, BSIS has been accepting the signature of the powers to arrest training instructor in lieu of the employee’s signature.

BSIS currently requires the applicant to provide:

• The name of the training facility or business where the training was completed and its license number;
• The name of the course instructor;
• The serial number of the course certificate of completion issued to the applicant;
• Certification, under penalty of perjury, that the information he/she provided on the online application is correct.

However, this practice does not align with current law.

Moreover, BSIS claims that it is not logistically possible to obtain an employer’s or instructor’s signature on an online BreEZe application barring having the applicant upload a scanned copy of the completed paper application. In the past, BSIS required individuals applying for firearms permits via BreEZe to scan and upload paper applications because of similar signature requirements. Over 40% of the approximate 2,160 monthly applications did not include the scanned copy. Eventually, BSIS had to pull firearms permit applications from BreEZe because BSIS could not keep up with the significant workload that came with handling the deficient applications. Based on this experience, BSIS anticipates a high deficiency rate, and thus a high workload increase, if signatures are required to verify an applicant has completed the powers to arrest training.

BSIS asserts that “maintaining the current requirements creates artificial barriers for Guard applicants who are not currently employed or are employed by a business who is not required to hold an Operator license to provide the required information on the application. It also means that all Guard registration applications received via BreEZe are not compliant with the law.”

This bill would eliminate the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead require the guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training in order to align the law with current industry and BSIS processes.

• 1. Private Investigator Fees. On September 7, 2018, an independent consulting firm completed its fee audit review of the BSIS’s PI fees. The audit found that “fee income has been up and down slightly over the last three Fiscal Years (FY), but overall revenues have not kept up with expenditures since FY 14-15. Moreover, scheduled fees have not been raised for 20 years. The current PI fee structure is insufficient to recover actual PI-related costs and will deplete the reserve in FY 19-20 unless action is taken before then to increase fees.”

Unless fee adjustments are made in the near future, the BSIS will have insufficient revenue to continue operating many of its licensing programs funded through PI fees. SB 609 would increase fees within the PI Act, including those for application, examination, and license renewal. The fee increases are outlined in the following table.

SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:

Support:

None on file as of September 11, 2019

Opposition:

None on file as of September 11, 2019

-- END --

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 609

Author: Glazer (D)

Amended: 7/11/19

Vote: 21

SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/22/19

AYES: Glazer, Chang, Archuleta, Dodd, Galgiani, Hill, Leyva, Pan, Wilk

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-0, 5/16/19

AYES: Portantino, Bates, Bradford, Hill, Jones, Wieckowski

SENATE FLOOR: 38-0, 5/23/19

AYES: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Bates, Beall, Borgeas, Bradford, Caballero, Chang, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Grove, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Jones, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Stone, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener, Wilk

SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 9/12/19 (Pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10)

AYES: Glazer, Chang, Archuleta, Dodd, Galgiani, Hill, Leyva, Pan, Wilk

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-2, 9/10/19 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Professions and vocations

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill makes various changes to the operations of the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS).

Assembly Amendments

update BSIS fees for one license type.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes BSIS, under the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to regulate and license those described in the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Collateral Recover Act, the Private Investigator (PI) Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, and the Private Security Services Act. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 6980 et seq, 7500 et seq, 7512 et seq, 7574 et seq, 7580 et seq, and 7590 et seq)
2. Requires the DCA to receive and account for all money derived from the PI Act, to keep the money in the PI Fund, and to propose a separate budget and expenditure statement and a separate revenue statement outlining all money derived from and expending for the licensing and regulation of PIs. (BPC § 7571)
3. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant is a licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met and when they have determined that carrying and use of a firearm presents no apparent threat to public safety. (BPC §§ 7542.2, 7583.23, and 7596.3)
4. Prohibits any person, corporation, or firm from selling, loaning, or transferring a firearm to a minor or from selling a handgun to anyone under 21 years of age, with limited exceptions. (Penal Code (PEN) §§ 27505 and 27510)
5. Prohibits a private patrol officer (PPO) from failing to properly maintain accurate and current records of proof of completion be each employee of the licensee of the course in the training of the power to arrest, the security officer skills training, and the annual practice and review, as specified. (BPC §§ 7583.2(c-d))
6. Requires a person registered pursuant to the Private Security Services Act to complete security officer skills, as specified. (BPC § 7583.6(b))
7. Requires a PPO licensee to annually provide each registered employee with 8 hours of review or practice of security officer skills, as described, and to maintain records of such training. (BPC § 7583.6(f))
8. Requires a person entering the employ of a licensee as a security guard or a security patrolperson to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest before being assigned to a duty location. (BPC § 7583.6(a))
9. Prohibits a security guard or security patrolperson who is employed by a licensed PPO from being issued a registration card before the instructor of the exercise of the power to arrest course properly certifies that the employee has been taught and the certificate has been sent to the DCA. (BPC § 7583.8)
10. Requires the application for a security guard registrant who is employed by a PPO to be verified and include information about the employee, employer, and the employer’s certification that the employee received a course in the exercise of the power to arrest. (BPC § 7583.10)
11. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2020. (BPC §§ 6981, 7511.5, 7573.5, 7576, 7588.8, 7599.80)
12. Establishes various fees related to licensure for PIs. (BCP §§ 7532 and 7570)

This bill:

1. Consolidates the PI Fund with the Private Security Services Fund into the PSS Fund.
2. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and requires BSIS to specify which courses and course providers satisfy the requirement on its internet website.
3. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met, including that the applicant is at least 21 years of age.
4. Removes the specific requirements for a PPO to maintain records and certify that a security guard employee has completed of powers to arrest training. Requires an applicant for a security guard registration to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest as a condition of registration and to maintain the certificate of completion for each training course.
5. Requires a security guard registration applicant, instead of their potential employer, to submit an application, registration fees, and fingerprint cards to BSIS and removes the requirement for a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applicants and fingerprint cards of their employees.
6. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if their practice acts were scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2024.
7. Increases various fees related to licensure for PIs.
8. Makes various technical, conforming, and non-substantive changes.

Background

BSIS. There are currently over 433,000 BSIS licenses held by about 350,000 business and individuals serving in the areas of alarm companies, locks, private investigations, private security, repossession, and firearm and baton training facilities.

Firearms Permit and Age Requirement. BSIS is authorized to issue firearms permits to individuals over the age of 18 years old who are licensed to work as security guards, alarm company agents, and PIs. However, the Penal Code prohibits the sale, loan, or transfer of a firearm to anyone under 21 years of age. According to BSIS, “and the current business practices in the private security industry do not align with the Penal Code provisions relating to the loan of a firearm from one individual to another.” Although there are exemptions to this prohibition in the Penal Code, none of them align with a common business practice in the private security industry.

PI Fund. BSIS oversees two funds: the PSS Fund and the PI Fund. The licensee population described in the PI Act has historically, and currently, preferred a separate fund as a means of hopefully prevent their fees from subsidizing other licensee populations and to prevent their relatively small licensee population from being overlooked in comparison with larger licensee populations within the BSIS. BSIS believes that “its operations would be optimized by having all fees support only one fund.”

Continued Education in Security Guard Skills Training. Currently, a PPO licensee is required to provide its security guard employees eight hours of guard skills training annually. Guard registrants who are not working are not required to complete the annual training. And, guards who are employed by businesses to provide solely unarmed security services are not required to complete the annual training. As such, BSIS frequently encounters guard registrant who have not completed this required continuing education training.

This bill places the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant, instead of the employing PPO, and requires the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training. Guard registrants would be able to obtain the annual training from either their PPO employer or any BSIS-licensed Firearms or Baton Training Facility or any BSIS-approved trainer authorized to provide security guard skills training. This bill additionally requires security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be similarly responsible for completing annual guard skills training if they wish to maintain a valid registration.

The Powers to Arrest Training. An application for a security guard registration is required to include the applicant’s employing PPO licensee’s name and license number and the employer’s signature attesting that the applicant has completed a training course in the exercise of the power to arrest. Because of this, there is currently no way for an unemployed security guard registration applicant to submit an application that complies with statue. In practice, BSIS has been accepting the signature of the powers to arrest training instructor in lieu of the employee’s signature. This bill eliminates the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead requires the guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training in order to align the law with current industry and BSIS processes.

Private Investigator Fees. On September 7, 2018, an independent consulting firm completed its fee audit review of the BSIS’s PI fees. The audit found that “fee income has been up and down slightly over the last three Fiscal Years, but overall revenues have not kept up with expenditures since FY 14-15. Moreover, scheduled fees have not been raised for 20 years. The current PI fee structure is insufficient to recover actual PI-related costs and will deplete the reserve in FY 19-20 unless action is taken before then to increase fees.” Unless fee adjustments are made in the near future, the BSIS will have insufficient revenue to continue operating many of its licensing programs funded through PI fees.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill will result in ongoing annual costs of approximately $16.9 million to extend BSIS beyond the January 1, 2020 sunset date, ongoing revenue increase of $803,830 annually resulting from the various PI fee changes, estimated revenue loss of $54,800 for no longer issuing a firearm permit to an applicant under 21 years of age, and minor and absorbable costs.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/10/19)

None received

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/10/19)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 68-2, 9/10/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Daly, Eggman, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NOES: Diep, Petrie-Norris

NO VOTE RECORDED: Brough, Choi, Flora, Fong, Gallagher, Kiley, Obernolte, Patterson, Ramos

Prepared by: Samantha Tucci / B., P. & E.D. /

9/12/19 16:10:28

**** END ****

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 609

Author:(Glazer)

As Amended Ver:July 11, 2019

Majority vote

SUMMARY:

This bill extends the sunset date for the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (Bureau or BSIS), within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2024, and makes various changes and adjustments to the practice acts regulated by the Bureau as recommended through the sunset review process. Most notably, this bill amends the Private Investigator Act to increase various private investigator (PI) application, license, renewal and other fees; prohibits the Bureau from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age; merges the Private Investigator Fund and the Private Security Services Fund into a single special fund and makes a variety of changes to security guard training requirements and responsibilities.

