Legislative Corner -- April

This time of the year, things are starting to heat up at the Capitol.  CALSAGA’s sponsored legislation, AB 2128 by Assemblyman Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday, May 4 at 10:00 a.m. in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee.  CALSAGA members will be on hand to testify in support of the bill.

AB 2128 would expand the current requirement – that all PPOs offering armed security services have a minimum liability and bodily injury policies of $500,000 – to all licensed PPOs in California, regardless of whether armed or not, and increasing the minimum coverage on each to $1,000,000. 

Legitimate security contracts require at least $1,000,000 in liability and bodily injury coverage with a general aggregate policy.  AB 2128 would add another layer of consumer protection by ensuring that all security customers are protected from liability and bodily injury damages when an uninsured PPO goes out of business.  This is something that our members commonly witness in the marketplace and unfortunately, consumers are left abandoned.

We thank Assemblyman Gaines for his leadership on an important issue.  We will inform members on May 4 if the bill is successfully voted out of its first committee.  You can also follow our up-to-the-minute tweets during the hearing at www.twitter.com/CALSAGA.  

As reported in previous eNewsletters, CALSAGA also sponsored SB 1312 by former Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) earlier this year.  SB 1312 would have allowed PPOs the option of registering firearms in their company name rather than in their individual officers’ names.

At the request of the Senate Public Safety Committee, which is in the midst of a huge California gun law rewrite this year, CALSAGA agreed to pull SB 1312 from consideration.  CALSAGA also felt that there was still work to be done to educate key law enforcement stakeholders and legislators about our bill, which we will spend the rest of this year doing in hopes of reintroducing the concept next year.

Finally, we are tracking AB 2626 by Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) that would expand the range of facilities that may be guarded by a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Security Officer to include any properties owned, operated, or administered by any specified public agency, private or non profit entity.

CALSAGA has some potential concerns over the bill, including unfair competition issues -- specifically that law enforcement should not be in the business of contract security.  We are currently reviewing the bill and will formalize a position soon.