AB2633 - Secondhand dealers.

Amended IN Senate August 21, 2026 Amended IN Senate June 11, 2026 Amended IN Assembly May 18, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2633 Introduced by Assembly Member Gipson (Coauthor: Assembly Member Caloza) February 20, 2026 An act to amend Sections 21625, 21626, 21627, 21628, 21629, 21630, 21631, 21636, 21636.1, 21636.5, 21637, and 21638 of, and to repeal Section 21634 of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to secondhand dealers. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2633, as amended, Gipson. Secondhand dealers. Existing law imposes upon secondhand dealers and coin dealers a uniform, statewide, state-administered program of regulation of persons whose principal business is buying, selling, trading, auctioning, or taking in pawn tangible personal property, as defined, and requires a secondhand dealer or coin dealer to report secondhand tangible personal property that they acquire acquire, except as specified, to the California Pawn and SecondhandDealer System (CAPSS) operated by the Department of Justice, as specified. Existing law defines “tangible personal property” for these purposes to include, among other things, all tangible personal property that the Attorney General statistically determines through the most recent Department of Justice crime data to constitute a significant class of stolen goods. Existing law further defines “significant class of stolen goods” to mean those items determined through the Department of Justice’s most recent OpenJustice Web portal update to constitute more than 10% of property reported stolen in the calendar year preceding the annual posting of the list of significant classes of stolen goods. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor, as specified. This bill would remove the term “principal” from the provisions that regulate secondhand dealers, making them applicable, instead, to persons whose business is buying, selling, trading, auctioning, or taking in pawn tangible personal property. By expanding the persons subject to the reporting requirement, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make the above-described provisions inapplicable to coin dealers and make other related and conforming changes. The bill would expand the definition of “tangible personal property” to include secondhand jewelry, items, or objects. The bill would make the provisions that regulate secondhand dealers inapplicable to tangible personal property that has been acquired from a nonprofit organization or as a bulk purchase of donated items. The bill would also delete the definition of a “significant class of stolen goods,” thereby potentially expanding the definition of “tangible personal property.” By expanding the items subject to the reporting requirement, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the chief of police, sheriff, or police commission to accept an application for licensure and to grant a license to a qualified applicant, as specified. Existing law requires the licensing authority to submit the application to the Department of Justice before granting the license. If the Department of Justice does not comment on the application within 30 days after the submission, existing law authorizes the licensing authority to grant the applicant a license. This bill would prohibit a city, county, city and county, or any other state agency from issuing a license or permit to allow any entity to conduct business as a secondhand dealer without the entity having a state secondhand dealer license issued pursuant to the provisions described above. The bill would reiterate that any person conducting business as a secondhand dealer is required to report secondhand tangible personal property that they acquire to the CAPSS operated by the Department of Justice, as specified. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 21625 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 21625. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article to curtail the dissemination of stolen property and to facilitate the recovery of stolen property by means of a uniform, statewide, state-administered program of regulation of persons whose business is the buying, selling, trading, auctioning, or taking in pawn of tangible personal property and to aid the State Board of Equalization to detect possible sales tax evasion. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article to require the uniform statewide reporting of tangible personal property acquired by persons whose business is the buying, selling, trading, auctioning, or taking in pawn of tangible personal property, unless the property or the transaction is specifically exempt herein, for the purpose of correlating these reports with other reports of city, county, and city and county law enforcement agencies and further utilizing the services of the Department of Justice to aid in tracing and recovering stolen property. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that this article shall not be superseded or supplanted by the provisions of any ordinance or charter of any city, county, or city and county. SEC. 2. Section 21626 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 21626. (a) A “secondhand dealer,” as used in this article, means and includes any person, copartnership, firm, or corporation whose business includes buying, selling, trading, taking in pawn, accepting for sale on consignment, accepting for auctioning, or auctioning secondhand tangible personal property. A “secondhand dealer” does not include participants at gun shows, as defined in Section 478.100 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or its successor, who are not required to be licensed pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26915, inclusive, of the Penal Code, who are acting in compliance with the requirements of Sections 26500 to 26585, inclusive, and 27545 of the Penal Code, and who are not a “Gun Show Trader,” as described in Sections 16620 and 26525 of the Penal Code. (b) Every entity acting as a secondhand dealer by engaging in any of the actions described in subdivision (a) shall have a valid California secondhand dealer’s license issued under Section 21641. (c) Every entity acting as a secondhand dealer as described in subdivision (a) shall report to the California Pawn and SecondhandDealer System, operated by the Department of Justice, pursuant to Section 21628. SEC. 3. Section 21627 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 21627. (a) As used in this article, “tangible personal property” means all secondhand tangible personal property that bears a serial number or personalized initials or inscription or that, at the time it is acquired by the secondhand dealer, bears evidence of having had a serial number or personalized initials or inscription. (b) “Tangible personal property” also means the following: (1) All tangible personal property, new or used, including motor vehicles, received in pledge as security for a loan by a pawnbroker. (2) All tangible personal property that bears a serial number or personalized initials or inscription and that is purchased by a secondhand dealer or a pawnbroker or that, at the time of the purchase, bears evidence of having had a serial number or