The Brief
- Senate Bill 6190 failed to pass this session, but prosecutors plan to reintroduce it next year to combat rising copper thefts targeting local utilities and small businesses.
- The bill aimed to create a mandatory database for recyclers to track sales and establish a new felony charge for destroying critical communications infrastructure.
- Legislative progress was stalled by opposition from recyclers regarding requirements to hold and surrender stolen materials to law enforcement.
SEATTLE – A bill to crack down on the sale of stolen metals, including copper, didn’t succeed this legislative session, but an attorney at the King County Prosecutor’s Office who helped draft it has a message for businesses getting hit by copper thieves: we’re not giving up.
He still hopes to stop the demand by creating a database that would track the sale of stolen metals like copper.
Gary Ernsdorff is the Supervising Attorney for the King County Prosecutor’s Office Special Operations Unit and said similar legislation has worked for catalytic converters.…