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Senate advances substitute to add judicial review for Utah firearm-disqualification list
Summary
The Utah Senate approved a first substitute to SB 80 to create a court petition process allowing people listed for mental-health reasons to seek judicial review and possible removal from state and federal firearm-disqualification databases; debate centered on data-sharing with the NICS system, medical-record releases and narrowing evaluators to psychiatrists.
The Utah Senate on March 5 approved a first-substitute to Senate Bill 80 that establishes a judicial-review process for people placed on the state firearm-disqualification list for mental-health reasons.
Sponsor Senator Thatcher said the state currently lacks a clear appeal process and that recent data-sharing with the federal system exposed gaps: Utah recently transmitted a list of over 10,000 names to the national database, of which roughly 4,400 records were rejected, the sponsor said. The substitute creates a mechanism for a person to petition a judge to review medical records, interview witnesses and medical providers and determine whether the person’s firearm-disqualification should be lifted.
The substitute narrows who may perform the psychiatric evaluation: in response to a request from Senator Jones, the sponsor moved and the body adopted an amendment deleting the word “psychologist” and limiting the evaluation language to a psychiatric exam. Senators asked whether removal from the state file would reach the federal NICS database; the sponsor said the bill, if successful, would remove a person from the state database and petition the federal database for removal as well.
Questions from senators probed practical details: whether the court’s order would propagate to federal records, who administers the state bureau that transmits records, and what notice the petitioner would receive after a successful review. The sponsor said the state Bureau of Criminal Identification transmits data to NICS and said district court judges would likely issue notice when rights are restored, but that some procedural elements may need clarification with the state criminal-justice commission.
Senator Maine and others requested confirmation the bill removes records from both state and national databases when a judge restores rights. Senator Thatcher said that was the intent and that the substitute is meant to add due process that the state currently lacks. Senator Jones supported limiting evaluators to psychiatrists as a safeguard to ensure consistency.
After debate and a successful motion to amend the evaluator language, the Senate voted to move the first substitute of SB 80 to third reading.
