BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2313 (Nestande) - Metal Theft and Related Recycling Crimes
Amended: August 4, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014 Consultant: Robert Ingenito
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2313 would create the Metal Theft Task Force
(MTTF) Program, administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ)
to provide grants to local law enforcement agencies to
investigate and prosecute metal theft and related recycling
crimes.
Fiscal Impact:
The bill would require a weighmaster who is a junk dealer or
recycler to pay an additional license fee, determined by DOJ.
Proceeds from this fee cannot exceed $2 million annually.
DOJ indicates that its costs to implement the bill would be
$2.1 million in 2015-16, and $1.6 million in both 2016-17 and
2017-18. These estimates are based on a task force start date
of July 1, 2015, anticipating that, per the bill's provisions,
there should be sufficient funds available.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) would
incur costs of $133,000 in 2014-15 and $201,000 ongoing
thereafter.
Potential future cost-savings statewide to the courts, state
prison/county jail systems, and law enforcement, as well as to
businesses in the form of reduced economic loss, to the extent
the operation of the program results in savings realized
through crime prevention, crime suppression, and prosecutions
resulting from the program.
Background: Metal prices have risen sharply on the world markets
over recent years. For instance, a commonly-cited index of metal
prices has risen about 42 percent since 2005. Consequently,
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thefts of metals such as copper, bronze, brass, and aluminum
have risen sharply in recent years, for the purposes of sales to
metal recyclers. Examples of metal-theft include the stripping
of copper wires and aluminum pipes from agricultural pumps and
equipment, copper wire stripped from utility power lines, the
removal of wire and pipe from construction sites.
The damage caused by these thefts is often several times the
value of the metal stolen (including, for instance, the cost of
potential crop damage caused by lack of irrigation while the
pump was not usable), leaving the victims with hefty costs. The
U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that metal theft costs
U.S. businesses around $1 billion a year.
Proposed Law: Effective January 1, 2015, the Metal Theft Task
Force Fund would be established within the State Treasury
Department and continuously appropriated to the DOJ for the
purposes set forth in this bill. The fund would consist of
money deposits received from, or received by, the federal
government, industry, private sources, moneys appropriated by
the Legislature, and fees collected for annual weighmaster
licensing requirements. This fund would be administered by DOJ.
General Fund moneys shall not be deposited in the fund nor used
to start up, implement, or support the continuing administration
of the provisions of this bill. The Metal Theft Task Force
Program would not be implemented until the DOJ determines there
are sufficient moneys in the fund.
DOJ would be required to establish a Metal Theft Task Force
Program within the DOJ for the purpose of serving as the lead
law enforcement agency in the investigative and prosecution of
illegal recycling operations and metal theft and related
recycling crimes. DOJ would be authorized to enter into
partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, regional task
forces, or district attorneys to further achieve this purpose.
Funding would be provided by DOJ to the local law enforcement
via the Metal Theft Task Force Fund.
The weighmaster who is a junk dealer or recycler would be
required to pay an additional license fee, determined by the DOJ
and to be deposited into the fund. Proceeds from this fee
cannot exceed an aggregate total of $2 million.
DOJ would be required to submit an annual report and use the
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information to review the program and report to the Governor and
Legislature. The DOJ must submit a comprehensive report to the
Legislature no later than December 31, 2018, on the status and
progress, since year 2016, of the program in deterring,
investigating, and prosecuting illegal recycling operations,
metal theft, and related recycling crimes.
Prior Legislation:
SB 485 (Calderon), Chapter 518, Statutes of 2013,
requires a junk dealer or recycler to submit specified
information to CDFA when applying for a weighmaster's
license, requires CDFA to investigate the application and
revoke the license if information submitted in the
application or renewal is materially inaccurate, and
increases the fees junk dealers or recyclers pay for each
fixed location.
AB 909 (Gray), 2013, created a program similar to AB
2313, but delegated it to the Department of Justice. AB 909
was vetoed due to the lack of a funding source.
Staff Comments: In its current form, the bill would result in
projected state costs exceeding the $2 million cap in fee
revenue specified by the bill.