SB729:

Motor vehicles; larceny of a catalytic converter.

Bill Summary:

Catalytic converters; penalties. Makes it a Class 6 felony for a person to willfully break, injure, tamper with, or remove any part or parts of any vehicle, aircraft, boat, or vessel for the purpose of injuring, defacing, or destroying said vehicle, aircraft, boat, or vessel, or temporarily or permanently preventing its useful operation, or for any purpose against the will or without the consent of the owner, or to in any other manner willfully or maliciously interfere with or prevent the running or operation of such vehicle, aircraft, boat, or vessel, when such violation involves the breaking, injuring, tampering with, or removal of a catalytic converter or the parts thereof. The bill also provides that prosecution for such felony is a bar to a prosecution or proceeding under the Code section prohibiting the injuring, etc., of any property, monument, etc., for the same act. Current law makes such violation a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Additionally, the bill requires that the copies of the documentation that scrap metal purchasers are required to maintain for purchases of catalytic converters or the parts thereof (i) establish that the person from whom they purchased the catalytic converter or the parts thereof had lawful possession of it at the time of sale or delivery and (ii) detail the scrap metal purchaser's diligent inquiry into whether the person selling had a legal right to do so. The bill also requires that such documentation be maintained for at least two years after the purchase and that copies be made available upon request to any law-enforcement officer, conservator of the peace, or special conservator of the peace in the performance of his duties who presents his credentials at the scrap metal purchaser's normal business location during normal business hours. This bill incorporates SB 41 and is identical to HB 740.