republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-965.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Firearms."
description: "Existing law, commencing January 1, 2024, requires the Department of Justice to conduct inspections of specified licensed firearms dealers at least once every 3 years, to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Previous law authorized the department to conduct such inspections. Existing law requires the department to maintain specified records regarding these inspections and to make those records available upon request. Existing law also authorizes the department to inspect licensed ammunition vendors."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 965"
citation: "California SB 965 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Firearms"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Min"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 24
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-24"
last_action: "2024-09-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8d6b2056-8b86-4f99-874e-86e912339a96"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB965"
source_hash: "5739b3f290d84390556f38093ce0c1873488ecbca9ca312e5ddd66f8b931437c"
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 SB 965 (20232024) — Firearms.

Existing law, commencing January 1, 2024, requires the Department of Justice to conduct inspections of specified licensed firearms dealers at least once every 3 years, to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Previous law authorized the department to conduct such inspections. Existing law requires the department to maintain specified records regarding these inspections and to make those records available upon request. Existing law also authorizes the department to inspect licensed ammunition vendors.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/24/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB965&version=20230SB96599INT)
2. **05/16/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB965&version=20230SB96598AMD)
3. **09/24/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB965&version=20230SB96596CHP)
4. **SB965** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB965)
5. **08/30/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB965&version=20230SB96597ENR)

## Votes

- Placed on suspense file — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 965 Min Senate Third Reading By McCarty — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Min — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-24** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2024-01-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 24.
- **2024-02-14** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
- **2024-02-23** Set for hearing March 12.
- **2024-03-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3283.) (March 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-05** Set for hearing April 15.
- **2024-04-15** April 15 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2024-05-10** Set for hearing May 16.
- **2024-05-16** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 3965.) (May 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-05-16** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-05-22** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2024-05-24** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 4208.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-05-24** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2024-06-03** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-18** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-08-07** August 7 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (August 15). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-28** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 6697.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-29** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2024-09-04** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-24** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 546, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8d6b2056-8b86-4f99-874e-86e912339a96`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).