TITLE: CONCERNING PERMITS TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH, IDENTIFYING THE CARRYING OF CONCEALED HANDGUNS AS AN ISSUE OF STATEWIDE INTEREST, CREATING STATEWIDE STANDARDS FOR ISSUANCE OF PERMITS TO CARRY CONCEALED HANDGUNS, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR.

Fiscal Impact Summary	FY 1999/2000	FY 2000/2001
State Revenues General Fund Cash Fund	$639,000	$404,900
State Expenditures General Fund Cash Fund	$546,883	$394,583
FTE Position Change	1.0 FTE	1.0 FTE
Other State Impact: TABOR
Effective Date: July 1, 1999, with Sections 3, 4, and 5 applying to offenses committed thereafter.
Appropriation Summary for FY 1999-2000: $546,883 cash fund to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Department of Public Safety
Local Government Impact: See Local Government Impact Section.

As amended by the House State Affairs Committee, the reengrossed bill includes the following provisions:

• states that the issuance of permits to carry concealed handguns is a matter of statewide concern, and assigns to county sheriffs or to any person performing the duties of sheriff in any city and county the responsibility for issuing the permits;

• specifies the qualifications for receiving a permit, the contents of the permit, and how the permit may be used and identifies conditions when a handgun is not considered concealed;

• as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, specifies that regardless of whether or not an applicant meets the criteria for receiving a permit, the sheriff may deny the permit based on the applicant’s previous documented behavior, if that previous behavior supports a reasonable belief that the applicant has committed any of the criminal acts specified in the bill;

• specifies the documents (including an application, permit fee, and photograph) an applicant must submit to a sheriff;

• instructs the sheriff to witness the applicant's signature on the permit application, verify the applicant's identity, and take two full sets of the applicant's fingerprints (this section requires an applicant to provide date of birth in addition to name and address, with address information for the ten-year period immediately preceding the submittal of the application);

• directs the sheriff to establish the new and renewal permit fees based on the costs of issuing and renewing the permits and sets a cap on the fee;

• as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, permits, instead of requires, that the sheriff consult with any other local law enforcement agencies located in the sheriff’s jurisdiction;

• as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, establishes a process for an applicant to review a permit denial, including judicial review of the permit denial;

• instructs the sheriff to notify the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of persons receiving permits;

• establishes procedures for renewing a permit, including the documents and fee to be filed and the sheriff's duties;

• requires the CBI to send one set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for processing and process the other set of fingerprints;

• as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, requires the CBI to maintain an automated, on-line listing of the states whose permits are entitled to reciprocity under proposed Section 18-12-212, with such listing being available to all law enforcement agencies;

• establishes procedures for issuing emergency permits by sheriffs to any person who is protected under a restraining or emergency protection order or who is in immediate danger;

• specifies conditions under which a permit may become invalid or may be suspended;

• authorizes a peace officer to temporarily disarm any permit holder, incident to a lawful stop of the permit holder;

• authorizes the carrying of a concealed handgun in all areas of the state except those prohibited by federal law and does not authorize the permit holder to use a handgun in violation of state law; specifically prohibits the carrying of a concealed weapon in a) any building wholly owned or occupied by the state or by a city, county, city and county, or authority, including courthouses, buildings partially occupied by the aforementioned entities (language amended by the House State Affairs Committee); b) any high school, college, university, or professional athletic event that does not involve the use of handguns; c) the real estate and any all improvements of any public or private elementary, middle, junior high, or high school, with certain exceptions; or d) in the portion of any premises licensed to sell alcohol beverages for on-premises consumption;

• grants civil immunity to the CBI, local law enforcement agencies, and employees of said entities for the good faith implementation of the act;

• grants civil immunity for damages arising from issuance or denial of a permit to persons who may provide information concerning an applicant;

• provides that permits issued prior to July 1, 1999, shall expire on June 30, 2000, or on any expiration date specified on the permit, whichever occurs later;

• clarifies the circumstances under which a person may be charged with unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon; and

• as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, a person who has a concealed handgun commits a class 1 petty offense, not a class 2 misdemeanor, if such person carries a concealed weapon in violation of proposed Section 18-12-213, with second and subsequent offenses charged as a class 2 misdemeanor.

The bill will impact the revenue of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI will receive two sets of fingerprints and fingerprint processing fees collected by local law enforcement agencies for concealed handgun permits. The CBI would process one set of fingerprints and send one set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for processing. The bill also requires the CBI to maintain a listing of permit holders that is available only to law enforcement agencies.

It is estimated that the CBI will process fingerprints for approximately 20,500 concealed handgun applicants annually and also forward fingerprints to the FBI for 20,500 applicants annually. This represents approximately 0.5 percent of the Colorado population. The projected number of applicants is based on the number of permits in Arizona who passed a similar law. In the first fiscal year following passage of the Arizona concealed weapons law approximately 0.5 percent of the population applied for concealed handgun permits and approximately 0.35 percent of the state’s population applied for concealed weapons permits in the second fiscal year following passage of the Arizona law.

