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Minutes for HB2349 - Committee on Judiciary
Short Title
Authorizing law enforcement officers to conduct investigations of violations of the scrap metal theft reduction act, establishing criminal penalties for certain violations of the act and permitting municipalities to enact or enforce ordinances, resolutions and regulations relating to scrap metal that are not in conflict with the act.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 10, 2025
Chair Humphries opened the hearing on HB2349.
Jason Thompson, Office of Revisor of Statutes, presented the bill brief. (Attachment 3)
Ed Klumpp, testified in support of the bill on behalf of the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, Kansas Sheriffs Association, and Kansas Peace Officers Association. Mr. Klumpp said most scrap metal dealers are responsible business operators who follow the Scrap Metal Act but occasionally they find bad actors who accept scrap items in violation of the Act. Current law forbids local officers to investigate or take any action related to the violation. This bill is an attempt to keep the consistency across the state of the regulations, but at the same time allow law enforcement to do what they do best at the local level - investigate and handle small things at the local level. (Attachment 4)
Trevor Macy, Detective with the Wichita Police Dept testified in support of the bill. Mr. Macy said last year the city of Wichita had over 16,000 larceny cases with many of those being thefts of large amounts of various metals. Current laws require scrap dealers to gather information such as proof of ownership, description of the item, signed statement from seller that item is not stolen, and other identifying information from people who sell metal to ensure the items are not stolen. However, because local police are not authorized to enforce this law, they are not able to monitor the businesses to ensure compliance. Wichita Police Department supports this law as it allows for local staff to handle smaller offenses and the Attorney General's Office to handle bigger cases. (Attachment 5)
Written only proponent testimony was submitted by:
- Craig Sepich, Office of Strategy, Policy, and Government Affairs, National Insurance Crime Bureau (Attachment 6)
- Matthew Bingesser, Administrative Counsel, Office of the Attorney General (Attachment 7)
Brad Smoot provided neutral testimony on the bill on behalf of Advantage Metals Recycling. Mr. Smoot said they think there are some good things in the bill but they have some concerns over other language that changes a very complex and tightly negotiated piece of legislation that they have dealt with for many years. They are supportive of law enforcement efforts to catch the bad actors but on the other hand they do not want to create different laws again, county by county or city by city. (Attachment 8)
Chair Humphries closed the hearing on HB2349 at 4:14 PM.