Major Provisions

1. Extends the sunset review date for the BSIS until January 1, 2024.
2. Allows for an application for a locksmith license to be made either online or in writing to the chief of BSIS.
3. Merges the PI Fund with the Private Security Services Fund into the Private Security Services Fund.
4. Requires the BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and requires BSIS to specify which courses and course providers satisfy the requirement on its internet website.
5. Requires the BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met, including that the applicant is at least 21 years of age.
6. Removes the specific requirements for a private patrol operator (PPO) to maintain records and certify that a security guard employee has completed of powers to arrest training. Requires an applicant for a security guard registration to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest as a condition of registration.
7. Requires a course provider in the powers to arrest training course to issue a certificate to the person upon satisfactory completion of the specified course and requires a security guard registrant to maintain the certificate of completion for each training course.
8. Requires a PPO licensee to confirm a security guard employee holds a current and valid security guard registration before permitting them to perform the functions and duties of a security guard.
9. Requires a security guard registration applicant, instead of their potential employer, to submit an application, registration fees, and fingerprint cards to BSIS.
10. Removes the requirement for a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applicants and fingerprint cards of their employees.
11. Removes the requirement for a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card.
12. Clarifies that a person is prohibited from performing the duties of a security guard when their registration is expired.
13. Requires the BSIS, instead of the DCA, to develop and approve a standard course and curriculum for skills training and removes the requirement for consultation with consumers, labor organizations, and subject matter experts to do so.
14. Requires the application for a security guard registration to be verified and include specified information about the course the applicant has taken in the exercise of the power to arrest.
15. Strikes various references to "applicants" and "employees" throughout the Private Security Services Act to reflect how changes to certain training requirements would be required before an applicant has been issued a registration card.
16. Removes the restriction of 90 days where a registrant may present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration.
17. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2024.
18. Makes various technical and nonsubstantive changes.

COMMENTS:

In order to ensure that California's myriad professional boards and bureaus are meeting the state's public protection priorities, authorizing statutes for these regulatory bodies are subject to statutory dates of repeal, at which point the entity "sunsets" unless the date is extended by the Legislature. The sunset process provides a regular forum for discussion around the successes and challenges of various programs and the consideration of proposed changes to laws governing the regulation of professionals.

According to the Author:

According to the author, "This bill is necessary to reflect Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee staff recommendations made to remedy issues identified through the BSIS Sunset Review process. This measure is one of four sunset bills the Author is sponsoring this year. This bill is necessary to make changes to the six practice Acts in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSIS."

Arguments in Support:

None on file

Arguments in Opposition:

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS:

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

1. On-going annual costs of approximately $16.9 million (Private Security Services Fund) and $581,000 (Private Investigator Fund) to extend the Bureau beyond the January 1, 2020, sunset date. These funds are self-supporting with fee revenue, although the Private Investigator Fund is projected to become insolvent in fiscal year 2019-20. The new PI fee structure proposed in the bill addresses this issue.
2. Ongoing revenue increase of $803,830 (Private Investigator Fund) annually to the Bureau from the various PI fee changes.
3. Estimated revenue loss of $54,800 (Private Security Services Fund) to the Bureau for no longer issuing a firearm permit to an applicant under 21 years of age. For fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 through FY 2017-18, approximately 4% (548) of the initial firearms permit applications received were from applicants between the ages of 18-20. The Bureau indicates this loss is minor and absorbable.
4. The Bureau anticipates any costs associated with the remaining provisions of the bill to be minor and absorbable.

VOTES:

SENATE FLOOR: 38-0-0

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Bates, Beall, Borgeas, Bradford, Caballero, Chang, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Grove, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Jones, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Stone, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener, Wilk

ASM BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS: 17-1-1

YES: Low, Brough, Arambula, Bloom, Chen, Chiu, Cunningham, Eggman, Gipson, Gloria, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Ting

NO: Obernolte

ABS, ABST OR NV: Fong

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 15-2-1

YES: Gonzalez, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Eggman, Fong, Gabriel, Eduardo Garcia, Maienschein, Quirk, Robert Rivas

NO: Diep, Petrie-Norris

ABS, ABST OR NV: Obernolte

UPDATED:

VERSION: July 11, 2019

CONSULTANT: Danielle Sires / Robert Sumner / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN: 0001729

Date of Hearing: August 21, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 609

Author:(Glazer) – As Amended Ver:July 11, 2019

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill extends the sunset date for the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (Bureau), within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2024, and makes various changes and adjustments to the practice acts regulated by the Bureau as recommended through the sunset review process. Most notably, this bill amends the Private Investigator Act to increase various private investigator (PI) application, license, renewal and other fees; prohibits the Bureau from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age; merges the Private Investigator Fund and the Private Security Services Fund into a single special fund and makes a variety of changes to security guard training requirements and responsibilities.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. On-going annual costs of approximately $16.9 million (Private Security Services Fund) and $581,000 (Private Investigator Fund) to extend the Bureau beyond the January 1, 2020, sunset date. These funds are self-supporting with fee revenue, although the Private Investigator Fund is projected to become insolvent in fiscal year 2019-20. The new PI fee structure proposed in the bill addresses this issue.
2. Ongoing revenue increase of $803,830 (Private Investigator Fund) annually to the Bureau from the various PI fee changes.
3. Estimated revenue loss of $54,800 (Private Security Services Fund) to the Bureau for no longer issuing a firearm permit to an applicant under 21 years of age. For fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 through FY 2017-18, approximately 4% (548) of the initial firearms permit applications received were from applicants between the ages of 18-20. The Bureau indicates this loss is minor and absorbable.
4. The Bureau anticipates any costs associated with the remaining provisions of the bill to be minor and absorbable.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. This bill makes several changes to the six practice acts regulated by the Bureau recommended in the sunset review report and its subsequent participation in a sunset review hearing on February 26, 2019.
2. Background. The Bureau regulates private investigators, repossessors, uniformed security guards, private patrol operators, proprietary private security officers, alarm company operators, alarm agents, locksmiths and firearm and baton training facilities. Currently, there are over 433,000 Bureau licenses held by approximately 350,000 businesses and individuals. The Bureau issues an average of 1,157 company licenses, 54,552 employee registrations and 11,217 Bureau firearm permits. On average, the Bureau renews 9,795 company licenses, 92,729 employee registrations and 11,376 Bureau firearm permits annually.
3. Private Investigator Fees. On September 7, 2018, an independent consulting firm completed its fee audit review of the Bureau’s PI fees. The audit found:

Fee income has been up and down slightly over the last three Fiscal Years, but overall revenues have not kept up with expenditures since FY 14-15. Moreover, scheduled fees have not been raised for 20 years. The current PI fee structure is insufficient to recover actual PI-related costs and will deplete the reserve in FY 19-20 unless action is taken before then to increase fees.

This bill contains the necessary fee adjustments to ensure the Bureau will have sufficient revenue to continue operating its licensing programs funded through PI fees.

1. Related Legislation. This bill is one of nine measures introduced this session to extend the sunset on licensing boards within DCA. The others include SB 607 (Glazer) pending with the Assembly Business and Professions Committee and SB 606 (Glazer), SB 608 (Glazer) and SB 610 (Glazer), pending with this committee. The Assembly bills include AB 1520 (Low), AB 1521 (Assembly Committee on Business and Professions), AB 1522 (Low) and AB 1523 (Low). All are pending on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Suspense File.

SB 385 (Jones), of this Legislative Session, would make engaging in the business of a PI or presenting oneself as a PI when one is not licensed punishable as a misdemeanor, instead of as an infraction. This bill would also require DCA to make PI licensees searchable by an individual name on their internet website and require the Bureau to issues an enhanced photo identification card to licensees upon issuance or renewal. That bill is pending on the Assembly Floor.

