AZ House Passes Scrap Metal Theft Bill

With the theft of scrap metal continuing to plague cities throughout the United States, a bevy of state legislators are taking matters into their own hands by submitting legislation that seek to either impose or tighten regulations and requirements for buying and selling scrap metal.

A bill, introduced into the state of Arizona House of Representatives, is the most recent bill to get attention from state legislators. House Bill 2314, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Weiers, was first introduced Jan. 22, 2007. It passed out of the House by a vote of 55 to 2 on March 6. It now has been introduced to the Arizona Senate.

The bill passed by the House calls for all scrap metal dealer to keep on the business premises a written record of every transaction exceeding $25, with the exception of UBCs.

The record of each receipt of scrap metal shall include the following information:

The date, time and place of the transaction; an identifying description and weight of the specific scrap metal received; the dollar amount paid; the seller's name, physical description including gender, height, weight, race and eye and hair color, physical address, date of birth, signature and a photocopy of a current driver license number or a photocopy of a valid government issued photo identification card; the seller's transaction privilege tax number, if applicable; the number and state of issuance of the license on the vehicle used to deliver the scrap metal; a photo of the metal sold; a photograph, video record or digital record of the seller and the metal involved in the transaction and a right index fingerprint of the seller.

One of the most challenging parts of the bill is the requirement that payment for the scrap metal would be mailed, rather than given out at the time of the delivery.

To view the bill click on the following link -- HB 2314