personalized initials or inscription. (3) All tangible personal property that the Attorney General statistically determines through the most recent Department of Justice crime data, updated pursuant to Section 13010 of the Penal Code, to constitute a significant class of stolen goods. A list of that personal property shall be supplied by the Attorney General to all local law enforcement agencies and posted on the Attorney General’s internet website. That list shall be updated annually by the Attorney General, beginning January 1, 2016, to ensure that it addresses current problems with stolen goods. (4) All secondhand jewelry, items, or objects. (c) As used in this article, “tangible personal property” does not include any new goods or merchandise purchased from a bona fide manufacturer or distributor or wholesaler of the new goods or merchandise by a secondhand dealer. For the purposes of this article, however, a secondhand dealer shall retain for one year from the date of purchase, and shall make available for inspection by any law enforcement officer, any receipt, invoice, bill of sale, or other evidence of purchase of the new goods or merchandise. (d) As used in this article, “tangible personal property” does not include coins, monetized bullion, or commercial grade ingots of gold, silver, or other precious metals. “Commercial grade ingots” means 0.99 fine or finer ingots of gold, silver, palladium, or platinum, or 0.925 fine sterling silver art bars and medallions, provided that the ingots, art bars, and medallions are marked by the refiner or fabricator as to their assay fineness. SEC. 4. Section 21628 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 21628. (a) Every secondhand dealer described in Section 21626 shall report daily, or no later than the next business day excluding weekends and holidays after receipt or purchase of secondhand tangible personal property, except for firearms, to the California Pawn and SecondhandDealer System (CAPSS), all secondhand tangible personal property, except for firearms, they have purchased, taken in trade, taken in pawn, accepted for sale on consignment, or accepted for auctioning, in accordance with Section 21630 and this section. The report shall be legible, prepared in English, completed where applicable, and include the information specified in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of paragraph (1), as applicable. (1) (A) A property description. The property description shall be a complete and reasonably accurate description of the property, including, but not limited to, the following: serial number, personalized inscriptions, and other identifying marks or symbols, owner-applied numbers, the size, color, material, and, if known by the secondhand dealer, the manufacturer’s pattern name. The property description shall include the brand and model name or number of the item if known to, or reasonably ascertainable by, the secondhand dealer. The property description shall include a plain text description of the item generally accepted by the secondhand industry. Watches need not be disassembled when special skill or special tools are required to obtain the required information, unless specifically requested to do so by a peace officer. A special tool does not include a penknife, caseknife, or similar instrument and disassembling a watch with a penknife, caseknife, or similar instrument does not constitute a special skill. In all instances in which the required information may be obtained by removal of a watchband, then the watchband shall be removed. The cost associated with opening the watch shall be borne by the pawnbroker, secondhand dealer, or customer. (B) A secondhand dealer shall utilize in the article field either an article field descriptor, the format of which shall be provided by the Department of Justice, or a properly spelled and non-abbreviated plain text descriptor commonly recognized and utilized by the pawn and secondhand dealer industry. The lack of an article field descriptor provided by the Department of Justice shall not be relevant to any determination as to whether the secondhand dealer has received evidence of authority to sell or pledge the property pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) so long as the secondhand dealer reports an article field descriptor consistent with this subdivision. (C) In the case of the receipt or purchase of a handheld electronic device by a secondhand dealer, the serial number reported pursuant to subparagraph (A) may be the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI), the mobile equipment identifier Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID), or other unique identifying number assigned to that device by the device manufacturer. If none of these identifying numbers are available by the time period required for reporting pursuant to this subdivision, the report shall be updated with the IMEI, MEID, or other unique identifying number assigned to that device by the device manufacturer as soon as reasonably possible but no later than 10 working days after receipt or purchase of the handheld electronic device. (D) For the purpose of this paragraph, “handheld electronic device” means any portable device that is capable of creating, receiving, accessing, or storing electronic data or communications and includes, but is not limited to, a cellular phone, smartphone, or tablet. (2) A report submitted by a pawnbroker or secondhand dealer shall be deemed to have been accepted by the Department of Justice if a good faith effort has been made to supply all of the required information. An error or omission on the report shall be noted, and the reporting pawnbroker or secondhand dealer shall be notified of the error or omission by the Department of Justice. A reporting pawnbroker or secondhand dealer shall have three business days from that notice to amend or correct the report before being subject to any enforcement violation. (b) (1) When a secondhand dealer complies with this section, they shall be deemed to have received from the seller or pledger adequate evidence of authority to sell or pledge the property for all purposes included in this article, and Division 8 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Financial Code. (2) In enacting this subdivision, it is the intent of the Legislature that its provisions shall not adversely affect the implementation of, or prosecution under, any provision of the Penal Code. (c) Any person who conducts business as a secondhand dealer at any gun show or event, as defined in Section 478.100 of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or its successor, outside the jurisdiction that issued the secondhand dealer license in accordance with subdivision (d) of Section 21641, may be required to submit a duplicate of the transaction report prepared pursuant to this section to the local law enforcement agency where the gun show or event is conducted. (d) (1) The Department of Justice shall recognize and accept the properly spelled and non-abbreviated plain text property descriptors generally accepted in the pawn and secondhand industries provided by pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers, as has been the longstanding prac [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]