1. Prior Legislation. SB 1196 (Hill), Chapter 800, Statutes of 2016, was the most recent sunset extension bill for the Bureau.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: July 9, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS

Evan Low, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 609

Author:(Glazer) – As Amended Ver:April 25, 2019

SENATE VOTE: 38-0

SUBJECT: Professions and vocations

SUMMARY: Extends the sunset date for the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) until January 1, 2024; prohibits the BSIS from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age; merges the Private Investigator Fund and the Private Security Services Fund into a single special fund; places responsibility for completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant and requires the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training; requires security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a private patrol operator license to be responsible for completing annual guard skills training in order to maintain a valid registration; eliminates the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead requires the security guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training; and makes other technical and clarifying changes to the six practice acts regulated by the BSIS.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the BSIS within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), which licenses and regulates the private security industry, private investigators, locksmiths, repossessors, and alarm companies. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 7512 et seq.)
2. Establishes the Private Security Services Act, which provides for the BSIS’s regulation of private patrol operators (PPOs) who employ private security guards and security patrolpersons. (BPC §§ 7580 et seq.)
3. Establishes the Proprietary Security Services Act, which provides for the BSIS’s regulation of proprietary private security employers and officers. (BPC §§ 7574 et seq.)
4. Establishes the Alarm Company Act, which provides for the BSIS’s regulation of alarm company operators and alarm agents. (BPC §§ 7590 et seq.)
5. Establishes the Collateral Recovery Act, which provides for the BSIS’s regulation of repossessors. (BPC §§ 7500 et seq.)
6. Establishes the Private Investigator Act, which provides for the BSIS’s regulation of private investigators (PIs). (BPC §§ 7512 et seq.)
7. Establishes the Locksmith Act, which provides for the BSIS’s regulation of locksmiths. (BPC §§ 6980 et seq.)
8. Requires the powers and duties of the BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2020. (BPC §§ 6981, 7511.5, 7573.5, 7576, 7588.8, 7599.80)
9. Requires an application for a locksmith license to be made in writing to the BSIS chief. (BPC § 6980.17)
10. Requires penalties collected when the Attorney General brings action against an unlicensed repossession agency, an unlicensed PI, or a person representing themself as a licensed investigator when they do not hold a license to be deposited in the PI Fund. (BPC §§ 7502.6(b), 7523(c), 7523(e), 7523.5(d))
11. Requires specified administrative fines collected that relate to disciplinary proceedings for PIs and Alarm Companies to be deposited in the PI Fund. (BPC §§ 7564, 7591.9)
12. Requires the DCA to receive and account for all money derived from the Private Investigator Act, to keep the money in the PI Fund, and to propose a separate budget and expenditure statement and a separate revenue statement outlining all money derived from and expending for the licensing and regulation of PIs. (BCP § 7571)
13. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and authorizes the BSIS to specify which courses satisfy the requirement. (BPC § 7541.2)
14. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant is a licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met and when they have determined that carrying and use of a firearm presents no apparent threat to public safety. (BCP §§ 7542.2, 7583.23, 7596.3)
15. Prohibits any person, corporation, or firm from selling, loaning, or transferring a firearm to a minor or from selling a handgun to anyone under 21 years of age. (Penal Code (PEN) § 27505)
16. Requires sales, loans, or transfers of firearms to occur through a licensed firearms dealer unless certain requirements are met. (PEN §§ 27545, 27875, 27880)
17. Prohibits a person, including a licensed firearms dealer, from selling, supplying, delivering, or giving possession or control to any person under 21 years old, except if the person is an active peace officer, federal officer, law enforcement agent, a reserve peace officer, or a specified military personnel. (PEN § 27510)
18. Prohibits a private patrol officer from failing to properly maintain accurate and current records of proof of completion be each employee of the licensee of the course in the training of the power to arrest, the security officer skills training, and the annual practice and review, as specified. An employee’s completion of the course of training in the exercise of the power to arrest must be certified before the employee is placed at a duty station. Violation of this provision results in a fine of $500. (BCP §§ 7583.2, 7587.8)
19. Requires a person entering the employ of a licensee as a security guard or a security patrolperson to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest before being assigned to a duty location. (BCP § 7583.6)
20. Requires a person registered pursuant to the Private Security Services Act to complete at least 32 hours of training in security officer skills within six months from the date the registration card is issued and that that 16 of the hours must be completed within 30 days of the registration card issuance. (BCP § 7583.6)
21. Requires a course provider to issue a certificate to a security guard upon satisfactory completion of a required course and authorizes a private patrol operator to provide additional training programs and courses. Requires a registrant who is unable to provide their employer the certificate to complete 16 hours or the training within 30 days of the registrant’s employment date and the 16 remaining hours within six months of the registrant’s employment date. (BCP § 7583.6)
22. Requires the DCA to develop and approve by regulation a standard course and curriculum for skills training and authorizes the course of training to be administered, tested, and certified by any licensee, organization, or school approved by the DCA. Requires the DCA to consult with consumers, labor organizations, and subject matter experts to do so. (BCP § 7583.6)
23. Requires a PPO licensee, on and after January 1, 2005, to annually provide each registered employee with 8 hours of review or practice of security officer skills, as described, and to maintain records of such training. (BCP § 7583.6)
24. Prohibits a security guard or security patrolperson who is employed by a licensed PPO from being issued a registration card before the instructor of the exercise of the power to arrest course properly certifies that the employee has been taught and the certificate has been sent to the DCA. (BCP § 7583.8)
25. Requires a potential security guard employee, before accepting employment by a PPO, to apply for registration as a security guard and to obtain fingerprint cards for submission to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for use as specified.
    (BCP § 7583.9)
26. Requires a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applications and fingerprint cards that shall be provided by the bureau upon request. (BCP § 7583.9)
27. Requires a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card if it is feasible and practical and requires the employee to display their card upon the request of the client. (BCP § 7583.9)
28. Requires the application for a security guard registration who is employed by a PPO to be verified and include information about the employee, employer, and the employer’s certification that the employee received a course in the exercise of the power to arrest. (BCP § 7583.10)
29. Requires a PPO licensee to be responsible for ascertaining that their employees who are subject to registration are currently registered or have made proper application for registration and prohibits a PPO licensee from employing a person whose registration has expired or been revoked, denied, suspended, or canceled. (BCP § 7583.19)
30. Permits a PPO registrant to present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration for up to 90 days after the date of expiration if the renewed registration card has not been delivered prior to the expiration date of the prior registration. (BCP § 7583.20)

THIS BILL:

1. Extends the sunset review date for the BSIS until January 1, 2024.
2. Allows for an application for a locksmith license to be made either online or in writing to the chief of BSIS.
3. Merges the PI Fund with the Private Security Services Fund into the Private Security Services Fund.
4. Requires the BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and requires BSIS to specify which courses and course providers satisfy the requirement on its internet website.
5. Requires the BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met, including that the applicant is at least 21 years of age.
6. Removes the specific requirements for a PPO to maintain records and certify that a security guard employee has completed of powers to arrest training. Requires an applicant for a security guard registration to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest as a condition of registration.
7. Requires a course provider in the powers to arrest training course to issue a certificate to the person upon satisfactory completion of the specified course and requires a security guard registrant to maintain the certificate of completion for each training course.
8. Requires a PPO licensee to confirm a security guard employee holds a current and valid security guard registration before permitting them to perform the functions and duties of a security guard.
9. Requires a security guard registration applicant, instead of their potential employer, to submit an application, registration fees, and fingerprint cards to BSIS.
10. Removes the requirement for a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applicants and fingerprint cards of their employees.
11. Removes the requirement for a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card.
12. Clarifies that a person is prohibited from performing the duties of a security guard when their registration is expired.
13. Requires the BSIS, instead of the DCA, to develop and approve a standard course and curriculum for skills training and removes the requirement for consultation with consumers, labor organizations, and subject matter experts to do so.
14. Requires the application for a security guard registration to be verified and include specified information about the course the applicant has taken in the exercise of the power to arrest.
15. Strikes various references to “applicants” and “employees” throughout the Private Security Services Act to reflect how changes to certain training requirements would be required before an applicant has been issued a registration card.
16. Removes the restriction of 90 days where a registrant may present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration.
17. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2024.
18. Makes various technical and nonsubstantive changes.

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, continuing the BSIS’s operation and licensing programs would result in a sustained cost of $16.87 million (Private Security Services Fund) and $581,000 (Private Investigator Fund) for approximately 60 positions to remain funded; costs specifically relating to the bill’s provisions were estimated at about $10,000 in IT costs and $54,800 in revenue losses.

COMMENTS:

Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the author, who is Chair of the Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development. According to the author:

“This bill is necessary to reflect Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee staff recommendations made to remedy issues identified through the BSIS Sunset Review process. This measure is one of four sunset bills the Author is sponsoring this year. This bill is necessary to make changes to the six practice Acts in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSIS.”

Background.

Sunset Review. In order to ensure that California’s myriad professional boards and bureaus are meeting the state’s public protection priorities, authorizing statutes for these regulatory bodies are subject to statutory dates of repeal, at which point the entity “sunsets” unless the date is extended by the Legislature. The sunset process provides a regular forum for discussion around the successes and challenges of various programs and the consideration of proposed changes to laws governing the regulation of professionals.

Currently, the sunset review process applies to 36 different boards and bureaus under the Department of Consumer Affairs. On a schedule averaging every four years, each board and bureau is required to present a report to the Legislature’s policy committees, which in return prepare a comprehensive on the efficacies and efficiencies of their licensing and enforcement programs. Both the Administration and regulated professional stakeholders actively engage in this process. Legislation is then subsequently introduced extending the repeal date for the entity along with any reforms identified during the sunset review process.

Several entities that go through sunset review were created through the initiative process and are thus not technically subject to repeal without the matter being returned to the voters. This includes the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California. Language providing for sunset review of these entities states instead that the review shall be conducted as though the boards were to be repealed on a certain date.

This bill is the BSIS’s “sunset vehicle,” which extends operation of the BSIS and its licensing programs by an additional four years. It also makes various changes and adjustments to the practice acts regulated by the BSIS. In addition to this bill, nine other entities are currently going through sunset review.

BSIS. An in-depth history and description of the BSIS may be found in the committee’s sunset review background paper for the bureau, available on the committee’s website.

