Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n
If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill that strengthens penalties against recyclers who buy stolen metal. Local elected, law enforcement and business leaders signaled their support for the bill last week after it coasted through the state legislature earlier this year.\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What it changes:<\/b> Metal recyclers are already required by state law to record specific information when they make a transaction, such as the seller\u2019s name and a description of the item sold. Now that Assembly Bill 476 is law, metal recyclers will also have to note the time the sale occurred \u2014 only the date was required before \u2014 and which employee handled the transaction. It also adds to the list of materials that recyclers are prohibited from possessing to include streetlights and EV chargers. Lastly, the bill increases fines for recyclers who purchase materials that belong to public entities without ensuring the seller has proper authorization to do so.<\/p>\n
Little resistance to the bill: <\/b>Assemblymember Mark Gonz\u00e1lez, who represents areas of L.A. that include downtown and Boyle Heights, introduced the bill in 2025. It had passed the state Assembly and Senate floors unanimously before landing on Newsom\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n
Reaction from Gonzalez: <\/b>In an Oct. 13 news release, Gonz\u00e1lez thanked the governor for signing the bill and said it will lead to California \u201cturning the lights back on.\u201d He added that the bill removes \u201cany incentive to steal copper wire or critical public infrastructure,\u201d referring to the idea that increased regulation of recyclers will leave thieves with fewer places to sell their stolen goods.<\/p>\n
L.A. leaders support the bill:<\/b> Mayor Karen Bass, L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, whose jurisdiction includes the darkened Sixth Street bridge and some of the neighborhoods most affected by metal theft in the city, all declared their support for the bill. Other local supporters of the bill include the LAPD, L.A. Sheriff\u2019s Department and the Central City Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keep up with LAist. If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":303202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,26817,2961,224,5337,153966,153968,153967],"class_list":{"0":"post-303201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-copper","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-metal-theft","15":"tag-newsom-bill","16":"tag-recyclers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115373754705057295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}