Existing law makes a person who is a dealer in or collector of junk, metals, or secondhand materials, or their agent, employee, or representative, who buys or receives any wire, cable, copper, lead, solder, mercury, iron, or brass that the person knows or reasonably should know is used by or belongs to specified entities, including a railroad, certain utility companies, or a public entity engaged in furnishing public utility service, without using due diligence to ascertain that the person selling or delivering that material has a legal right to do so, guilty of criminally receiving that property and, in addition to imprisonment, makes that act punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000.

Existing law encourages local law enforcement agencies to report thefts of commodity metals that have occurred within their jurisdiction to a specified privately maintained theft alert system to ensure that persons using the system receive timely and thorough information regarding metal thefts.

This bill would authorize local law enforcement agencies, public agencies, and private entities to provide information about theft of commodity metals to the Department of Justice and would require the department to make this information available to such local law enforcement agencies, public agencies, and private entities.