BILL REQ. #:  H-2166.3 

READ FIRST TIME 02/28/07.   

     AN ACT Relating to protecting and recovering property owned by utilities, telecommunications companies, railroads, state agencies, political subdivisions of the state, construction firms, and other parties; adding a new chapter to Title 19 RCW; creating a new section; repealing RCW 9.91.110; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   DEFINITIONS. The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Commercial account" means a relationship between a scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor and a commercial enterprise that is ongoing and properly documented under section 3 of this act.
     (2) "Commercial enterprise" means a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, association, state agency, political subdivision of the state, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity.
     (3) "Commercial metal property" means: Utility access covers; street light poles and fixtures; road and bridge guardrails; highway or street signs; water meter covers; traffic directional and control signs; traffic light signals; any metal property marked with the name of a commercial enterprise, including but not limited to a telephone, cable, electric, water, natural gas, or other utility, or railroad; unused or undamaged building construction materials consisting of copper pipe, tubing, or insulated or noninsulated wiring, or aluminum wire, siding, downspouts, or gutters; aluminum fence materials; aluminum decking, bleachers, or risers; historical markers; statue plaques; grave markers and funeral vases; agricultural implements, including irrigation wheels, sprinkler heads and pipes; or electrical conductors.
     (4) "Metal property" means any item that contains metal for which the value of the metal content of the item exceeds the commercial value of the item itself, or which has reached the end of its useful life but still has residual value due to its metal content. "Metal property" does not include precious metals.
     (5) "Nonferrous metal property" is metal property for which the
value of the metal property is derived from the property's content of
copper, brass, aluminum, bronze, lead, zinc, or nickel, and their alloys.
     (6) "Precious metals" means gold, silver, and platinum.
     (7) "Record" means a paper, electronic, or other method of storing information.
     (8) "Scrap metal dealer" means a person engaged in the business of purchasing or receiving metal property for the purpose of aggregation and sale to a scrap metal processor or another scrap metal dealer, whether or not that person maintains a fixed place of business within the state.
     (9) "Scrap metal processor" means a person that conducts business from a permanent location and that is engaged in the business of purchasing or receiving metal property for the purpose of altering the metal in preparation for its use as feedstock in the manufacture of new products.      
     (10) "Transaction" means a pledge, or the purchase of, or the trade of any item of metal property by a scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor from a member of the general public. "Transaction" does not include donations or the purchase or receipt of metal property by a scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor from a commercial enterprise, from another scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor, or from a duly authorized employee or agent of the commercial enterprise, scrap metal dealer, or scrap metal processor.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   RECORDS REQUIRED FOR PURCHASING NONFERROUS METAL PROPERTY FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC. (1) At the time of a transaction involving nonferrous metal property, every scrap metal dealer and scrap metal processor doing business in this state shall produce wherever that business is conducted an accurate and legible record of each transaction involving nonferrous metal property. This record must be written in the English language, documented on a standardized form, as may be recommended by the local chief of police or a county chief law enforcement officer, or in electronic form, and contain the following information:
     (a) The signature of the person with whom the transaction is made;
     (b) The time, date, location, and value of the transaction;
     (c) The name of the employee representing the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor in the transaction;
     (d) The name, street address, and telephone number, of the person with whom the transaction is made;
     (e) The license plate number and state of issuance of the license plate on the motor vehicle used to deliver the nonferrous metal property subject to the transaction;
     (f) A description of the motor vehicle used to deliver the nonferrous metal property subject to the transaction;
     (g) The current driver's license number or other government-issued
picture identification card number of the seller;
     (h) A copy of the seller's government-issued picture identification card;
     (i) A description of the predominant types of nonferrous metal property subject to the transaction, including manufacturer's make, model, or serial number, personal identification number, or identifying marks engraved or etched upon the nonferrous metal property, if any, and the property's weight, quantity, or volume.
     (2)(a) For every transaction that involves nonferrous metal property, every scrap metal dealer and scrap metal processor doing business in the state shall require the person with whom a transaction is being made to sign a declaration. The declaration must state substantially the following:
     "I, the undersigned, affirm under penalty of law that the property that is subject to this transaction is not to the best of my knowledge stolen property."
     (b) A statement included on the back of a nontransferable check issued as payment for the transaction is sufficient to meet the requirement of (a) of this subsection when the statement is similar to the declaration required by (a) of this subsection and the nontransferable check is endorsed by the seller.
     (c) A statement included on a receipt is sufficient to meet the requirement of (a) of this subsection when the statement is similar to the declaration required by (a) of this subsection and the receipt is signed by the seller.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   REQUIREMENTS FOR PURCHASING OR RECEIVING METAL PROPERTY FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC. (1) No scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor may enter into a transaction to purchase or receive nonferrous metal property from any person who cannot produce at least one piece of current government-issued picture identification, including a valid driver's license or identification card issued by any state. A record of the identification required under this subsection must be maintained along with the record required under section 2 of this act.
