Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Stephen M. Wagstaffe, District Attorney
Subject: Second Amendment to Agreement with City of San Mateo for Personnel Support to the San Mateo County Gun Relinquishment Task Force
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing a second amendment to the agreement with the City of San Mateo for the purpose of providing personnel support to the San Mateo County Gun Relinquishment Task Force, increasing the not-to-exceed amount by $600,000 from $1,300,000 to $1,900,000 and extending the term of the agreement through November 20, 2028.
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BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the San Mateo County Gun Violence Prevention Program (GVPP) is to coordinate and share resources amongst the law enforcement agencies in San Mateo County to enforce unlawful firearm possession laws more effectively, in the interest of promoting safety and reducing gun violence in the county.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has been designated as the law enforcement partner for the San Mateo County Superior Court for the purposes of complying with California Senate Bill 320, a comprehensive firearms relinquishment statutory change that went into effect January 1, 2022.
Thereafter, the District Attorney’s Office created the San Mateo County Gun Relinquishment Task Force (Task Force), the law enforcement “partner” segment of the GVPP, in the form of two outside agency law enforcement detectives working under the supervision of the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation. Since 2022, those two outside agency law enforcement detectives have made up the heart of the GVPP, working closely with our partners from the Superior Court. GVPP Detectives review court orders every weekday to ensure firearms, ammunition, and firearm components are voluntarily surrendered by prohibited persons or seized pursuant to a valid court order when prohibited person(s) refuse to voluntarily comply.
The GVPP has been extremely successful in the last four years by ensuring weapons and weapon components are removed from prohibited persons as quickly as possible once a firearm finding has been declared by the Superior Court.
On November 21, 2022, the District Attorney’s office entered into an agreement with the City of San Mateo in an amount not to exceed $700,000 for the purpose of providing personnel support to the Task Force through November 2024 (Agreement). In November 2024, the parties amended the Agreement to extend the term through November 2026 and increase the not-to-exceed amount to $1,300,000.
DISCUSSION:
The District Attorney’s Office recommends a second amendment to the Agreement, increasing the not-to-exceed amount by $600,000 from $1,300,000 to $1,900,000 and extending the term through November 20, 2028.
The resolution contains the County’s standard provisions allowing further amendments of the County’s maximum fiscal obligation by no more than $25,000(in aggregate).
County Attorney has reviewed and approved the resolution and the proposed second amendment to the Agreement as to form.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
This amendment will help to allow the GVPP, a critical partnership between the District Attorney’s Office and the Superior Court, to continue ensuring that firearms, ammunition, and firearm components are kept out of the hands of prohibited persons. Since 2022, the GVPP has tracked over 5,400 restraining orders, and approximately 1,100 firearms have been voluntarily surrendered, seized, legally sold, or transferred as a result of the program.
FISCAL IMPACT:
All costs associated with the second amendment to the Agreement, which will increase the maximum fiscal obligation by $600,000 from $1,300,000 to $1,900,000 have been included in the Recommended Budget for FY2026-27.