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This is pretty clearly targeted at meth heads, auto thief rings, and the mob (there's a mob in LA?). It basically says if you're running any kind of scrap meta

This is pretty clearly targeted at meth heads, auto thief rings, and the mob (there's a mob in LA?). It basically says if you're running any kind of scrap metal yard, auto yard or dealer, pawn shop, or similar business where you buy high value items from anybody who walks in off the street, stop giving people cash so we can track them down. The law's so poorly written and overbroad (i.e. the definition of "junk" is "junk"; a single garage sale would seem to subject you to liability) that, even if it's legal for a state to ban the use of cash (almost certainly not), this thing will get thrown out anyway.

bradleyland 15y ago
I don't know if the issue is as prolific in LA as it is here in Florida, but we're experiencing a huge number of thefts of air-conditioning "cores". The thief hits a sub-division that is largely vacant, pops the top off the A/C system, cuts the tubing and removes the largely-copper condenser coil. The thief then sells a truck load of these cores to a scrapyard for around $100 each. The owner of the unit is faced with a couple thousand dollars in repair bills. Thieves in this area have honed their core-lifting skills on unoccupied residential areas, and have moved on to hitting commercial properties late at night when no one is around to hear them. There were 7 homes hit in our neighborhood in the last 3 months, and at least one commercial business that made the papers because of the exorbitant cost of replacement ($15k). There's a lot of pressure growing to enact policies that make it harder to traffic in the stolen materials, as well as providing a means to track down the sellers. This smells like the same thing.
- ajkessler 15y ago
  I'm sure FL experienced this as well, but for the past few years, as foreclosures have left whole neighborhoods vacant in parts of CA, NV and AZ, people have been coming through and just ripping copper piping straight out of the walls. Thousands of dollars in damage for a couple dollars worth of scrap metal. And I was kidding about the meth head thing. Last time I was up in Portland, they were doing a bunch of work on the railroad. Some guys had ripped out all the ties along a half mile stretch of the line. Again. Trying to police the source of the cash is smart. It's just probably not going to fly with this law.

bradleyland 15y ago

I don't know if the issue is as prolific in LA as it is here in Florida, but we're experiencing a huge number of thefts of air-conditioning "cores". The thief hits a sub-division that is largely vacant, pops the top off the A/C system, cuts the tubing and removes the largely-copper condenser coil. The thief then sells a truck load of these cores to a scrapyard for around $100 each. The owner of the unit is faced with a couple thousand dollars in repair bills. Thieves in this area have honed their core-lifting skills on unoccupied residential areas, and have moved on to hitting commercial properties late at night when no one is around to hear them. There were 7 homes hit in our neighborhood in the last 3 months, and at least one commercial business that made the papers because of the exorbitant cost of replacement ($15k). There's a lot of pressure growing to enact policies that make it harder to traffic in the stolen materials, as well as providing a means to track down the sellers. This smells like the same thing.

ajkessler 15y ago
I'm sure FL experienced this as well, but for the past few years, as foreclosures have left whole neighborhoods vacant in parts of CA, NV and AZ, people have been coming through and just ripping copper piping straight out of the walls. Thousands of dollars in damage for a couple dollars worth of scrap metal. And I was kidding about the meth head thing. Last time I was up in Portland, they were doing a bunch of work on the railroad. Some guys had ripped out all the ties along a half mile stretch of the line. Again. Trying to police the source of the cash is smart. It's just probably not going to fly with this law.