The BSIS issues licenses, registrations, certificates, and permits; however, for the purpose of this discussion, the terms “license” and “licensee” will be used. There are currently over 433,000 BSIS licenses held by about 350,000 business and individuals serving in the areas of alarm companies, locks, private investigations, private security, repossession, and firearm and baton training facilities. The BSIS regulates the following Acts:

1. Alarm Company Act
2. Locksmith Act
3. Private Investigator Act
4. Private Security Services Act
5. Proprietary Security Services Act
6. Collateral Recovery Act

In the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee and Assembly Business and Professions Committee joint sunset review background paper, the following issues were identified for the BSIS:

• Issue #1: What efforts is the Bureau taking to fix the technical limitations within the BreEZe system?
• Issue #2: Is an additional assessment of the Bureau’s staffing resources necessary to ensure an appropriate response to BreEZe implementation in the licensing and enforcement units?
• Issue #3: Should the Bureau assess its capacity to maintain an appropriate social media presence and modernize its policies relating to advertising?
• Issue #4: Should the Bureau analyze the tradeoffs and benefits of combining the Private Security Services Fund with the Private Investigator Fund?
• Issue #5: Should the Bureau review how private investigators licensing is structured?
• Issue #6: Should the Bureau evaluate its baton permitting structure?
• Issue #7: Has the assessment, designed to increase public and consumer protection, been implemented as intended?
• Issue #8: Should the Bureau report on the use of the liability insurance held by licensees organized as limited liability companies?
• Issue #9: Is it appropriate for the Bureau to be made aware of incidents in an applicant’s past that may impact their success as a BSIS licensee?
• Issue #10: Should the Bureau evaluate its structure surrounding firearms and baton training?
• Issue #11: Should the Bureau evaluate its structure surrounding firearms and baton permits?
• Issue #12: What steps can the Bureau take to be more proactive regarding violent incidents involving licensees? Is there more the Bureau should be doing to ensure public protection by evaluating these incidents?
• Issue #13: Can the Bureau adequately address the problems concerning unlicensed persons or companies acting within the six practice acts they regulate?
• Issue #14: What accounts for the small number of enforcement actions taken by BSIS, given the magnitude of its licensing population?
• Issue #15: There are amendments to the various practice acts that are technical in nature but may improve Bureau operations and the enforcement of those laws.
• Issue #16: Should the licensing and regulation of security guards, alarm company operators, repossessors, locksmiths, and private investigators be continued and be regulated by the Bureau?

Firearms Permits. The BSIS is authorized to issue firearms permits to individuals over the age of 18 years old who are licensed to work as security guards, alarm company agents, and PIs. The firearms permit authorizes the permit holder to carry a firearm while performing the duties of their job associated with the license. However, the Penal Code prohibits the sale, loan, or transfer of a firearm to anyone under 21 years of age.

According to the BSIS, “the current business practices in the private security industry do not align with the Penal Code provisions relating to the loan of a firearm from one individual to another.” Although there are exemptions to this prohibition in the Penal Code, none of them align with a common business practice in the private security industry. BSIS claims that the “practice is most prevalent with PPO licensees who provide armed security services to their clients ‘loaning’ their security guard employees a firearm.”

BSIS is prohibited from issuing a firearms permit to any applicant who is prohibited by state or federal law to possess a firearm. Applicants for firearms permits must submit fingerprints for a DOJ and FBI criminal history background check as well as a firearm prohibition clearance from the DOJ Bureau of Firearms. Currently, according to the BSIS, “if a firearms permit applicant is 18 to 20 years of age and eligible to possess a firearm, DOJ issues the Bureau a determination of eligibility letter strongly advising the Bureau to ensure the applicant’s receipt of a handgun conforms to [PC §§] 27505, 27875, 27880, or 27885, and that the letter does not in any way approve of the applicant’s receipt of a handgun that violates state or federal law. However, the [BSIS] is unable to provide such an assurance.”

Though other states permit a person under 21 years of age to purchase or possess a firearm, no other state, where the legal requirement to purchase or possess a firearm is 21 years, authorizes a private security licensee under 21 years to work armed.

Assembly Bill 2220 (Daly, Chapter 423, Statutes of 2014) allows PPO licensees to be the registered owner of a firearm as long as he or she meets certain conditions with the California DOJ. The firearm may also be associated with a security guard employee who holds a firearms permit. This program has not gone live and the DOJ is still in the process of making the required changes to its tracking system and regulations. However, once the system does go live, it will not address the issues relating to lending a firearm to an individual 18 to 20 years of age.

Fund Merger. The BSIS oversees two funds: the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund and the PI Fund. The licensee population described in the PI Act has historically, and currently, preferred a separate fund as a means of hopefully prevent their fees from subsidizing other licensee populations and to prevent their relatively small licensee population from being overlooked in comparison with larger licensee populations within the BSIS.

The PI Fund currently supports four full-time positions and one half-time position. According to the BSIS, “PI licensing and enforcement activities exceed the workload of these positions. Having to maintain separate revenue-expenditure, personnel, and other accounting records for two separate funds may be unnecessary and increases the BSIS’s overall administrative costs.”

A recent independent audit recommended workload analyses to be completed every three to five years to ensure the PSS Fund is not subsidizing the PI Fund. In 2015, the BSIS carried out such a review “because of cross-fund concerns and increased the amount the PI Fund reimburses the PSS Fund through the 2016-17 budget process.” The BSIS reports that “absent establishing a time accounting system, which would be costly to develop and time-consuming to use, conducting routine analyses creates a workload that cannot be absorbed within existing staff resources without impacting other Bureau operations” and that “the use of independent auditors to ensure one fund is not subsidizing another is expensive.”

Additionally, the audit recommended exploring the possibility of combining the two funds due to the cross-funding issue and the PI Fund’s fluctuating revenue stream. The BSIS reports that “for the past several years PI revenues have been dropping due to a decline in initial and renewal PI applications resulting in a revenue-expenditure fund imbalance and the need to increase fees.” The BSIS believes that “its operations would be optimized by having all fees support only one fund.” Additionally, some portions of the Alarm Company Act and the Collateral Recovery Act require moneys to be deposited into the PI Fund. This is understood to be a drafting error from when the funds were separated.

Continued Education in Security Guard Skills Training. Currently, a PPO licensee is required to provide its security guard employees eight hours of guard skills training annually. Guard registrants who are not working are not required to complete the annual training. And, guards who are employed by businesses to provide solely unarmed security services are not required to complete the annual training. As such, the BSIS frequently encounters guard registrant who have not completed this required continuing education training. The BSIS lacks the statutory authority to take action against registrants who have not kept their guard skills current and untrained guards can compromise public safety.

This bill would place the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant, instead of the employing PPO, and require the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training. Guard registrants would be able to obtain the annual training from either their PPO employer or any BSIS-licensed Firearms or Baton Training Facility or any BSIS-approved trainer authorized to provide security guard skills training.

This bill would additionally require security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be similarly responsible for completing annual guard skills training if they wish to maintain a valid registration. This would place the financial burden of obtaining this continuing education requirement on security guard registrants instead of on their employers, though some employers may continue to provide it. BSIS estimates that this training costs approximately $50 for a four hour continuing security guard skills training class. PPO employers are not required currently to pay for this training.

Currently, if a PPO has failed to provide its employees the required annual training, the BSIS can take disciplinary action against the PPO licensee. According to the BSIS, “there may be Guard registrants no longer in that Operator’s employ who did not complete the training and have moved on to another employer. The Bureau believes placing the responsibility for completing the annual training on the Guard registrant better ensures these individuals are completing it so that they are more likely to carry out their duties, whether in the employ of an Operator or other lawful, licensed business, competently and in a manner that supports and promotes consumer protection and public safety.”

The Powers to Arrest Training. An application for a security guard registration is required to include the applicant’s employing PPO licensee’s name and license number and the employer’s signature attesting that the applicant has completed a training course in the exercise of the power to arrest. According to the BSIS, “these requirements appear to be an inadvertent carryover from when the Private Security Services Act authorized the Operator employer to issue a temporary registration to an individual it has hired provided the individual submitted an application for Guard registration prior to the individual posting duty to provide Guard services.”

The BSIS reports that, “currently, many Guard registration applicants are not employed by an Operator at the time they submit their application” and that “many Operators seek to hire individuals who already hold a Guard registration instead of having the individual submit the application upon employment and wait for a registration to be issued.” Because of this, there is currently no way for an unemployed security guard registration applicant to submit an application that complies with statue. In practice, the BSIS has been accepting the signature of the powers to arrest training instructor in lieu of the employee’s signature.

BSIS currently requires the applicant to provide:

• 1. The name of the training facility or business where the training was completed and its license number;
  2. The name of the course instructor;
  3. The serial number of the course certificate of completion issued to the applicant;
  4. Certification, under penalty of perjury, that the information he/she provided on the online application is correct.

However, this practice does not align with current law.

Moreover, the BSIS claims that it is not logistically possible to obtain an employer’s or instructor’s signature on an online BreEZe application barring having the applicant upload a scanned copy of the completed paper application. In the past, BSIS required individuals applying for firearms permits via BreEZe to scan and upload paper applications because of similar signature requirements. Over 40% of the approximate 2,160 monthly applications did not include the scanned copy. Eventually, the BSIS had to pull firearms permit applications from BreEZe because the BSIS could not keep up with the significant workload that came with handling the deficient applications. Based on this experience, the BSIS anticipates a high deficiency rate, and thus a high workload increase, if signatures are required to verify an applicant has completed the powers to arrest training.

BSIS asserts that “maintaining the current requirements creates artificial barriers for Guard applicants who are not currently employed or are employed by a business who is not required to hold an Operator license to provide the required information on the application. It also means that all Guard registration applications received via BreEZe are not compliant with the law.”

