1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to public safety; regulating scrap metal dealers; creating the crime 
1.3 	of damage or theft to energy transmission or telecommunications equipment; 
1.4 	providing penalties; amending Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 325E.21; 
1.5 	proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 609.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 325E.21, is amended to read:
1.8 	325E.21 DEALERS IN WIRE AND CABLE SCRAP METAL; RECORDS 
1.9 	AND, REPORTS, AND REGISTRATION.
1.10 		Subdivision 1.Definitions. (a) For purposes of this section, the terms defined in 
1.11 	this subdivision have the meanings given.
1.12 	(b) "Person" means an individual, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability 
1.13 	company, corporation, or other entity.
1.14 	(c) "Scrap metal" means:
1.15 	(1) wire and cable commonly and customarily used by communication and electric 
1.16 	utilities; and
1.17 	(2) copper, aluminum, or any other metal purchased primarily for its reuse or 
1.18 	recycling value as raw metal, including metal that is combined with other materials 
1.19 	at the time of purchase.
1.20 	(d) "Scrap metal dealer" or "dealer" means a person engaged in the business of 
1.21 	buying and selling scrap metal, but does not include a person engaged exclusively in the 
1.22 	business of buying or selling new or used motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts, paper or 
1.23 	wood products, rags or furniture, or secondhand machinery.
2.1 	(e) "Municipality" means any town, home rule charter or statutory city, or county 
2.2 	that has one or more scrap metal dealers within its jurisdiction.
2.3 	(f) "Law enforcement agency" means a duly authorized municipal, county, state, or 
2.4 	federal law enforcement agency.
2.5 		Subdivision 1. Subd. 1a.Purchase or acquisition record required. (a) Every 
2.6 	person, firm or corporation scrap metal dealer, including an agent, employee, or 
2.7 	representative thereof of the dealer, engaging in the business of buying and selling wire 
2.8 	and cable commonly and customarily used by communication and electric utilities shall 
2.9 	keep a written record, in the English language, legibly written in ink or typewriting, at the 
2.10 	time of each purchase or acquisition, of scrap metal. The record must include:
2.11 	(1) an accurate account or description, including the weight if customarily purchased 
2.12 	by weight, of such wire and cable commonly and customarily used by communication and 
2.13 	electric utilities the scrap metal purchased or acquired,;
2.14 	(2) the date, time, and place of the receipt of the same,;
2.15 	(3) the name and address of the person selling or delivering the same and;
2.16 	(4) the number of the check used to purchase the scrap metal;
2.17 	(5) the number of the person's driver's license of such person, Minnesota 
2.18 	identification card number, or other identification document number of an identification 
2.19 	document issued for identification purposes by any state, federal, or foreign government if 
2.20 	the document includes the applicant's photograph, full name, birth date, and signature; and
2.21 	(6) the license plate number and description of the vehicle used by the person when 
2.22 	delivering the scrap metal, and any identifying marks on the vehicle, such as a business 
2.23 	name, decals, or markings, if applicable. 
2.24 	Such (b) The record, as well as such wire and cable commonly and customarily used 
2.25 	by communication and electric utilities the scrap metal purchased or received, shall at all 
2.26 	reasonable times be open to the inspection of any sheriff or deputy sheriff of the county, 
2.27 	or of any police officer in any incorporated city or statutory city, in which such business 
2.28 	may be carried on law enforcement agency. 
2.29 	Such (c) The person shall not be required to furnish or keep such record of any 
2.30 	property purchased from merchants, manufacturers or wholesale dealers, having an 
2.31 	established place of business, or of any goods purchased at open sale from any bankrupt 
2.32 	stock, but a bill of sale or other evidence of open or legitimate purchase of such the
2.33 	property shall be obtained and kept by such the person which must be shown upon demand 
2.34 	to the sheriff or deputy sheriff of the county, or to any police officer in any incorporated 
2.35 	city or statutory city, in which such business may be carried on. The provisions of 
2.36 	this subdivision and of subdivision 2 shall not apply to or include any person, firm or 
3.1 	corporation engaged exclusively in the business of buying or selling motor vehicles, 
3.2 	new or used, paper or wood products, rags or furniture, secondhand machinery any law 
3.3 	enforcement agency.
3.4 	(d) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a scrap metal dealer may not 
3.5 	disclose personal information concerning a customer without the customer's consent 
3.6 	unless the disclosure is made in response to a request from a law enforcement agency. 
3.7 	For purposes of this paragraph, "personal information" is any individually identifiable 
3.8 	information gathered in connection with a record under paragraph (a). Data collected by 
3.9 	a law enforcement agency under this paragraph are private data on individuals to the 
3.10 	extent that it would reveal the identity of persons who are customers of a scrap metal 
3.11 	dealer, and public data to the extent that it describes property in a regulated transaction 
3.12 	with a scrap metal dealer.
3.13 		Subd. 2.Sheriff's copy of record required. It shall be the duty of every such 
3.14 	person, firm or corporation defined in subdivision 1 hereof, to make out and to deliver or 
3.15 	mail to the office of the sheriff of the county in which business is conducted, not later than 
3.16 	the second business day of each week, a legible and correct copy of the record required 
3.17 	in subdivision 1 of the entries during the preceding week. In the event such person, firm 
3.18 	or corporation has not made any purchases or acquisitions required to be recorded under 
3.19 	subdivision 1 hereof during the preceding week no report need be submitted to the sheriff 
3.20 	under this subdivision.
3.21 		Subd. 3.Retention required. Records required to be maintained by subdivision 
3.22 	1 hereof 1a shall be retained by the person making them for a period of three years.
3.23 		Subd. 3.Payment by check required. A scrap metal dealer shall pay for all scrap 
3.24 	metal purchases only by check. For purposes of this section, "check" means a check, 
3.25 	draft, or other negotiable or nonnegotiable order of withdrawal which is drawn against 
3.26 	funds held by a financial institution.
3.27 		Subd. 4.Registration required. Every scrap metal dealer must register with, pay 
3.28 	an annual fee of $50 to, and actively participate in, the Minnesota Crime Alert Network 
3.29 	under the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The scrap metal dealer also must 
3.30 	implement aggressive management practices to minimize the purchase of stolen materials. 
3.31 	Scrap processors should develop a training program for scale operators and receiving 
3.32 	personnel on how to identify suspicious materials.
3.33 		Subd. 5.Criminal penalty. A scrap metal dealer, or the agent, employee, or 
3.34 	representative of the dealer, who, without complying with this section, buys or receives 
3.35 	any scrap metal that the dealer knows or reasonably should know is ordinarily used by or 
3.36 	ordinarily belongs to a railroad or other transportation, telephone, telegraph, gas, water or 
4.1 	electric company, utility, or county, city, or other political subdivision of this state engaged 
4.2 	in furnishing public utility service, is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
4.3 		Subd. 6.Exemption. A scrap metal dealer may purchase aluminum cans without 
4.4 	complying with subdivisions 1a to 4.
4.5 		Subd. 7.Property held by law enforcement. (a) Whenever a law enforcement 
4.6 	official from any agency has reason to believe that property in the possession of a dealer is 
4.7 	stolen or is evidence of a crime and notifies a dealer not to sell an item, the item must not 
4.8 	be sold or removed from the premises. The investigative hold must be made within 72 
4.9 	hours and remains in effect for not more than 90 days from the date of initial notification, 
4.10 	or until the investigative order is canceled or an order to confiscate is issued, whichever 
4.11 	comes first.
4.12 	(b) If an item is identified as stolen or evidence in a criminal case, the law 
4.13 	enforcement official may:
4.14 	(1) physically confiscate and remove it from the dealer, pursuant to a written order 
4.15 	from the law enforcement official; or
4.16 	(2) place the item on hold or extend the hold as provided in this section and leave 
4.17 	it in the shop.
4.18 	(c) When an item is confiscated, the person doing so shall provide identification 
4.19 	upon request of the dealer, and shall provide the dealer the name and telephone number of 
4.20 	the confiscating agency and investigator, and the case number related to the confiscation.
4.21 	(d) A dealer may request confiscated property be returned in accordance with 
4.22 	section 626.04.
4.23 	(e) When an order to hold or confiscate is no longer necessary, the law enforcement 
4.24 	official shall so notify the dealer.

