Senate Bill No. 238
(By Senator Bailey)
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[Introduced February 21, 2005; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-3-49 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to including steel under statutory
provisions involving the purchase of scrap metals by various
commercial entities; and modifying the criminal provision of
the law to require knowing and fraudulent intent.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-3-49
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-49. Purchase of nonferrous metals or steel by scrap metal
purchasing businesses, salvage yards, or recycling
facilities; certificates, records and reports of such
purchases; criminal penalties.
(a) Any person in the business of purchasing scrap metal, any
salvage yard owner or operator, or any public or commercial
recycling facility owner or operator, or any agent or employee
thereof, who purchases any form of copper, aluminum, brass, lead or other nonferrous metal of any kind, or steel shall make a record of
such purchase. Such record shall accurately list the name,
permanent and business addresses and telephone number of the
seller, the motor vehicle license number of any vehicle used to
transport the nonferrous metal or steel to the place of purchase,
the time and date of the transaction and a complete description of
the kind and character of the nonferrous metal or steel purchased.
The person purchasing the nonferrous metal or steel shall also
require from the seller, and retain in the record, a signed
certificate of ownership of the nonferrous metal or steel being
sold or authorization from the owner to sell. It shall be unlawful
for any of the aforementioned persons to purchase any nonferrous
metal or steel without obtaining the certificate of ownership, or
authorization from the owner to sell, on the part of the seller.
Such record and certificate shall be available for inspection by
any law-enforcement officer and must be maintained by the purchaser
for not less than one year after the date of the purchase.
(b) Should the transaction involve one hundred or more pounds
of copper, or aluminum or steel in any form, the purchaser of the
copper or aluminum, or his or her agent, shall report in writing to
the chief of police of the municipality or the sheriff of the
county wherein he or she is transacting business and to the local
detachment of the Division of Public Safety all the information
obtained. The report must be filed within seventy-two hours after
the transaction. The provisions of this subsection do not apply to
purchases made at wholesale under contract or as a result of a bidding process.
(c) Nothing in this section applies to scrap purchases by
manufacturing facilities that melt, or otherwise alter the form of
scrap metal and transform it into a new product or to the purchase
or transportation of food and beverage containers or other
nonindustrial materials having a marginal value per individual
unit.
(d) Any person violating the who knowingly or with fraudulent
intent violates any provisions provision of this section, including
the knowing failure to make a report or the knowing falsification
of any required information, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon
conviction, shall be fined not less than five hundred nor more than
two thousand dollars.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
include steel under
statutory provisions involving the purchase of scrap metals by
various commercial entities. The bill also modifies the criminal
provision of this law by requiring offenders who violate the law
with knowing and fraudulent intent.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.