Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that changes how authorities will be able to issue fines to alarm companies who dispatch first responders to customer sites without a valid alarm permit.
The measure, known as AB 1289, amends the California Alarm Act to prohibit law enforcement agencies and/or their third-party false alarm compliance contractors from directly billing an alarm company for fines incurred by end-users responsible for obtaining an alarm use permit or renewing such a permit.
Specifically, the bill adds Section 7592.9 to the Act, which reads:
7592.9. Notwithstanding Section 7592.8, a city, county, or city and county that requires a person who owns, leases, rents, or otherwise possesses an alarm system to obtain a local use permit to operate the alarm system shall not fine an alarm company for requesting dispatch to a customer, whether residential or commercial, that does not have a current local use permit if either apply:
(a) It was not the alarm company’s legal responsibility to obtain the local use permit for the customer or renew the local use permit for the customer.
(b) If it is the alarm company’s legal responsibility to renew the local use permit for the customer, the alarm company was not notified that the customer’s local use permit had expired.
These changes are set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020.
In May, Tennessee passed legislation prohibiting local governments from issuing fines to dealers for false alarms suffered by end-users or requiring them to collect or pay alarm permit fees.
