We’ve become THE thorn in the California Department of Justice’s side.

Sure, many people and groups shake their fists and rage at the DOJ when they overstep their bounds or don’t follow the rules. Or they shrug their shoulders and say, “What can you do?”

You can watch them like a hawk and immediately call them out when they don’t follow the law - which is exactly what our Regulatory Watch program does. This year we’ve repeatedly thwarted DOJ’s attempts to unilaterally create law by bypassing the regulatory process.

Most recently, DOJ was months late in submitting proposed regulations concerning new ammunition vendors and licenses. Then, when they did file them, they didn’t properly notify interested parties or load the regulatory documents on the Attorney General’s web page so the public could inspect them.

They thought they could skate by with this less-than-half-assed attempt at complying with the law, but, as usual, FPC’s Regulatory Watch program caught them and forced them to correct the error.

On July 17, when FPC saw the regulations listed in the Notice Register but could not find the documents on the AG’s website, we delivered a letter to DOJ advising them that they had not followed their procedures to give the public proper notice and demanded that they remedy their mistake.

Just two days later, July 19, DOJ finally e-mailed their entire regulatory notice list and pushed the hearing date back two weeks to allow more time for public comment and made sure that the e-mail noted the correct website for the public to find the proposed new regulations and forms.

As Craig DeLuz, FPC lobbyist and spokesman, said:

“When law-abiding citizens and small businesses risk fines and jail time for not following the law, the least the DOJ can do is follow the law themselves. While their latest move is a step in the right direction, they still have a long way to go. We’ll be keeping an eye on them.”

The Regulatory Watch program is critically important in keeping the DOJ on their toes, and we need your help in sustaining it.

Please contribute what you can today so this vital work can continue.