     (2) No scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor may purchase or receive commercial metal property unless the seller: (a) Has a commercial account with the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor; (b) can prove ownership of the property by producing written documentation that the seller is the owner of the property; or (c) can produce written documentation that the seller is an employee or agent authorized to sell the property on behalf of a commercial enterprise.
     (3) No scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor may enter into a transaction to purchase or receive metallic wire that was burned in whole or in part to remove insulation unless the seller can produce written proof to the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor that the wire was lawfully burned.
     (4) No scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor may purchase or receive beer kegs from anyone except a manufacturer of beer kegs.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   PAYMENT REQUIREMENTS WHEN PURCHASING OR RECEIVING METAL PROPERTY FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC. No transaction involving metal property may be made in cash or with any person who does not provide a street address under the requirements of section 2 of this act. The person with whom the transaction is being made may only be paid by a nontransferable check, mailed by the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor to a street address provided under section 2 of this act, no earlier than ten days after the transaction was made. A transaction occurs on the date provided in the record required under section 2 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   RECORD FOR COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS. (1) Every scrap metal dealer and scrap metal processor must create and maintain a permanent record with a commercial enterprise, including another scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor, in order to establish a commercial account. That record, at a minimum, must include the following information:
     (a) The full name of the commercial enterprise;
     (b) The business address and telephone number of the commercial enterprise; and
     (c) The full name of the person employed by the commercial enterprise who is authorized to designate an employee or agent to deliver metal property and commercial metal property to the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor.
     (2) The record maintained by a scrap metal dealer and scrap metal processor for a commercial account must document every purchase or receipt of metal property and commercial metal property from the commercial enterprise. The documentation must include, at a minimum, the following information:
     (a) The time, date, and value of the property being purchased or received;
     (b) A description of the predominant types of property being purchased or received; and
     (c) The signature of the person delivering the property to the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   REPORTING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT. (1) If in the course of an investigation by state or local law enforcement, a scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor is requested by a commissioned law enforcement officer to provide information relating to an investigation, the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor shall provide any pertinent records relating to the investigation subject. Failure to produce the requested information in a reasonable time as determined by the requesting law enforcement agency, but not less than two business days from receipt of the request, shall subject the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor to a fine of up to five hundred dollars per day.
     (2) If the records produced by the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor are incomplete, illegible, or otherwise in violation of the requirements in section 2 of this act, a commissioned law enforcement officer may demand the disclosure of all records for the preceding ninety days. A fine of one hundred dollars per transaction shall apply to all transactions for which the records required under section 2 of this act are materially missing, incomplete, or illegible.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   UNLAWFUL VIOLATIONS. It is a gross misdemeanor under chapter 9A.20 RCW for:
     (1) Any person to remove, alter, or obliterate any manufacturer's make, model, or serial number, personal identification number, or identifying marks engraved or etched upon an item of nonferrous metal property or commercial metal property;
     (2) Any scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor to purchase or receive any nonferrous metal property or commercial metal property where the manufacturer's make, model, or serial number, personal identification number, or identifying marks engraved or etched upon the property have been removed, altered, or obliterated;
     (3) Any person to knowingly make, cause, or allow to be made any false entry or misstatement of any material matter in any book, record, or writing required to be kept under this chapter;
     (4) Any scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor to enter into a transaction to purchase or receive metal property from any person under the age of eighteen years or any person who is discernibly under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs;
     (5) Any scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor to enter into a transaction to purchase or receive metal property with anyone whom the scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor has been informed by a law enforcement agency to have been convicted of possession of or receiving stolen property, manufacturing, delivering, or possessing with intent to deliver methamphetamine, or possession of ephedrine or any of its salts or isomers or salts of isomers, pseudoephedrine or any of its salts or isomers or salts of isomers, or anhydrous ammonia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine within the past ten years whether the person is acting in his or her own behalf or as the agent of another;
     (6) Any person to sign the declaration required under section 2 of this act knowing that the nonferrous metal property subject to the transaction is stolen. The signature of a person on the declaration required under section 2 of this act constitutes evidence of intent to defraud a scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor if that person is found to have known that the nonferrous metal property subject to the transaction was stolen; or
     (7) Any scrap metal dealer or scrap metal processor to possess commercial metal property that was not lawfully purchased or received under the requirements of this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   EXEMPTIONS. The provisions of this chapter do not apply to transactions conducted by the following:
     (1) Motor vehicle dealers licensed under chapter 46.70 RCW;
     (2) Vehicle wreckers or hulk haulers licensed under chapter 46.79 or 46.80 RCW;
     (3) Persons in the business of operating an automotive repair facility as defined under RCW 46.71.011; and
     (4) Persons in the business of buying or selling empty food and beverage containers, including metal food and beverage containers, or nonmetal junk.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   Sections 1 through 8 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   RCW 9.91.110 (Metal buyers -- Records of purchases -- Penalty) and 1971 ex.s. c 302 s 18 are each repealed.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 11   Captions used in this act are not any part of the law.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 12   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.