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Committee backs bill to add metal theft to joint strike force duties and streamline reporting
Summary
Lawmakers favorably recommended HB 271 to add metal theft (including catalytic converters) to the multi‑agency joint strike force’s responsibilities and to strike an underused catalytic‑converter reporting requirement; AG investigators and scrap‑metal recyclers said a statewide communications system already exists.
SALT LAKE CITY — The committee moved House Bill 271 forward after lawmakers heard from law‑enforcement investigators and scrap metal recyclers about statewide efforts to curb catalytic‑converter and other metal theft.
Representative Kristofferson said the bill adds metal theft to the joint strike force’s duties and removes a specific reporting requirement tied to catalytic converters that stakeholders said had not been useful in practice. Nate Mudder of the attorney general’s office (chief of investigations and chair of the law‑enforcement legislative committee) described an agency system that already communicates suspicious metal‑sale information to recyclers and law enforcement statewide.
Candace Daley, representing scrap metal recyclers, said recyclers already collect customer ID, vehicle details and transaction photos and that many recyclers want better communication with law enforcement. Tara Tuohy of AT&T’s Mountain States operations said copper and metal thefts have disrupted critical communications infrastructure and supported the bill.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about where catalytic‑converter data is reported and whether those data still reach the CCJJ portal; AG staff said catalytic‑converter details can be included in the annual case‑unit report and through automated feeds but agreed to clarify the portal routing. The committee passed the bill with a favorable recommendation to the floor.
