republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-1559.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Firearms."
description: "(1) Existing law allows the Department of Justice to require a firearms dealer to charge a firearm purchaser a fee not to exceed $14, which may be adjusted at a rate not to exceed any increase in the California Consumer Price Index. Existing law, until January 1, 2014, provides that only one fee shall be charged for a single transaction on the same date for the sale of any number of firearms that are not handguns, or for the taking of possession of those firearms. Existing law requires, in a single transaction on the same date for the delivery of any number of firearms that are handguns, and commencing January 1, 2014, for any firearm, that the department charge a reduced fee for the second and subsequent firearms that are part of that transaction. Existing law provides that only one fee shall be charged for a single transaction on the same date for taking title or possession of any number of firearms pursuant to certain specified provisions of law."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1559"
citation: "California AB 1559 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Firearms."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Portantino"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 25
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2012-01-30"
last_action: "2012-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/07c35015-012e-47ee-bbbc-80f37892afa0"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559"
source_hash: "195c8c539a55c0bd335a6f44047f783b2715c1dd45527e91c48d79bdff0b3da9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1559 (20112012) — Firearms.

(1) Existing law allows the Department of Justice to require a firearms dealer to charge a firearm purchaser a fee not to exceed $14, which may be adjusted at a rate not to exceed any increase in the California Consumer Price Index. Existing law, until January 1, 2014, provides that only one fee shall be charged for a single transaction on the same date for the sale of any number of firearms that are not handguns, or for the taking of possession of those firearms. Existing law requires, in a single transaction on the same date for the delivery of any number of firearms that are handguns, and commencing January 1, 2014, for any firearm, that the department charge a reduced fee for the second and subsequent firearms that are part of that transaction. Existing law provides that only one fee shall be charged for a single transaction on the same date for taking title or possession of any number of firearms pursuant to certain specified provisions of law.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/30/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559&version=20110AB155999INT)
2. **02/15/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559&version=20110AB155998AMD)
3. **04/11/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559&version=20110AB155997AMD)
4. **06/15/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559&version=20110AB155996AMD)
5. **09/28/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559&version=20110AB155994CHP)
6. **AB1559** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559)
7. **08/31/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1559&version=20110AB155995ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1559 PORTANTINO Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1559 PORTANTINO Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1559 Portantino By Correa — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Portantino — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2012-01-30** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2012-01-31** From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.
- **2012-02-09** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-02-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-02-16** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-27** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-04-10** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (April 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-11** Read second time and amended. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-25** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-26** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 4674.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-03** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-17** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-15** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-26** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-06** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-16** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 16). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 4702.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-22** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 24 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-27** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 6298.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:45 p.m.
- **2012-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 691, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/07c35015-012e-47ee-bbbc-80f37892afa0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).