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.