Senators Tallian and Steele have introduced Senate Bill 21 which regulates the sale of “valuable metals.” For this bill, “valuable metal” would be any metal that may “readily be resold.” This is an expansion of the definition; currently valuable metal is metal that is readily reusable on residential or commercial property or by a utility, railroad, highway department, or school.
The current law is targeted at scrap yards and junk shops and requires them to report transactions in excess of $100; the proposed legislation would apply to any transactions except for transactions between scrap dealers. The new law would also expand reporting requirements to include the source of the “scrap” metal (though this should perhaps be “valuable” metal for consistency, I would think); and also a photograph of the person selling the metal.
These requirements seem fairly onerous for legitimate business dealings. But, I guess it’s designed to stop such things as criminals stealing pipes and wires from houses and selling them to less than honest scrap dealers.
Yeah, there needs to be some more stringent requirements placed on the scrap dealers, because they’re taking things the KNOW are stolen. When the same guys come in week after week with the guts of air conditioners and copper downspouts – they can’t be getting these things somewhere legitimate. They keep taking in the metal without questioning where it came from, though.
The thieves have been arrested time and again, but due to the petty nature of it, nothing really sticks, and the fact that the market is thriving on the scrap dealer end really needs to be addressed.
Our neighborhood has been ripped to pieces by scrap metal dealers; sad especially for the historic houses that have had 100 year old copper downspouts and gutters ripped off houses while the owners are away at work.
I’d say per 100 houses in our neighborhood, 99 have had to replace their air conditioner over the last two summers. Ours has been the lone one unaffected, and that’s because it’s on the roof.
Gotta take a break: as I was scrolling through the blog topics, I thought that this one said “Value Meals.” LOL!