World recycling body raises opposition against federal metal theft bill

By Paul Ploumis 25 Jun 2015 Last updated at 06:26:03 GMT

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has voiced protests against the attempts made by the US Congress to formulate a federal legislation against metal thefts. Earlier this month, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) had also opposed the move. In a statement issued yesterday, ISRI extended support to NCSL in its opposition to the proposed federal legislation.

According to NCSL, a federal law against metal theft would jeopardize the works already undertaken by individual states against the grim danger. Also, formulation of such a federal legislation may likely preempt laws already implemented by various states.

ISRI considers that a federal metal theft law is completely unnecessary as all the 50 states within the country have their own metal theft laws. Legislations have been passed taking into consideration the specific needs of the community. The recyclers in various states already follow respective state laws. Robert Wiener, President, ISRI noted that implementation of federal law would add further confusion for law enforcement authorities, prosecutors and metal recyclers.

According to him, the Senate Bill 394 had provisions that were in conflict with existing state laws. Although no fresh moves were made with regards to the bill, the amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act had language similar to the one used in SB 394, against which NCSL has issued a letter.

As state laws are framed to address concerns of regional community, each law may differ from the other. The implementation of federal law may lead to more confusion as to whether state law or federal law applies case-to-case. Moreover, it may hinder the envious growth achieved by various states in curbing metal thefts.