Bill Caption

Relating to decreasing the fee for the issuance of an original, duplicate, modified, or renewed license to carry a handgun.

Fiscal Notes

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB300, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($21,982,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2019. 

Bill Analysis

The bill would reduce the fee for an original and renewal License to carry to $40, paid to the Department of Public Safety. The bill would also set the application and license fee for an applicant who is certified as a qualified handgun instructor at $40, in addition to the instructor training fee. The bill would also reduce certain fees if the department determines that an applicant is indigent or a senior citizen. The bill would set the application and license fee for an applicant who is a judicial officer at $25.

Vote Recommendation Notes

This bill supports our limited government principle in some areas and diminishes it in others. The positive aspect of this bill is that it lowers the amount of the application fee for a license to carry from $100 to $40 dollars. This bill also offends limited government by lowering the price further for a specific class of people.

We would support an amendment to restore this legislation to its original form as filed. Nonetheless we support this bill regardless of whether it is so amended because the significant reduction in the fee to obtain a license to carry outweighs the provision we object to.