Amended  IN  Assembly  May 18, 2026
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 16, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1810

Introduced by Assembly Member Berman
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Stefani)

February 10, 2026

An act to amend Sections 26715, 26720, 28460, and 29055 of the Penal Code, relating to firearms.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1810, as amended, Berman. Firearms: dealer centralized list.
Existing law requires the Department of Justice to keep a centralized list of all persons who are licensed firearms dealers and satisfy certain requirements, including having a valid federal firearms license and a regulatory or business license required by local government. Existing law requires the department to remove a person from the list if the person’s federal license has expired or been revoked. Existing law, beginning on January 1, 2024, requires the department to conduct inspections of firearms dealers at least every 3 years, except as provided, to ensure compliance with specified requirements. As part of the department’s inspections of firearms dealers, existing law requires the department to audit a dealer’s records that includes a sampling of at least 25% but no more than 50% of each record type. Existing law requires the department to assess annual fees not to exceed specified amounts to cover the reasonable costs of inspecting and maintaining this list and other similar centralized lists.
This bill would require the department to remove from the list a person who fails to comply with the requirements to be on the list and authorize the department to remove a person from the list who fails to remedy specified violations discovered as a result of the above-described inspections. The bill would subject a person removed from the list for these 2 reasons for failure to remedy specified violations to a fine and make that person ineligible to be placed on the list for a period of 2 years. The bill would require the department to conduct a yearly inspection of the 10 firearm dealer locations with the highest percentage of total sales of firearms that were recovered by law enforcement and found to be illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected to have been used in a crime, as specified, pursuant to a certain yearly report. The bill would, for the fees charged for inspecting and maintaining the above-described lists, instead require the department to assess a reasonable annual fee. The bill would prohibit a fee adjustment from exceeding 15% over the previous year and exceeding the amount necessary to cover the costs described above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 26715 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

26715.
 (a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (1) and (3) of subdivision (b), the Department of Justice shall keep a centralized list of all persons licensed pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section 26700.
(b) (1) The department may remove from this list any person who knowingly or with gross negligence violates a provision listed in Section 16575.
(2) The department shall remove from the centralized list any person whose federal firearms license has expired or has been revoked.
(3) The department shall remove from the centralized list any person or entity who has failed to provide certification of compliance with Section 26806 pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 26806.
(4) The department shall remove from this list a person who fails to comply with the requirements for licensure listed in subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section 26700.
(5) The department may remove from this list a person who fails to remedy violations discovered as a result of an inspection, within 90 days of the inspection, as provided in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 26720.
(6) Upon removal of a dealer from this list, notification shall be provided to local law enforcement and licensing authorities in the jurisdiction where the dealer’s business is located.
(7) (A) A person removed from the centralized list pursuant to paragraph (4) or (5) shall be subject to a fine and shall be ineligible to be placed on the centralized list for a period of two years from the date of removal.
(B) A person who has been removed from the centralized list is ineligible to own or operate a business selling firearms or ammunition, or be employed by a firearms dealer or ammunition vendor for a period of two years.
(C) Dealers shall provide the certificate of eligibility for all employees, who are required to have a certificate of eligibility, upon request of any peace officer, authorized law enforcement employee, or Department of Justice employee designated by the Attorney General, upon the presentation of proper identification during the course of an inspection.
(c) Information compiled from the list shall be made available, upon request, for the following purposes only:
(1) For law enforcement purposes.
(2) When the information is requested by a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code for determining the validity of the license for firearm shipments.
(3) When information is requested by a person promoting, sponsoring, operating, or otherwise organizing a show or event as defined in Section 478.100 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or its successor, who possesses a valid certificate of eligibility issued pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 27200) of Chapter 3, if that information is requested by the person to determine the eligibility of a prospective participant in a gun show or event to conduct transactions as a firearms dealer pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 26805.
(d) Information provided pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be limited to information necessary to corroborate an individual’s current license status as being one of the following:
(1) A person licensed pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section 26700.
(2) A person who is licensed pursuant to Chapter 44 (commencing with Section 921) of Title 18 of the United States Code, and who is not subject to the requirement of being licensed pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section 26700.

