ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 238
(Senator Bailey, original sponsor)
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[Passed April 6, 2005; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §61-3-49 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to including steel railroad track
and track material 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 railroad track
and track materials 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 railroad track and
track material, 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 railroad track and track material
purchased. The person purchasing the nonferrous metal or steel
railroad track and track material shall also require from the
seller, and retain in the record, a signed certificate of ownership
of the nonferrous metal or steel railroad track and track material
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 railroad track and track material 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, steel railroad track, track material or aluminum in any
form, the purchaser of the copper, steel railroad track, track
material 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 who knowingly or with fraudulent intent
violates any 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.