This bill would eliminate the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead require the guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training in order to align the law with current industry and BSIS processes.

Current Related Legislation. SB 385 (Jones) would make engaging in the business of a PI or presenting oneself as a PI when one is not licensed punishable as a misdemeanor, instead of as an infraction. This bill would also require the DCA to make PI licensees searchable by an individual name on their internet website and require BSIS to issues an enhanced photo identification card to licensees upon issuance or renewal. (This measure is currently pending in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.)

Prior Related Legislation. SB 1196 (Hill, Chapter 800, Statutes of 2016) was the most recent sunset extension bill for the BSIS.

POLICY ISSUES:

On September 7, 2018, an independent consulting firm completed its fee audit review of the BSIS’s PI fees. The audit found that “fee income has been up and down slightly over the last three Fiscal Years, but overall revenues have not kept up with expenditures since FY 14-15. Moreover, scheduled fees have not been raised for 20 years. The current PI fee structure is insufficient to recover actual PI-related costs and will deplete the reserve in FY 19-20 unless action is taken before then to increase fees.”

Unless fee adjustments are made in the near future, the BSIS will have insufficient revenue to continue operating many of its licensing programs funded through PI fees.

AMENDMENTS:

1. To address the potential funding deficit that will result from a shortfall of fee revenue, the Private Investigator Act should be amended as follows:

7528. The chief shall issue a license, the form and content of which shall be determined by the chief in accordance with Section 164. In addition, the chief shall issue a “Certificate of Licensure” to any licensee, upon request and upon the payment of a fee of fifty dollars ($50). the fee prescribed in this chapter.

7532. (a) No licensee shall conduct a business under a fictitious or other business name unless and until he or she has obtained the written authorization of the bureau to do so.

(b) The bureau shall not authorize the use of a fictitious or other business name which is so similar to that of a public officer or agency or of that used by another licensee that the public may be confused or misled thereby.

(c) The authorization shall require, as a condition precedent to the use of any fictitious name, that the licensee comply with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 17900) of Part 3 of Division 7.

(d) A licensee desiring to conduct his or her business under more than one fictitious business name shall obtain the authorization of the bureau in the manner prescribed in this section for the use of each name.

(e) The licensee shall pay a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25)- at least seventy-five dollars ($75) that may be increased to an amount not to exceed eighty-two dollars ($82) for each authorization to use an additional fictitious business name and for each change in the use of a fictitious business name. If the original license is issued in a nonfictitious name and authorization is requested to have the license reissued in a fictitious business name the licensee shall pay a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25) at least seventy-five dollars ($75) that may be increased to an amount not to exceed eighty-two dollars ($82) for the authorization.

7570. The fees prescribed by this chapter are as follows:

(a) The application and examination fee for an original license shall not exceed fifty dollars ($50). be at least three hundred and forty dollars ($340) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed three hundred and seventy-four dollars ($374).

(b) The application fee for an original branch office certificate shall not exceed thirty dollars ($30).  be at least ninety dollars ($90) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed ninety-nine dollars ($99).

(c) The fee for an original license for a private investigator shall not exceed one hundred seventy-five dollars ($175).  be at least three hundred eighty-five dollars ($385) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed four hundred twenty-four dollars ($424).

(d) The renewal fee is as follows:

(1) For a license as a private investigator, the fee shall not exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125). be at least two hundred sixty-five dollars ($265) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed two hundred ninety-two dollars ($292).

(2) For a branch office certificate for a private investigator, the fee shall not exceed thirty dollars ($30). be at least one hundred sixty-five dollars ($65) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed seventy-two dollars ($72).

(e) The delinquency fee is 50 percent of the renewal fee in effect on the date of expiration.

(f) A reinstatement fee is equal to the amount of the renewal fee plus the regular delinquency fee.

(g) The fee for reexamination of an applicant or his or her qualified manager shall not exceed fifteen dollars ($15). be at least sixty dollars ($60) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed sixty-six dollars ($66).

(h) The processing fee for the assignment of a license pursuant to Section 7530 shall not exceed one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125). be at least four hundred dollars ($400) and may be increased to an amount not to exceed four hundred forty dollars ($440).

(i) The firearms permit fee shall be at least one hundred dollars ($100), but shall not exceed one hundred ten dollars ($110).

(j) The firearms permit renewal fee shall be at least eighty dollars ($80), but shall not exceed eighty-eight dollars ($88).

(k) The replacement fee for a lost or destroyed registration card, license, certificate, or permit authorized by this chapter shall be twenty-five dollars ($25). A request to replace a lost or destroyed registration card, license, certificate, or permit shall be made in the manner prescribed by the board bureau.

(l) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2021, and as of that date is repealed.

(l) The fee for a Certificate of Licensure, as specified in Section 7528, shall be fifty dollars ($50).

(m) The fee for an endorsed verification of licensure, certification, or permit shall be twenty-five dollars ($25). The verification document shall include the license, certificate, or permit number, the license, certificate, or permit history and current status, the date of the endorsement, an embossed seal, and the signature of the chief. 

(n) The reinstatement fee following a suspension pursuant to Sections 7561.2 and 7520.3(e) shall be no more than 50 percent of the renewal fee.

REGISTERED SUPPORT:

None on file.

REGISTERED OPPOSITION:

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Robert Sumner / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: SB 609

Author: Glazer (D)

Amended: 4/25/19

Vote: 21

SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/22/19

AYES: Glazer, Chang, Archuleta, Dodd, Galgiani, Hill, Leyva, Pan, Wilk

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-0, 5/16/19

AYES: Portantino, Bates, Bradford, Hill, Jones, Wieckowski

SUBJECT: Professions and vocations

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill prohibits the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age; consolidates the Private Investigator (PI) Fund and the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund into one fund; places the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant and requires the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training; requires security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a private patrol operator (PPO) license to be responsible for completing annual guard skills training in order to maintain a valid registration; eliminates the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead requires the security guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training; requires the BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy of the Legislature by January 1, 2024; and, makes other technical and clarifying changes to the six practice acts regulated by BSIS.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes BSIS, under the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to regulate and license those described in the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Collateral Recover Act, the Private Investigator Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, and the Private Security Services Act. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 6980 et seq, 7500 et seq, 7512 et seq, 7574 et seq, 7580 et seq, and 7590 et seq)
2. Requires the DCA to receive and account for all money derived from the Private Investigator Act, to keep the money in the PI Fund, and to propose a separate budget and expenditure statement and a separate revenue statement outlining all money derived from and expending for the licensing and regulation of PIs. (BPC § 7571)
3. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant is a licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met and when they have determined that carrying and use of a firearm presents no apparent threat to public safety. (BPC §§ 7542.2, 7583.23, and 7596.3)
4. Prohibits any person, corporation, or firm from selling, loaning, or transferring a firearm to a minor or from selling a handgun to anyone under 21 years of age, with limited exceptions. (Penal Code (PEN) §§ 27505 and 27510)
5. Prohibits a PPO from failing to properly maintain accurate and current records of proof of completion be each employee of the licensee of the course in the training of the power to arrest, the security officer skills training, and the annual practice and review, as specified. (BPC §§ 7583.2(c-d))
6. Requires a person registered pursuant to the Private Security Services Act to complete security officer skills, as specified. (BPC § 7583.6(b))
7. Requires a PPO licensee to annually provide each registered employee with 8 hours of review or practice of security officer skills, as described, and to maintain records of such training. (BPC § 7583.6(f))
8. Requires a person entering the employ of a licensee as a security guard or a security patrolperson to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest before being assigned to a duty location. (BPC § 7583.6(a))
9. Prohibits a security guard or security patrolperson who is employed by a licensed PPO from being issued a registration card before the instructor of the exercise of the power to arrest course properly certifies that the employee has been taught and the certificate has been sent to the DCA. (BPC § 7583.8)
10. Requires the application for a security guard registrant who is employed by a PPO to be verified and include information about the employee, employer, and the employer’s certification that the employee received a course in the exercise of the power to arrest. (BPC § 7583.10)
11. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2020. (BPC §§ 6981, 7511.5, 7573.5, 7576, 7588.8, 7599.80)

This bill:

1. Consolidates the PI Fund with the PSS Fund into the PSS Fund.
2. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and requires BSIS to specify which courses and course providers satisfy the requirement on its internet website.
3. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met, including that the applicant is at least 21 years of age.
4. Removes the specific requirements for a PPO to maintain records and certify that a security guard employee has completed of powers to arrest training. Requires an applicant for a security guard registration to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest as a condition of registration and to maintain the certificate of completion for each training course.
5. Requires a security guard registration applicant, instead of their potential employer, to submit an application, registration fees, and fingerprint cards to BSIS and removes the requirement for a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applicants and fingerprint cards of their employees.
6. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if their practice acts were scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2024.
7. Makes various technical, conforming, and/or non-substantive changes.

Background

BSIS. There are currently over 433,000 BSIS licenses held by about 350,000 business and individuals serving in the areas of alarm companies, locks, private investigations, private security, repossession, and firearm and baton training facilities.