SEC. 2.

 Section 26720 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

26720.
 (a) The Department of Justice may conduct inspections of dealers at least every three years to ensure compliance with the requirements of this title, including any regulations promulgated to implement this title, Sections 21628.2, 21636, and 21640 of the Business and Professions Code, and any other applicable state law.
(1) Commencing on January 1, 2024, the department shall conduct inspections of all dealers, except a dealer specified in paragraph (2) or subdivision (c), at least once every three years, to ensure compliance with the requirements of this title, including any regulations promulgated to implement this title, Sections 21628.2, 21636, and 21640 of the Business and Professions Code, and any other applicable state law.
(2) Each year, the department shall conduct an inspection of the 10 firearm dealer locations with the highest percentage of total sales of firearms that were recovered by law enforcement and found to be illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected to have been used in a crime, crime that have a time to crime of less than one year for the most recent calendar year reported, as described in the report specified in subdivision (e) of Section 11108.3. A firearm dealer location shall only be inspected pursuant to this paragraph if it is reported to be the source of no fewer than 20 firearms that were illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected to have been used in a crime.
(3) The inspections pursuant to paragraph (2) shall occur within 12 months after the release of the report required by Section 11108.3. The department may forgo an inspection of a location as described in paragraph (2) if the location has been inspected within six months prior to the release of the report.
(4) Inspections of dealers pursuant to this subdivision shall include an audit of dealer records that includes a sampling of at least 25 percent of each record type.
(5) A dealer found to have committed a violation of the requirements specified in paragraph (1) shall remedy the violation within 90 days of the inspection and submit proof of that remedy to the department.
(6) For the purposes of this section, “time to crime” means the length of time between when a firearm was last in the possession of, or reported stolen by, the dealer, as applicable, and the date the weapon was recovered by law enforcement and found to be illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected to have been used in a crime.
(b) The department may assess an annual fee to cover the reasonable cost of maintaining the list described in Section 26715, including the cost of inspections. A fee adjustment shall not exceed 15 percent over the previous year and shall not exceed the amount necessary to cover the costs described in this subdivision.
(c) A dealer whose place of business is located in a jurisdiction that has adopted an inspection program to ensure compliance with firearms law is exempt from that portion of the department’s fee that relates to the cost of inspections. The applicant is responsible for providing evidence to the department that the jurisdiction in which the business is located has the inspection program. The department may inspect a dealer who is exempt from mandatory inspections under subdivision (b) to ensure compliance with the requirements of this title, including any regulations promulgated to implement this title, Sections 21628.2, 21636, and 21640 of the Business and Professions Code, and any other applicable state law.

SEC. 3.

 Section 28460 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

28460.
 (a) The department shall assess a reasonable annual fee to cover its costs of maintaining the centralized list of exempted federal firearms licensees prescribed by Section 28450, conducting inspections in accordance with this article, and for the cost of maintaining the firearm shipment verification number system described in Section 27555. A fee adjustment shall not exceed 15 percent over the previous year and shall not exceed the amount necessary to cover the costs described in this section.
(b) The fees collected shall be deposited in the Dealers’ Record of Sale Special Account.
(c) A person who satisfies all of the following conditions shall not be charged a fee:
(1) The person is not licensed pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26915, inclusive.
(2) The person has been issued a permit pursuant to Section 31005, 32650, or 33300, or pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 18900) of Chapter 1 of Division 5 of Title 2.
(3) The person is placed on the centralized list of exempted federal firearms licensees.

SEC. 4.

 Section 29055 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

29055.
 (a) The department shall adopt regulations to administer this chapter and Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 29010).
(b) The department shall recover the full costs of administering the program by collecting reasonable fees from license applicants. Recoverable costs shall include, but not be limited to, the costs of inspections and maintaining a centralized list of licensed firearm manufacturers.
(c) The reasonable fee for licensed manufacturers who produce fewer than 500 firearms in a calendar year within this state shall not exceed the actual costs of inspections and maintaining a centralized list of firearm manufacturers and any other duties of the department required pursuant to this chapter and Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 29010), whichever is less.