NOTE: As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used in any other situation.

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* SB 47 establishes a new fund called "personal protection fund".

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to NMSA 30-7-2

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 47 enacts the Personal Protection Act, providing for the means and methods to acquire a concealed handgun permit in the State of New Mexico. The Act details qualifications for an applicant, the form of the application, the Department of Public Safety's response to incoming applications and perspective concepts on how to deal with approving or denying applications. The legislation also creates the Personal Protection Fund, which is to be used to fund the Department of Public Safety in order to carry out the provisions of the Personal Protection Act.

Significant Issues

The Department of Public Safety, in determining license eligibility would need to obtain access to additional information that is currently unavailable or may not be available.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Department of Public Safety reports there may be potential fiscal impact to the agency, however, the Personal Protection Fund is created by the Act and this fund should be sufficient to absorb some of the costs associated with carrying out the Personal Protection Fund. However, the fund does not address the additional cost imposed by the FBI for background check, which is currently $24 (almost 50% of the license fee).

The Administrative Office of the Court's indicates it will costs the judicial information system $400 for statewide update, distribution, and documentation of statutory changes. Any additional fiscal impact on the judiciary would be proportional to the enforcement of this law and commenced prosecutions. New laws, amendments to existing laws, and new hearings have the potential to increase caseloads in the courts, thus requiring additional resources to handle the increase.

The Department of Public Safety did not indicate whether the $50 fee is enough to absorb anticipated fiscal and administrative impacts.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Department of Public Safety reports a potential administrative impact. It is estimated that a minimum of two full time FTE, management analysts, will be necessary to carry out the Department's functions regarding the Personal Protection Act. These FTE would be responsible for creating the internal infrastructure in order to receive, process, evaluate and issue licenses pursuant to the Personal Protection Act.

There are likely to be other minimal impacts on the New Mexico State Police Division, or the Training and Recruiting Division, both of which would be involved in the preparation and publication of rules and curricula for approved firearms training courses to teach proficiency with handguns.

According to the Department of Public Safety there is administrative impact based on the language found at Section 7, paragraph B, lines 16 thru 23. This involves the Department of Public Safety's required appearance in District Court to defend against appeals of application denials. It is clear that the Department of Public Safety would need to vigorously defend these actions, employing the services of in house counsel, the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General or contracting with outside counsel. While it may be true that many applicants would file an appeal, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety would be required to attend hearings in District Court. Additionally, if the applicant prevailed, costs would be awarded, making this a potentially huge financial impact.

The Administrative Office of the Court's indicates a potential administrative impact on the courts resulting from added judicial time needed to dispose of these types of cases in the manner provided under the law.

The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department reports law enforcement personnel in the State Parks and State Forestry Divisions will require additional specialized training in order to adjust their standard law enforcement procedures to recognize dangers associated with approaching individuals carrying concealed weapons.

CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP

Amends 30-7-2 NMSA 1978, which currently allows concealed weapons on property, home and vehicle only (not public places).

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Department of Public Safety reports the most substantive issue is the language found at Section 7, paragraph b, lines 16 thru 23. This language, at line 18, reads "… in the District Court of the County in which the applicant resides." The New Mexico Department of Public Safety is housed in Santa Fe, within the First Judicial District, and all of the headquarter resources, those necessary to carry out the provisions of the Personal Protection Act, will be at the headquarters complex in the City of Santa Fe. It is recommended that the choice of venue be limited to the First Judicial District. This same venue limitation is found in several New Mexico Statutes-involving administrative and other appeals. Among them are NMSA 1978, 7-8A-16, 10-11-120, 13-1-183(A)(1), 40-7A-6-(B), 58-21-10(B), 58-21-16(A), 58-22-27(B), 58-22-28(B), 58-22-29(A), 61-10-15(G), 61-27A-15 and 69-36-16(C). All of the above mentioned statutory sections provide for venue only within the First Judicial District. It could be anticipated that applications to the Personal Protection Act may reach several hundred a month. Further, many of these applicants will be denied for very legitimate reasons (problematic conviction histories, inadequate record keeping on the part of some governmental entity regarding information on an individual, etc., etc.,) and individuals will appeal the Department's denial of an application. It would be unfair to the Department of Public Safety to require individuals to travel all over the State of New Mexico on an almost daily basis to defend against these actions. It is also estimated that there would be insufficient money in the Personal Protection Fund to cover the costs of additional attorney staff.

DPS states that there is also a potential problem with Section 11 of the proposed legislation in involving the preemption of the license by Tribal Law.

The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department reports consideration should be given to strengthening the provisions of Section 5(B.) of the bill to increase the five-year license denial period regarding violent misdemeanor offenses to a lifetime denial. In addition, the training course curriculum should include a section on state law regarding the use of deadly force and a final exam which includes safe weapon handling and weapon use proficiency. Mandatory retraining should be required for license renewals.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The Department of Public Safety reports it does not have access to information that would identify that the applicant was a citizen of the United States. For example, citizenship identification could be difficult if the applicant has not been indicted for a felony in New Mexico or any other state or the applicant has not been adjudicated as mentally defective, or committed to a residential treatment center. Therefore, this licensing requirement cannot be satisfied.

DPS notes that there is no statute that requires the submission of final depositions for criminal arrests; 60% of the records are incomplete and inaccurate. The DPS would need disposition information from the courts to make licensing decisions regarding criminal history information and to determine if the individual has pled guilty or nole contendre to specific charges. Records without dispositions cannot be used to deny a license.

In addition, the Act requires that the DPS issue a license within 60 days of receipt of the application. Based on experience, it is currently taking approximately 12 weeks to complete the process. DPS indicates that it would be difficult to meet this requirement.

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