The BSIS regulates the following Acts:

• Alarm Company Act
• Locksmith Act
• Private Investigator Act
• Private Security Services Act
• Proprietary Security Services Act
• Collateral Recovery Act
  

Firearms Permit and Age Requirement. BSIS is authorized to issue firearms permits to individuals over the age of 18 years old who are licensed to work as security guards, alarm company agents, and PIs. The firearms permit authorizes the permit holder to carry a firearm while performing the duties of their job associated with the license. However, the Penal Code prohibits the sale, loan, or transfer of a firearm to anyone under 21 years of age. According to BSIS, “and the current business practices in the private security industry do not align with the Penal Code provisions relating to the loan of a firearm from one individual to another.” Although there are exemptions to this prohibition in the Penal Code, none of them align with a common business practice in the private security industry. BSIS claims that the “practice is most prevalent with PPO licensees who provide armed security services to their clients ‘loaning’ their security guard employees a firearm.”

PI Fund. BSIS oversees two funds: the PSS Fund and the PI Fund. The licensee population described in the PI Act has historically, and currently, preferred a separate fund as a means of hopefully prevent their fees from subsidizing other licensee populations and to prevent their relatively small licensee population from being overlooked in comparison with larger licensee populations within the BSIS. BSIS believes that “its operations would be optimized by having all fees support only one fund.”

Continued Education in Security Guard Skills Training. Currently, a PPO licensee is required to provide its security guard employees eight hours of guard skills training annually. Guard registrants who are not working are not required to complete the annual training. And, guards who are employed by businesses to provide solely unarmed security services are not required to complete the annual training. As such, BSIS frequently encounters guard registrant who have not completed this required continuing education training.

This bill places the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant, instead of the employing PPO, and require the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training. Guard registrants would be able to obtain the annual training from either their PPO employer or any BSIS-licensed Firearms or Baton Training Facility or any BSIS-approved trainer authorized to provide security guard skills training. This bill additionally requires security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be similarly responsible for completing annual guard skills training if they wish to maintain a valid registration.

The Powers to Arrest Training: An application for a security guard registration is required to include the applicant’s employing PPO licensee’s name and license number and the employer’s signature attesting that the applicant has completed a training course in the exercise of the power to arrest. Because of this, there is currently no way for an unemployed security guard registration applicant to submit an application that complies with statue. In practice, BSIS has been accepting the signature of the powers to arrest training instructor in lieu of the employee’s signature. This bill eliminates the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead requires the guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training in order to align the law with current industry and BSIS processes.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Budget Act of 2018 includes $16.87 million (PSS Fund) and $581,000 (PI Fund) for 60.8 BSIS positions. The bill will result in $10,000 in information technology costs to combine the PI Fund and PSS Fund and change the minimum age for firearm permit, minor and absorbable costs related to the updated ethics course requirement, and anticipated $54,800 in revenue loss, which would be minor and absorbable to update the firearms permit and other associated publications.

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/16/19)

None received

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/16/19)

None received

Prepared by: Samantha Tucci / B., P. & E.D. /

5/18/19 13:07:42

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular Session

SB 609 (Glazer) - Professions and vocations

Bill Summary:

Senate Bill 609 would make several changes to the enabling acts that govern the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS), and would extend the sunset from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2024.

Fiscal Impact:

The Budget Act of 2018 includes 16.87 million (Private Security Services Fund) and $581,000 (Private Investigator Fund) for 60.8 positions. To implement specific provisions of the bill:

• $10,000 in IT costs for the DCA and Bureau to combine the Private Investigator Fund and Private Security Services Fund and change the minimum age for firearm permit. Although the Bureau anticipates funding through redirection of existing maintenance resources, staff notes that the cumulative impact of several bills would directly affect existing workload.
• Minor and absorbable costs related to the updated ethics course requirement.
• Anticipated $54,800 in revenue loss, which would be minor and absorbable for the Bureau to update the firearms permit and other associated publications. From Fiscal year (FY) 2015-16 through FY 2017-18, approximately 4% (548) of the initial firearms permit applications received were from applicants between the ages of 18-20.

Background:

The BSIS regulates private investigators, repossessors, uniformed security guards, private patrol operators, proprietary private security officers, alarm company operators, alarm agents, locksmiths, and firearm and baton training facilities. Currently, there are over 433,000 BSIS licenses, held by approximately 350,000 businesses and individuals. The Bureau issues an average of 1,157 company licenses, 54,552 employee registrations, and 11,217 Bureau firearm permits. On average, the Bureau renews 9,795 company licenses, 92,729 employee registrations, and 11,376 Bureau firearm permits annually.

This bill would enact several recommendations based upon the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development and Assembly Business and Professions Committees joint sunset review hearing on February 26, 2019. The background paper discussed whether the Bureau should analyzing combining the Private Security Services Fund with the Private Investigator Fund, whether the Bureau should review the structure of PI licensing; continued education in security guard skills training, and the readiness assessment of a BSIS security guard for the purposes of carrying and using a firearms. Specifically, except for the proprietary security services officer and security guard registrants, firearms permit renewal, and baton permit renewal (which does not expire), Bureau licensees are not required to complete continuing education.

Proposed Law:

This bill includes the following provisions, among others:

• Extends BSIS’ operations and powers from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2024.
• Prohibits the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age.
• Consolidates the Private Investigator (PI) Fund and the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund into one fund.
• Places the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant and requires the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training.
• Requires security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be responsible for completing annual guard skills training in order to maintain a valid registration.
• Eliminates the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead requires the security guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training.

Staff Comments:

Based on February 26, 2019, background paper to the sunset review hearing, the PI Fund has experienced an ongoing revenue/expenditure imbalance. As a result of various budget bills enacted in 2017, costs increased for all state programs (i.e., increased statewide pro rata costs including those relating to Fi$Cal, supplemental pension fund contributions and employee compensation and benefits).

The PI Fund is projected to become insolvent in FY 2019-20. BSIS contracted with an auditor to perform an operational audit of BSIS’s PI Fund. The Auditor’s Performance and Fee Report identified a fee structure that would bring in at least $1.42 million in annual revenue by FY 2022-23, which would provide for a 5.2-month reserve by the end of that FY. Given the imminent need to increase revenues, BSIS is working on options to address this issue.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Senator Steven Glazer, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular

Bill No: SB 609 Hearing Date: April 22, 2019

Subject: Professions and vocations

SUMMARY:

Prohibits the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) from issuing firearms permits to applicants under 21 years of age; consolidates the Private Investigator (PI) Fund and the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund into one fund; places the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant and requires the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training; requires security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be responsible for completing annual guard skills training in order to maintain a valid registration; eliminates the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead requires the security guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training; requires the BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy of the Legislature by January 1, 2024; and, makes other technical and clarifying changes to the six practice acts regulated by BSIS.

Existing law:

1. Establishes BSIS, under the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to regulate and license those described in the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Collateral Recover Act, the Private Investigator Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, and the Private Security Services Act. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 6980 et seq, 7500 et seq, 7512 et seq, 7574 et seq, 7580 et seq, and 7590 et seq)
2. Requires an application for a locksmith license to be made in writing to the BSIS chief. (BPC § 6980.17(a))
3. Requires penalties collected when the Attorney General brings action against an unlicensed repossession agency, an unlicensed PI, or a person representing himself or herself as a licensed investigator when they do not hold a license to be deposited in the PI Fund. (BPC §§ 7502.6(b), 7523(c), 7523(e), and 7523.5(d))
4. Requires specified administrative fines collected that relate to disciplinary proceedings for PIs and Alarm Companies to be deposited in the PI Fund.
   (BPC §§ 7564 and 7591.9)
5. Requires the DCA to receive and account for all money derived from the Private Investigator Act, to keep the money in the PI Fund, and to propose a separate budget and expenditure statement and a separate revenue statement outlining all money derived from and expending for the licensing and regulation of PIs.
   (BCP § 7571)
6. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and authorizes the BSIS to specify which courses satisfy the requirement. (BPC § 7541.2)
7. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant is a licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met and when they have determined that carrying and use of a firearm presents no apparent threat to public safety. (BCP §§ 7542.2, 7583.23, and 7596.3)
8. Prohibits any person, corporation, or firm from selling, loaning, or transferring a firearm to a minor or from selling a handgun to anyone under 21 years of age. (Penal Code (PEN) § 27505)
9. Requires sales, loans, or transfers of firearms to occur through a licensed firearms dealer unless certain requirements are met. (PEN §§ 27545, 27875, 27880)
10. Prohibits a person, even a licensed firearms dealer, from selling, supplying, delivering, or giving possession or control to any person under 21 years old, except if the person is an active peace officer, federal officer, law enforcement agent, a reserve peace officer, or a specified military personnel. (PEN § 27510)
11. Prohibits a private patrol officer from failing to properly maintain accurate and current records of proof of completion be each employee of the licensee of the course in the training of the power to arrest, the security officer skills training, and the annual practice and review, as specified. An employee’s completion of the course of training in the exercise of the power to arrest must be certified before the employee is placed at a duty station. Violation of this provision results in a fine of $500. (BCP §§ 7583.2(c-d) and 7587.8(c))
12. Requires a person entering the employ of a licensee as a security guard or a security patrolperson to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest before being assigned to a duty location. (BCP § 7583.6(a))
13. Requires a person registered pursuant to the Private Security Services Act to complete at least 32 hours of training in security officer skills within six months from the date the registration card is issued and that that 16 of the hours must be completed within 30 days of the registration card issuance. (BCP § 7583.6(b))
14. Requires a course provider to issue a certificate to a security guard upon satisfactory completion of a required course and authorizes a private patrol operator to provide additional training programs and courses. Requires a registrant who is unable to provide their employer the certificate to complete 16 hours or the training within 30 days of the registrant’s employment date and the 16 remaining hours within six months of the registrant’s employment date. (BCP § 7583.6(c))
15. Requires the DCA to develop and approve by regulation a standard course and curriculum for skills training and authorizes the course of training to be administered, tested, and certified by any licensee, organization, or school approved by the DCA. Requires the DCA to consult with consumers, labor organizations, and subject matter experts to do so. (BCP § 7583.6(d-e))
16. Requires a PPO licensee, on and after January 1, 2005, to annually provide each registered employee with 8 hours of review or practice of security officer skills, as described, and to maintain records of such training. (BCP § 7583.6(f))
17. Prohibits a security guard or security patrolperson who is employed by a licensed PPO from being issued a registration card before the instructor of the exercise of the power to arrest course properly certifies that the employee has been taught and the certificate has been sent to the DCA. (BCP § 7583.8)
18. Requires a potential security guard employee, before accepting employment by a PPO, to apply for registration as a security guard and to obtain fingerprint cards for submission to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for use as specified.
    (BCP § 7583.9(a))
19. Requires a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applications and fingerprint cards that shall be provided by the bureau upon request. (BCP § 7583.9(c))
20. Requires a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card if it is feasible and practical and requires the employee to display their card upon the request of the client. (BCP § 7583.9(k))
21. Requires the application for a security guard registration who is employed by a PPO to be verified and include information about the employee, employer, and the employer’s certification that the employee received a course in the exercise of the power to arrest. (BCP § 7583.10)
22. Requires a PPO licensee to be responsible for ascertaining that their employees who are subject to registration are currently registered or have made proper application for registration and prohibits a PPO licensee from employing a person whose registration has expired or been revoked, denied, suspended, or canceled. (BCP § 7583.19)
23. Permits a PPO registrant to present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration for up to 90 days after the date of expiration if the renewed registration card has not been delivered prior to the expiration date of the prior registration. (BCP § 7583.20(d)
24. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2020. (BPC §§ 6981, 7511.5, 7573.5, 7576, 7588.8, 7599.80)

