Bill Text: CA AB150 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Theft: firearms.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 17-4-1)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB150 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB150-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 150 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 10, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Melendez and Gray
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Travis Allen, Baker, Brown,
Chávez, Dodd, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Gonzalez, Jones, Lackey,
Linder, Mayes, Olsen,
Waldron, and Wilk )
( Coauthors: Senators
Anderson, Bates, Huff, Nielsen,
and Stone )
JANUARY 15, 2015
An act to amend Sections 490.2 and 496 of the Penal Code, relating
to theft.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 150, as amended, Melendez. Theft: firearms.
(1) Existing law states that the theft of a firearm is grand
theft, punishable as a felony by imprisonment in the state prison for
16 months, or 2 or 3 years. The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,
enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November
4, 2014, statewide general election, notwithstanding these
provisions, instead requires the theft of property that does not
exceed $950 to be considered petty theft, and makes the crime
punishable as a misdemeanor, except in cases when the defendant has
previously been convicted of one or more specified serious or violent
felonies or an offense requiring registration as a sex offender.
This bill would make the theft of a firearm grand theft in all
cases, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months,
or 2 or 3 years.
(2) Under existing law, every person who buys or receives any
property that has been stolen, knowing the property to be stolen, is
guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony, except that if the value of the
property does not exceed $950, Proposition 47 makes the offense
punishable as a misdemeanor if the defendant has not previously been
convicted of one or more specified serious or violent felonies or an
offense requiring registration as a sex offender.
This bill would make buying or receiving a stolen firearm a
misdemeanor or a felony.
(3) The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to
amend or repeal an initiative statute by another statute that becomes
effective when approved by the electors.
This bill would provide that it would become effective only upon
approval of the voters, and would provide for the submission of this
measure to the voters for approval at the next statewide general
election.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature in submitting this act to the
electors finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The theft of firearms and receipt of stolen firearms pose
dangers to public safety that are different in kind from other types
of theft or the receipt of other types of stolen property.
(2) Many handguns have a value of less than nine hundred fifty
dollars ($950). The threat to public safety in regard to stolen
firearms goes above and beyond the monetary value of the firearm.
(3) Given the significant and particular threat to public safety
in regard to stolen firearms, it is appropriate to restore the
penalties that existed prior to the passage of the Safe Neighborhoods
and Schools Act in regard to stolen firearms.
(b) It is not the intent of the Legislature in submitting this act
to the electors to undermine the voter's decision to decrease
penalties for low-level theft and receiving stolen property, only to
give the voters the opportunity to decide whether firearm thefts and
the receipt of stolen firearms should be subject to penalties that
existed prior to the passage of the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools
Act.
SEC. 2. Section 490.2 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
490.2. (a) Notwithstanding Section 487 or any other law defining
grand theft, except as provided in subdivision (c), obtaining
any property by theft where the value of the
money, labor, real property, or personal property taken does not
exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) shall be considered
is petty theft and shall be punished as a
misdemeanor, except that the person may instead be punished pursuant
to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 if that person has one or more
prior convictions for an offense specified in clause (iv) of
subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (e) of Section 667
or for an offense requiring registration pursuant to subdivision (c)
of Section 290.
(b) This section does not apply to any a
theft that may be charged as an infraction pursuant to any
other law.
(c) If the property taken is a firearm, the theft is grand theft
in all cases, as specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of
Section 487, and is punishable pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section
489.
SEC. 3. Section 496 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
496. (a) (1) Every person who buys or
receives any property that has been stolen or that has been obtained
in any manner constituting theft or extortion, knowing the property
to be so stolen or obtained, or who conceals, sells, withholds, or
aids in concealing, selling, or withholding any property from the
owner, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained, shall be
punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year,
or imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
However, except as provided in subdivision (e), if the value of the
property does not exceed nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), the
offense shall be is a misdemeanor,
punishable only by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year, if the person has no prior convictions for an offense specified
in clause (iv) of subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) of subdivision
(e) of Section 667 or for an offense requiring registration pursuant
to subdivision (c) of Section 290.
A
(2) A principal in the actual
theft of the property may be convicted pursuant to this section.
However, no person may a person may not
be convicted both pursuant to this section and of the theft of the
same property.
(b) (1) Every swap meet vendor, as defined
in Section 21661 of the Business and Professions Code, and every
person whose principal business is dealing in, or collecting,
merchandise or personal property, and every agent, employee, or
representative of that person, who buys or receives any
property of a value in excess of nine hundred fifty dollars
($950) that has been stolen or obtained in any manner constituting
theft or extortion, under circumstances that should cause the person,
agent, employee, or representative to make reasonable inquiry to
ascertain that the person from whom the property was bought or
received had the legal right to sell or deliver it, without making a
reasonable inquiry, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county
jail for not more than one year, or imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
Every
(2) Every swap meet vendor, as
defined in Section 21661 of the Business and Professions Code, and
every person whose principal business is dealing in, or collecting,
merchandise or personal property, and every agent, employee, or
representative of that person, who buys or receives any
property of a value of nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) or
less that has been stolen or obtained in any manner constituting
theft or extortion, under circumstances that should cause the person,
agent, employee, or representative to make reasonable inquiry to
ascertain that the person from whom the property was bought or
received had the legal right to sell or deliver it, without making a
reasonable inquiry, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(c) Any A person who has been
injured by a violation of subdivision (a) or (b) may bring an action
for three times the amount of actual damages, if any, sustained by
the plaintiff, costs of suit, and reasonable attorney's fees.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 664, any an
attempt to commit any act prohibited by this section, except an
offense specified in the accusatory pleading as a misdemeanor, is
punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one
year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), every person who buys or
receives a firearm that has been stolen or that has been obtained in
any manner constituting theft or extortion, knowing the property to
be so stolen or obtained, or who conceals, sells, withholds, or aids
in concealing, selling, or withholding any property from the owner,
knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained, shall be punished
by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or
imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.
SEC. 4. Sections 2 and 3 of this act amend the Safe Neighborhoods
and Schools Act, Proposition 47, an initiative statute, and shall
become effective only when submitted to and approved by the voters.
The Secretary of State shall submit Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act
for approval by the voters at a statewide election in accordance with
Section 9040 of the Elections Code.
