More States Considering Legislation Addressing Scrap Metal Theft

The growing problem with theft of metal, which has been plaguing cities throughout the United States, is resulting in more states contemplating or discussing the introduction and passage of state laws.

The various proposals focus on copper, although states have sought to make it more challenging for many scrap recyclers to operate.

In Hawaii, there are more than 10 different proposals that address various parts of the buying and selling of scrap metal, most especially scrap copper.

The Hawaii bills include the following:

* a requirement that increases the reporting requirements for sale of scrap to scrap dealers. This introduces a recordkeeping requirement for private scrap sales over 50 pounds.

* Transfer license issuance and enforcement duties from counties to the Department of the Attorney General

* Transfer licensing issuance and enforcement duties for scrap dealers to the Department of Health

* Establishes additional record-keeping requirements for scrap metal dealers.

In Kansas, House Bill 2035, which was introduced earlier this month, would mandate scrap metal recyclers to obtain detailed information from the seller of the metal. The law targets copper and aluminum.

More problematic for many scrap dealers would be the second half of the bill, which mandates that the scrap dealer would need to hold the scrap aluminum or copper for at least 15 days. Additionally, if the purchaser receives any alert from a law enforcement agency, electric utility or rural electric cooperative, of the theft of copper or aluminum, then the material must be retained for an additional 30 days. Any transfer of the material to another person or entity after the required time period shall be documented and maintained in the same manner as the original transaction in which the material was obtained

The state of Washington also has a bill that addresses the problem with scrap metal theft. Washington’s House Bill 1251, authored by State Representative Dawn Morrell had its first reading Jan. 15. In addition to Morrell, the bill has 30 co-sponsors. Following the introduction of the bill, it is scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Insurance and Financial Services & Consumer Protection on Jan. 30.

A main component of the bill is the requirement that the scrap metal recycler needs to keep a record of the driver’s license number, as well as telephone number.

Additionally, and more problematic, as it is presently written, the bill calls for the dealer to retain the metal property, including melted metals, metal junk and metal that is useful in its original form, for at least 30 days after the transaction involving the metal property.