The CBI’s current $14 fingerprint processing fee will be assessed for approximately 20,500 applicants annually, resulting in $287,000 in estimated cash fund revenue from concealed weapons applicant print processing fees in FY 1999-00 and $200,900 in FY 2000-01. The FY 1998-99 Long Appropriations Bill included an appropriation to the CBI of 2.0 FTE and cash fund spending authority to process 10,000 sets of fingerprints for concealed weapons permits, with an estimated annual revenue of $140,000. This fiscal note assumes the FY 1999-00 Long Appropriations Bill will contain a continuing appropriation to the CBI for 2.0 FTE and cash fund spending authority to process 10,000 sets of fingerprints for concealed weapons permits. Therefore, this fiscal note assumes the bill would result in an additional $147,000 in cash fund revenue to CBI in FY 1999-00 to process concealed weapons permit fingerprints.

The CBI also will forward an estimated 20,500 fingerprint sets along with the $24 federal fee to the FBI in FY 1999-00 and an estimated 14,350 sets in FY 2000-01. This will generate an additional $492,000 in cash fund revenue to the CBI in FY 1999-00 and $344,400 in FY 2000-01; however, these funds will simply be forwarded to the FBI to pay the FBI fingerprint processing fee.

The House State Affairs Committee amendment provides for a charge of class 1 petty offense for persons who possess a concealed weapon in violation of proposed Section 18-12-213; subsequent offenses would be charged as a class 2 misdemeanor. Current law provides the court sentencing options, described in more detail in the Local Government section below, that could result in an assessment of fines. Any such fines would be deposited in the state General Fund. The number of persons who may be convicted of these offenses has not been estimated; however, the fiscal impact is estimated to be minimal.

This bill would create the need for additional resources for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Department of Public Safety in order to process 20,500 additional fingerprint sets forwarded from the sheriffs. The FY 1998-99 Long Appropriations Bill provided the CBI with 2.0 FTE and cash fund spending authority to process 10,000 sets of fingerprints for concealed weapons permits. It is assumed that the FY 1999-00 Long Appropriations Bill will contain a continuing appropriation of 2.0 FTE and FY 1999-00 cash fund spending authority to process 10,000 sets of fingerprints for concealed weapons permits.

However, the CBI will need 1.0 FTE to process an additional 10,500 applications for concealed handgun permits annually. In addition, as discussed above, the CBI will forward $492,000 to the FBI to process concealed weapons permit fingerprints in FY 1999-00. The direct costs to the CBI are identified in the table below.

* This cost was omitted from the fiscal notes dated January 21, 1999, and April 5, 1999. It is included here to more accurately reflect the cost of the proposed legislation.

Pursuant to the Joint Budget Committee’s budget policies, the following expenditures have not been included in this fiscal note:

The bill requires the sheriff, or the official who has the duties of a sheriff in a city and county, to:

• provide a permit application to applicants on a statewide standardized form approved by the sheriffs;

• witness the applicant's signature on the permit application, verify the applicant's identity, collect evidence demonstrating the applicant’s competence with a handgun, take two full sets of the applicant's fingerprints;

• as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, establish and collect an initial permit fee not to exceed $65 (decreased from $100) per applicant and a renewal permit fee not to exceed $35 (decreased from $50) for processing the permit application; and

• notify the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of persons receiving permits.

As amended, the bill states that the permit fee be based on the actual cost to the sheriff for processing applications. For the purposes of this fiscal note, it is assumed that sheriffs and any persons in a city and county performing the duties of sheriff to charge and collect a $65 permit fee for an estimated 20,500 new permit applications annually. It is also assumed that sheriffs and police chiefs will collect a $14 CBI fingerprint processing fee and a $24 FBI fingerprint processing fees from 20,500 applicants annually and forward these amounts to the CBI. Fees collected at the local level would count as TABOR revenues.

The House State Affairs Committee added language to proposed Section 18-12-105 that provides for a charge of class 1 petty offense, instead of a class 2 misdemeanor, if a person carries a concealed weapon in violation of proposed Section 18-12-213. Subsequent offenses will be charged as a class 2 misdemeanor.

Pursuant to Section 18-1-107, C.R.S., the penalty for a class 1 petty offense, upon conviction, is a fine of not more than $500, or imprisonment for not more than six months in a facility other than a state correctional facility, or both. As noted in the State Revenues section above, any fine revenue would be deposited in the state General Fund. Persons sentenced to jail time would serve their time in a county jail. The number of persons who may be convicted, and the manner in which they may be sentenced by the court, have not been estimated.

This fiscal note implies that for FY 1999-00 the Department of Public Safety, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, should be appropriated $546,883 Cash Fund and 1.0 FTE from fingerprint processing fees.