A law goes into effect Oct. 5 in Ohio that establishes new requirements for individual purchasers of catalytic converters and increases criminal penalties for stealing and trafficking stolen converters. The sponsors of the legislation claim it will help thwart catalytic converter theft by further regulating the points of sale of used catalytic converters in Ohio. Together with its lobbyists, the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), headquartered in Washington, says it worked with key legislators and stakeholders to ensure the final legislation recognized the realities of the recycling industry.
House Bill 210 as introduced by Reps. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and Phil Plummer (R-Dayton), would have imposed significantly more burdensome regulations on licensed scrap metal dealers by providing no business-to-business exemption; requiring tag-and-hold procedures and delayed-check payment for all catalytic converter purchases; creating duplicative and confusing recordkeeping requirements; requiring a photograph of every catalytic converter purchased, including wholesale and B2B transactions; and requiring catalytic converter purchasers/processors to submit customer lists and confidential business information to the state on a daily basis, ReMA says.
However, the association says that through its advocacy, many of those provisions were substantially narrowed or eliminated and the business-to-business exception for bulk purchases was maintained, resulting in a far more workable framework for ReMA members…