This bill:

1. Requires an application for a locksmith license to be made online or in writing to the chief of BSIS.
2. Consolidates the PI Fund with the Private Security Services Fund into the Private Security Services Fund.
3. Requires BSIS to consider requiring proof of satisfactory completion of a course in professional ethics in order to be a licensed PI and requires BSIS to specify which courses and course providers satisfy the requirement on its internet website.
4. Requires BSIS to issue a firearms permit to an applicant licensed under the PI Act, the Private Security Services Act, or the Alarm Company Act, as specified, when specified conditions are met, including that the applicant is at least 21 years of age.
5. Removes the specific requirements for a PPO to maintain records and certify that a security guard employee has completed of powers to arrest training. Requires an applicant for a security guard registration to complete a course in the exercise of the power to arrest as a condition of registration.
6. Requires a course provider in the powers to arrest training course to issue a certificate to the person upon satisfactory completion of the specified course and requires a security guard registrant to maintain the certificate of completion for each training course.
7. Requires a PPO licensee to confirm a security guard employee holds a current and valid security guard registration before permitting them to perform the functions and duties of a security guard.
8. Requires a security guard registration applicant, instead of their potential employer, to submit an application, registration fees, and fingerprint cards to BSIS.
9. Removes the requirement for a PPO licensee to maintain supplies of applicants and fingerprint cards of their employees.
10. Removes the requirement for a security guard employee, on their first day, to display to the client their registration card.
11. Clarifies that a person is prohibited from performing the duties of a security guard when their registration is expired.
12. Requires BSIS, instead of the DCA, to develop and approve a standard course and curriculum for skills training and removes the requirement for consultation with consumers, labor organizations, and subject matter experts to do so.
13. Requires the application for a security guard registration to be verified and include specified information about the course the applicant has taken in the exercise of the power to arrest.
14. Strikes various references to “applicants” and “employees” throughout the Private Security Services Act to reflect how changes to certain training requirements would be required before an applicant has been issued a registration card.
15. Removes the restriction of 90 days where a registrant may present evidence of renewal to substantiate a continued registration.
16. Requires the powers and duties of BSIS to be reviewed by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature as if the Locksmith Act, the Alarm Company Act, the Private Security Services Act, the Proprietary Security Services Act, the Collateral Recovery Act, and the Private Investigators Act were scheduled to be revealed on January 1, 2024.
17. Makes various technical and non-substantive changes.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Unknown. This bill has been marked “fiscal” by Legislative Counsel.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the Author. According to the Author’s, this bill is necessary to reflect Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee staff recommendations made to remedy issues identified through the BSIS Sunset Review process.  This measure is one of four sunset bills the Author is sponsoring this year.  According to the Author, this bill is necessary to make changes to the six practice Acts in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the BSIS.
2. Background.
   1. The Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS). There are currently over 433,000 BSIS licenses held by about 350,000 business and individuals serving in the areas of alarm companies, locks, private investigations, private security, repossession, and firearm and baton training facilities.

The Bureau regulates the following Acts:

1. Alarm Company Act
2. Locksmith Act
3. Private Investigator Act
4. Private Security Services Act
5. Proprietary Security Services Act
6. Collateral Recovery Act
   
   1. Oversight Hearings and Sunset Review of Licensing Boards and Programs.  Beginning in 2018, the Senate Business and Professions Committee and the Assembly Business and Professions Committee (Committees) began their comprehensive sunset review oversight of 10 regulatory entities and the DCA including:  California Architects Board, California Landscape Architects Technical Committee, Dental Board of California, Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, Court Reporters Board of California, California State Athletic Commission, BSIS, California Board of Accountancy, and the Contractors State License Board.   

The Committees conducted two oversight hearings in February and March.  This bill and the accompanying sunset bills are intended to implement legislative changes as recommended by staff of the Committees and which are reflected in the Background Papers prepared by Committee staff for each agency and program reviewed this year.

• 1. Firearms Permit and Age Requirement. BSIS is authorized to issue firearms permits to individuals over the age of 18 years old who are licensed to work as security guards, alarm company agents, and PIs. The firearms permit authorizes the permit holder to carry a firearm while performing the duties of their job associated with the license. However, the Penal Code prohibits the sale, loan, or transfer of a firearm to anyone under 21 years of age.

According to BSIS, “and the current business practices in the private security industry do not align with the Penal Code provisions relating to the loan of a firearm from one individual to another.” Although there are exemptions to this prohibition in the Penal Code, none of them align with a common business practice in the private security industry. BSIS claims that the “practice is most prevalent with PPO licensees who provide armed security services to their clients ‘loaning’ their security guard employees a firearm.”

BSIS is prohibited from issuing a firearms permit to any applicant who is prohibited by state or federal law to possess a firearm. Applicants for firearms permits must submit fingerprints for a DOJ and FBI criminal history background check as well as a firearm prohibition clearance from the DOJ Bureau of Firearms. Currently, according to BSIS, “if a firearms permit applicant is 18 to 20 years of age and eligible to possess a firearm, DOJ issues the Bureau a determination of eligibility letter strongly advising the Bureau to ensure the applicant’s receipt of a handgun conforms to [PC §§] 27505, 27875, 27880, or 27885, and that the letter does not in any way approve of the applicant’s receipt of a handgun that violates state or federal law. However, the [BSIS] is unable to provide such an assurance.”

Though other states permit a person under 21 years of age to purchase or possess a firearm, no other state, where the legal requirement to purchase or possess a firearm is 21 years, authorizes a private security licensee under 21 years to work armed.

Assembly Bill 2220 (Daly, Chapter 423, Statutes of 2014) allows PPO licensees to be the registered owner of a firearm as long as he or she meets certain conditions with the California DOJ. The firearm may also be associated with a security guard employee who holds a firearms permit. This program has not gone live and the DOJ is still in the process of making the required changes to its tracking system and regulations. However, once the system does go live, it will not address the issues relating to lending a firearm to an individual 18 to 20 years of age.

• 1. The Private Investigator Fund. BSIS oversees two funds: the Private Security Services (PSS) Fund and the PI Fund. The licensee population described in the PI Act has historically, and currently, preferred a separate fund as a means of hopefully prevent their fees from subsidizing other licensee populations and to prevent their relatively small licensee population from being overlooked in comparison with larger licensee populations within the BSIS.

The PI Fund currently supports four (4) full-time positions and one (1) half-time position. According to BSIS, “PI licensing and enforcement activities exceed the workload of these positions. Having to maintain separate revenue-expenditure, personnel, and other accounting records for two separate funds may be unnecessary and increases the BSIS’s overall administrative costs.”

A recent independent audit recommended workload analyses to be completed every three to five years to ensure the PSS Fund is not subsidizing the PI Fund. In 2015, BSIS carried out such a review “because of cross-fund concerns and increased the amount the PI Fund reimburses the PSS Fund through the 2016-17 budget process.” BSIS reports that “absent establishing a time accounting system, which would be costly to develop and time-consuming to use, conducting routine analyses creates a workload that cannot be absorbed within existing staff resources without impacting other Bureau operations” and that “the use of independent auditors to ensure one fund is not subsidizing another is expensive.”

Additionally, the audit recommended exploring the possibility of combining the two funds due to the cross-funding issue and the PI Fund’s fluctuating revenue stream. BSIS reports that “for the past several years PI revenues have been dropping due to a decline in initial and renewal PI applications resulting in a revenue-expenditure fund imbalance and the need to increase fees.”

