Utah Department of Public Safety

The Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) has not raised the Concealed Firearms Permit (CFP) application fee or the FBI background check fee.  BCI is fulfilling its authority to charge the $20 Western Identification Network (WIN) fingerprint background check fee that was authorized in 2015 due to a legislative change. The CFP application fee and FBI background check fee for a total of $37 for a Utah resident, and $47 for an out of state resident, does not include the cost of performing the WIN fingerprint background check.

In 2015 HB124 was passed into law which modified Section 53-10-108 of the Utah Code to allow BCI to charge a $20 fee for all non criminal justice applicants for a fingerprint based state background check through the Western Identification Network (WIN).

For years, teachers, attorneys, real estate professionals, and many other non-criminal justice applicants who require a background check for the issuance of their professional licenses have paid the $20 fee for this service.  Those applicants who have paid the $20 fee for a WIN fingerprint background check prior to BCI assessing the fee for the CFP applicants on August 1, 2017, have essentitally been subsidizing the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) program for the CFP applicants, 70% of which are out of state residents.  If the CFP applicants were exempted from this requirement to pay the $20 WIN fingerprint background check fee, the fee amount would need to be increased to other non-criminal justice applicants, such as those previously listed, in order to support the program.  A fee increase for this service was proposed in last years version of the DPS Fee Bill, HB388; however, due to the fact that the CFP applicants are now assessed the fee for this service, the fee increase for the WIN background check is not needed. The Department of Public Safety strives to be fair and equitable to all its customers.

Prior to the 2017 General Session, BCI discovered the authority to also assess this fee to first time CFP applicants.  As a result, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) has worked closely with its legal counsel and the Governor’s office to ensure their interpretation of the language allows the authority to charge the concealed firearm permit applicants the $20 WIN fingerprint background check fee. The $20 WIN fingerprint background check fee does not apply to individuals renewing their concealed firearm permit, only first time applicants are required to pay the fee associated with a WIN background check.

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