Colorado Governor Signs Metal Theft Legislation

Colorado’s Bill Ritter signed into law HB 1141 May 14, which attempts to resolve the rampant problem with scrap metal theft. The law follows a wave of other states that have been passing legislative initiatives that attempt to combat metal thefts.

The bill follows many of the policies implemented by other states by requiring scrap yards to keep accurate records, including identification of people selling the material, license plate number and description of the vehicle in which the metal was delivered. Scrap yard owners also would need to provide a detailed r description of the material being sold.

A challenge with the bill is the inclusion of a part of the law, which requires that the scrap yard must hold the metal separate from other materials purchased, and keep the material for no less than five working days after the purchasing. During that time the company can’t perform any processing on the metal. The exemption to the holding would be for any company that provided a digital photograph, video record or other record format to identify the seller and the metal. That information would need to be held for 90 days.

The law also includes a number of exemptions for the law. These include the following; any materials purchased from a regulated public utility or an original manufacturer of scrap or industrially generated scrap; or the purchase of recyclable food and beverage containers from any source; any scrap transaction between dealers or government entities; or the sale of any metal less than 25 pounds.

The law goes into effect July 1, 2007.