4.25 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective August 1, 2007.

4.26 	Sec. 2. [609.593] DAMAGE OR THEFT TO ENERGY TRANSMISSION OR 
4.27 	TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT.
4.28 		Subdivision 1.Crime. Whoever intentionally and without consent from one 
4.29 	authorized to give consent causes any damage or takes, removes, severs, or breaks:
4.30 	(1) any line erected or maintained for the purpose of transmitting electricity for 
4.31 	light, heat, or power, or any insulator or cross-arm, appurtenance or apparatus connected 
4.32 	therewith, any wire, cable, or current thereof;
4.33 	(2) any pipe or main or hazardous liquid pipeline erected, operated, or maintained 
4.34 	for the purpose of transporting, conveying, or distributing gas or other hazardous liquids 
4.35 	for light, heat, power, or any other purpose, or any part thereof, or any valve, meter, 
5.1 	holder, compressor, machinery, appurtenance, equipment, or apparatus connected with any 
5.2 	such main or pipeline; or
5.3 	(3) any machinery, equipment, and fixtures used in receiving, initiating, 
5.4 	amplifying, processing, transmitting, retransmitting, recording, switching, or monitoring 
5.5 	telecommunications services, such as computers, transformers, amplifiers, routers, 
5.6 	repeaters, multiplexers, and other items performing comparable functions; and machinery, 
5.7 	equipment, and fixtures used in the transportation of telecommunications services, 
5.8 	radio transmitters and receivers, satellite equipment, microwave equipment, and other 
5.9 	transporting media including wire, cable, fiber, poles, and conduit;
5.10 	is guilty of a crime and may be sentenced as provided in subdivision 2.
5.11 		Subd. 2.Penalty. Whoever violates subdivision 1 is guilty of a felony and may 
5.12 	be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of 
5.13 	not more than $10,000, or both.

5.14 	Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.
 5.15 	Section 2 is effective August 1, 2007, and applies to crimes committed on or after 
5.16 	that date.