BSIS believes that “its operations would be optimized by having all fees support only one fund.”

Additionally, some portions of the Alarm Company Act and the Collateral Recovery Act require moneys to be deposited into the PI Fund. This is understood to be a drafting error from when the funds were separated.

• 1. Continued Education in Security Guard Skills Training. Currently, a PPO licensee is required to provide its security guard employees eight hours of guard skills training annually. Guard registrants who are not working are not required to complete the annual training. And, guards who are employed by businesses to provide solely unarmed security services are not required to complete the annual training. As such, BSIS frequently encounters guard registrant who have not completed this required continuing education training. BSIS lacks the statutory authority to take action against registrants who have not kept their guard skills current and untrained guards can compromise public safety.

This bill would place the responsibility of completing annual guard skills training on the security guard registrant, instead of the employing PPO, and require the registrant, instead of the employer, to attest on their renewal application that they have completed the required annual security guard skills training. Guard registrants would be able to obtain the annual training from either their PPO employer or any BSIS-licensed Firearms or Baton Training Facility or any BSIS-approved trainer authorized to provide security guard skills training.

This bill would additionally require security guards who are unemployed or working for a business that does not require a PPO license to be similarly responsible for completing annual guard skills training if they wish to maintain a valid registration. This would place the financial burden of obtaining this continuing education requirement on security guard registrants instead of on their employers, though some employers may continue to provide it. BSIS estimates that this training costs approximately $50 for a four hour continuing security guard skills training class. PPO employers are not required currently to pay for this training.

Currently, if a PPO has failed to provide its employees the required annual training, BSIS can take disciplinary action against the PPO licensee. According to BSIS, “there may be Guard registrants no longer in that Operator’s employ who did not complete the training and have moved on to another employer. The Bureau believes placing the responsibility for completing the annual training on the Guard registrant better ensures these individuals are completing it so that they are more likely to carry out their duties, whether in the employ of an Operator or other lawful, licensed business, competently and in a manner that supports and promotes consumer protection and public safety.”

• 1. The Powers to Arrest Training. An application for a security guard registration is required to include the applicant’s employing PPO licensee’s name and license number and the employer’s signature attesting that the applicant has completed a training course in the exercise of the power to arrest. According to BSIS, “these requirements appear to be an inadvertent carryover from when the Private Security Services Act authorized the Operator employer to issue a temporary registration to an individual it has hired provided the individual submitted an application for Guard registration prior to the individual posting duty to provide Guard services.”

BSIS reports that, “currently, many Guard registration applicants are not employed by an Operator at the time they submit their application” and that “many Operators seek to hire individuals who already hold a Guard registration instead of having the individual submit the application upon employment and wait for a registration to be issued.” Because of this, there is currently no way for an unemployed security guard registration applicant to submit an application that complies with statue. In practice, BSIS has been accepting the signature of the powers to arrest training instructor in lieu of the employee’s signature.

BSIS currently requires the applicant to provide:

• The name of the training facility or business where the training was completed and its license number;
• The name of the course instructor;
• The serial number of the course certificate of completion issued to the applicant;
• Certification, under penalty of perjury, that the information he/she provided on the online application is correct.

However, this practice does not align with current law.

Moreover, BSIS claims that it is not logistically possible to obtain an employer’s or instructor’s signature on an online BreEZe application barring having the applicant upload a scanned copy of the completed paper application. In the past, BSIS required individuals applying for firearms permits via BreEZe to scan and upload paper applications because of similar signature requirements. Over 40% of the approximate 2,160 monthly applications did not include the scanned copy. Eventually, BSIS had to pull firearms permit applications from BreEZe because BSIS could not keep up with the significant workload that came with handling the deficient applications. Based on this experience, BSIS anticipates a high deficiency rate, and thus a high workload increase, if signatures are required to verify an applicant has completed the powers to arrest training.

BSIS asserts that “maintaining the current requirements creates artificial barriers for Guard applicants who are not currently employed or are employed by a business who is not required to hold an Operator license to provide the required information on the application. It also means that all Guard registration applications received via BreEZe are not compliant with the law.”

This bill would eliminate the requirement for the employer’s signature that attests to an applicant completing the power to arrest training and instead require the guard applicant to provide specified proof of the training in order to align the law with current industry and BSIS processes.

1. Current Related Legislation. SB 385 (Jones) would make engaging in the business of a PI or presenting oneself as a PI when one is not licensed punishable as a misdemeanor, instead of as an infraction. This bill would also require the DCA to make PI licensees searchable by an individual name on their internet website and require BSIS to issues an enhanced photo identification card to licensees upon issuance or renewal. (Status: This measure is currently pending in the Senate Committee on Public Safety.)
2. Prior Related Legislation. SB 1217 (Morrell, Chapter 791, Statutes of 2018) deleted the provisions in the Private Security Services Act relating to the issuance of a Bureau firearms permit to a private investigator licensee and established them into the Private Investigator Act.

SB 1100 (Portantino, Chapter 894, Statutes of 2018) expanded the prohibitions relating to the sale or transfer to include long for a person under 21 years of age.

SB 1196 (Hill, Chapter 800, Statutes of 2016) subjected BSIS to review by the appropriate committees of the Legislature, and made various changes to provisions in the Alarm Company Act, Locksmith Act, Private Investigator Act, Private Security Services Act, Proprietary Security Services Act, and Collateral Recovery Act to improve the oversight, enforcement and regulation by the BSIS of licensees under each Act; added a sunset review date for the Bureau of Real Estate (CalBRE) and Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers (BREA), and mad various changes to provisions in the Real Estate Law and the Real Estate Appraisers’ Licensing and Certification Law to improve the oversight, enforcement and regulation by the CalBRE and BREA, and makes other technical changes.

AB 2220 (Daly, Chapter 423, Statutes of 2014), among other changes, provided for a private patrol operator licensee to be the legal owner of a firearm and to assign it to an employee. It also required the DOJ to modify its DROS system to capture these activities.

AB 2880 (Chavez, Chapter 886, Statutes of 2002) increased the initial power to arrest training requirements for security guards from 3 hours to 8 hours, added the requirement that the security guard registrant complete the 32 hours of security guard skills training within six months of initial registration, and established the requirement for the employer to provide employees subject to registration with 8 hours of annual review or practice training.

SB 662 (Committee on Judiciary, Chapter 159, Statutes of 2001), among other changes, deleted the provisions relating to temporary security guard registrations in the Private Security Services Act.

SB 2123 (Figueroa, Chapter 683, Statutes of 2000) required an individual to submit a security guard registration application the same day they are assigned by their PPO to work and prohibited an PPO from assigning a person to work as a security guard if the individual had not yet submitted a security guard registration application.

SB 2044 (Rainey, Chapter 830, Statutes of 1998) required Operator licensees to notify their clients that security guards in their employ who have a temporary security guard registration have not completed a criminal history background check and required individuals to submit a security guard registration application within three business days of commencing employment.

AB 3291 (McPherson, Chapter 91, Statutes of 1994) separated the PI Act from the Private Security Services Act in addition to separating the corresponding funds.

1. Suggested Technical Amendments.

Amend BPC § 7596.81(a-b) as follows:

(a) Effective October 1, 1993, tThe bureau shall not renew a firearm permit if the applicant is prohibited from possessing, receiving, purchasing, or owning a firearm pursuant to state or federal law.

(b) Before renewing a firearm permit, the bureau shall provide the Department of Justice with the information necessary to identify the renewal applicant. No firearm permit shall be renewed if the expiration date of the permit is between October 1, 1993, and October 1, 1994, unless the application for renewal is also accompanied by a classifiable fingerprint card and the fingerprint processing fees for that card.

On page 4, line 4, strike “online or in writing”.

On page 13, lines 14-26

On page 17, line 15, insert “that” after “school”.

On page 21, line 7, strike “If the licensee will not be”, and strike lines 8-9.

On page 26, lines 23-30, amend to read:

Each firearm training facility shall, prior to allowing any person to participate in the requalification course in the carrying and usage of firearms, verify and certify on the firearm requalification application that they have seen documentation verifying that the person to whom they are providing firearms training is a citizen of the United States or possesses permanent legal alien status in the United States in accordance with Sections 7583.32 and 7596.7.

On page 26, line 22, strike “7596.7” and replace with “7596.3”

Amend BPC § 7596.7(d) as follows:

During calendar year 1985, tThe applicant has produced evidence to the firearm training facility, either upon receiving his or her original qualification card or upon filing for renewal of that card, that he or she is a citizen of the United States or has permanent legal alien status in the United States. Such evidence of citizenship or permanent legal alien status is that deemed sufficient by the bureau to ensure compliance with federal laws prohibiting possession of firearms by persons unlawfully in the United States and may include, but not be limited to, Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service Form I-151 or I-551, Alien Registration Receipt Card, naturalization documents, or birth certificates evidencing lawful residence or status in the United States.

On page 13, line 4, insert:

The Department of Consumer Affairs shall receive and account for all money derived from the operation of this chapter and, at the end of each month, shall report such money to the Controller and shall pay it to the Treasurer, who shall keep the money in a separate fund known as the Private Security Services Fund. All money in the Private Security Services Fund shall be expended in accordance with law by the bureau for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter when appropriated by the Legislature. The department shall propose a separate budget and expenditure statement and a separate revenue statement outlining all money derived from and expended for the licensing and regulation of private security services in accordance with this chapter.

SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:

Support:

None on file as of April 17, 2019.

Opposition:

None on file as of April 17, /2019.

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