Catalytic converters — emission-control devices — and gift cards were added to the city’s definition of “secondhand property.” State lawmakers passedthis year requiring that scrap buyers keep a record of catalytic converter purchases, but the law doesn’t require them to be reporting an electronic system, rather just kept on file.
According to a staff memo, Aurora had started requiring last year catalytic converter buyers to report the purchases to Leads Online, and “the secondhand dealer license is used as a tool to ensure buyers are following the required practices of reporting their purchases.
Aurora only has one “full time scrap buying operation,” and city officials said it has stopped purchasing catalytic converters from consumers and only takes them from businesses. But an auto shop that buys them and ships them out of state is located in the city, and “here is the potential other buyers will be discovered and the requirement to license and report can be enforced.”
The ordinance also defines gift cards as secondhand property, particularly because they are tied to retail theft and fraud. Although gift cards similarly have been considered as such for years, some have argued that they are not secondhand property, so the new law clarifies that.
Makes sense to remove the demand side of the equation since punishing suppliers (theft) is clearly failing.
How about making it a minimum of a 1 year prison sentence for anyone caught stealing one?