BILL NUMBER: AB 2298	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 22, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 6, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 25, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 19, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 29, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly  Members   Ma
    and Achadjian  
Member   Ma 

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to add  Title 11.8 (commencing with Section
14190.15) to Part 4 of   and repeal Section 13025 of
 the Penal Code, relating to metal theft.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2298, as amended, Ma.  Metal theft and related
recycling crimes.   Metal theft.  
   Existing law provides that any person who feloniously steals,
takes, or carries away the personal property of another, or who
fraudulently appropriates property that has been entrusted to him or
her, is guilty of theft. Existing law also provides that a person
who, being a dealer in or collector of junk, metals, or secondhand
materials, buys or receives any wire, cable, copper, lead, solder,
mercury, iron, or brass that he or she knows or reasonably should
know is ordinarily used by, or ordinarily belongs to, a railroad or
other transportation, telephone, telegraph, gas, water, or electric
light company or county, city, or city and county without using due
diligence to ascertain that the person selling or delivering the same
has a legal right to do so, is guilty of criminally receiving that
property. Existing law authorizes the creation of rural crime
prevention task forces for the purpose of developing rural crime
prevention programs with systems for reporting rural crimes that
enable the swift recovery of stolen goods and the apprehension of
criminal suspects for prosecution.  
   This bill would require the Department of Justice, on or before
January 1, 2014, to study the prevalence of metal theft in California
and make recommendations to the Legislature in a report addressing
the tools and resources that would be required by local law
enforcement and district attorneys in order to successfully interdict
the commission of metal theft and related metal recycling crimes.
The bill also would require the report to include an analysis of the
existing activities of rural crime prevention programs with regard to
metal theft and related metal recycling crimes and the extent to
which additional regional task forces could assist in deterring,
investigating, and prosecuting metal theft and related metal
recycling crimes.  
   The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018. 

   Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community
Corrections to, among other things, promote effective state and local
efforts and partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal
justice system.  
   This bill, on and after January 1, 2015, would require the board
to establish a Metal Theft Task Force Program to provide grants to
applicant regional task forces for the purposes of providing local
law enforcement and district attorneys with the tools necessary to
successfully interdict the commission of metal theft and related
metal recycling crimes.The bill, on and after January 1, 2015, would
establish the Metal Theft Task Force Fund, to be administered by the
board, and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would make moneys
in the fund available for purposes of the program.  

   The bill would require the board to regularly review the program
and report to the Governor and the Legislature, and would specify
that the program shall not be implemented until the Department of
Finance determines that sufficient funding has been deposited in the
Metal Theft Task Force Fund to implement the program and funds have
been made available upon appropriation by the Legislature. 

   This bill would also state findings and declarations of the
Legislature relative to metal theft and the intent of the Legislature
to provide local law enforcement with the tools to interdict metal
theft and related metal recycling crimes. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 13025 is added to the 
 Penal Code   , to read:  
   13025.  (a) On or before January 1, 2014, the Department of
Justice shall study the prevalence of metal theft in California and
make recommendations to the Legislature in a report addressing the
tools and resources that would be required by local law enforcement
and district attorneys in order to successfully interdict the
commission of metal theft and related metal recycling crimes.
   (b) The report also shall include, but not be limited to, an
analysis of the existing activities of rural crime prevention
programs authorized pursuant to Section 14171 and 14181 with regard
to metal theft and related metal recycling crimes, and the extent to
which additional regional task forces could assist in deterring,
investigating, and prosecuting metal theft and related metal
recycling crimes.
   (c) The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795
of the Government Code.
   (d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date. All matter omitted in this version of the bill
appears in the bill as amended in the Senate, August 6, 2012. (JR11)