H.B. 271 Multi-Agency Joint Strike Force Modifications: transcript

So, uh, this bill, um, it, it has to do with, uh, metal theft. There's a lot of, uh, theft with, uh, copper and other things. And so this bill does two things. It, it adds metal theft to the responsibility of the, uh, multi-agency joint task force. And then it just clarifies the report on catalytic converters, how that goes. Uh, it wasn't really getting to the right people, so we, uh, added that it goes to the state commission on criminal juvenile justice and, and, uh, as well as the committee. So that I'll take any questions?

Um, and, um, I am the floor sponsor on this, so I do like the bill.

I'll make the motion that we favorably recommend first substitute house bill 2 71.

That's, yeah. All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.

Members? I think I can make it fast.

Alright, thank you Mr. Chair and committee. Um, this, uh, what this bill does is just add, um, metal theft as one of the duties and responsibilities of the multi-agency joint task force. And, um, the second part of the bill removes the requirement for reporting on, um, on catalytic converter, uh, theft, which the reason to remove that is it was never used. So, uh, so they cleaned that part of the coat up and worked with the, uh, ags office on this. They, uh, they liked the fact that this is gonna be, um, part of the joint strike force's, uh, responsibility and it should help, um, you know, coordinate between cities and counties in the state. Uh, they identify patterns, trends, and theft rings, and it, uh, it just makes sense to put it there. Uh, and no fiscal note on this bill. That all answer any questions?

You, Mr. Chair. So you said that the catalytic converter portion had never been used? That's what I was told. Yeah, it was in there Because the lady that I know just lost her catalytic converter. So, I mean, I know thefts are still happening. So does the Yeah. Does the metal portion, does that cover that still? 'cause I think catalytic converter thefts is still a problem. It is. The, the report never was used, but I think the, um, I think the fact that this is on the task force can identify those areas and help with the reduction and plus the, I think, well, was this recently that, that happened then? So, uh, yeah, just like three weeks ago.

That's right. So, uh, chair committee. Thank you. Uh, my name is Nate Mutter. I'm with the ags office. I'm the Chief of investigations. Uh, I'm also the chair of the Law Enforcement Legislative Committee. Um, to answer the question, so the report to the legislature, uh, it, it was very specific in that portion of code that we had to report on catalytic converters at the time that was put in catalytic converters were a huge issue. We've since made some strides to address catalytic converter thefts in the state. They've gone down, uh, significantly. Um, and so we're just asking that we take that specific reporting piece out. The, there's still a report that the case unit has to supply to the legislature, uh, and, and it, it deals with, you know, not only the things that, that the case task force is doing, but any potential trends or, or things that they're seeing. So if catalytic converters were to come back as an issue, that report would of course report those, uh, issues in, in that yearly summary. Um, and then to be clear, we did put together a report on catalytic converters every year as mandated. Uh, just, just to be clear on that. Thank you.

Right. We're not, we're still using the, just to clarify, are we still using the, um, the stolen whatever database that's all the same? Correct. Okay.

So adding metal theft, including the theft of an item, the item scrap or resale metal, and then eliminating the report to CCJJ or just to the committee?

To the, to the committee only on the catalytic converter piece, we still have to provide a report to the legislature every

Year. Okay. So you're still sending in catalytic con converter data to CCJJ?

We, we can, uh, as a, as a part of that overall report, but the thefts have been, um, significantly decreased where it, one, it's hard to, to try and gather all that information, uh, because of the, the lack, uh, of, of reports that have been generated over the last couple years. Um, but I mean, we, of course we can still do it. Uh, as, as a part of the overall report, uh, again, crossing out that catalytic converter piece only applies to gathering information statewide on catalytic converter thefts. If the legislature see, you know, sees fit that they still want that information, we're happy to do that.

Okay. So we, we probably do need to make some changes. Um, I not expect that to be the answer.

So what I understand is that that report has never made it to CCJJ.

That is incorrect. We, we supply a report to the le matter of fact, I supply a letter or, uh, a report to the legislature every year, uh, as required, But not to CCJJ. I submit it through the portal I'm supposed to, and then I get an email response saying I'm good.

Okay. So we probably need to, to clarify that, that that information still needs to go to the public safety data portal, um, whether it's in the form of a report or whether it's simply the collated data from, you know, uh, the, the auto feeds that we're collecting when those, when those cases come up. But I don't want to remove all requirements. I'd rather fix the requirement than remove everything entirely.

I I would imagine that information should be reported by the local agencies handling the catalytic converter thefts. Yeah. As it were.

Um, I I think for, for a time we, we posed as like a, A bearing House Yes. To try and gather that information. Yeah. Uh, as a part of the case, uh, report. Yeah. So I think the, the public safety portal will still get that information, uh, just not necessarily through the case unit. Now, again, we're, we're more than happy to continue doing that if, if that's what what you're asking of us. Okay. And, and whatever that looks like.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That discussion and clarification answered my question and also the concern with the reporting.

Thank you. Chair committee, uh, Nate Mutter, ags office, uh, chief of Investigations and, uh, law enforcement Legislative committee chair. Uh, we do support, uh, the bill. Um, I, I worked directly with, uh, the, the stakeholders, the, the metal recyclers, the Department of Public Safety to, to come up with some of the changes with adding metal theft to the case unit. Um, it, it, it basically opened the doors of, uh, probably more cooperation and communication between the metal recyclers and law enforcement. And I think that's the goal there. Uh, because it is such an issue. Uh, we proactively, uh, got involved in this over the interim, knowing that, that this was going to happen at, at some point this bill was gonna be presented in, in, we've made strides in that area. And I think there's some metal recyclers, uh, that are, uh, gonna speak to that hopefully. Um, but we're, we're proactively trying to address the issue, uh, of, of metal theft in general. Um, and, and how it relates not only to the, the criminal aspect of it, but the, the, you know, how that gets to the recyclers and what recyclers are doing with it. Uh, I think we all want to try and address that problem together. I don't think they want to see the bad apples either. Um, and, uh, you know, again, knowing the questions on the, uh, the report about the catalytic converters, however you guys want that to look, we're more than happy to, to report whatever information the legislature is asking of us. Um, with that, uh, thank the representative for, for running the bill and, uh, urge the support. Thank you.

Thank you. My name's Candace Daley. I apologize for the cold, but the bill is in committee today. Um, I represent the scrap metal recyclers in the state of Utah, and we don't want to purchase anything that's been stolen. We don't wanna purchase catalytic converters that are meant stolen. This bill does not change the fact that we still have to report to the pawn shop database, which actually has done nothing to help us in trying to catch thieves that, that we can see. Um, we get emails from that database saying, have you seen this watch or this ring or this golf, these golf clubs or this gun, but nothing on metal. So this last interim, we spent the entire interim working with law enforcement to try and help them understand what information we already collect and the data that we have. They already collect a photocopy of a United States issued photo government id. They have to collect the make model license plate of a vehicle that they drive in. They take pictures of those, they collect the type of metal that they bring in, how much that weighs, how much they were paid for that metal. And this information has just been sitting in their computers, not, not used. I mean, literally, we, we need communication between law enforcement and the scrap metal recyclers so that we can stop the thieves. The ags office has put a system together that is absolutely amazing. It communicates with the scrap metal recyclers statewide. It explains to them, here's some things, here's some reports on metal that's been stolen. Have you seen any of this? Have you, are you aware of any vehicles that look like this? Or are you, it, it's amazing the system. And then it also allows the scrap metal recyclers to email back to the system and say, we just had something brought in that looks suspicious. We don't think we should purchase this because we think it's been stolen. And it goes back out to law enforcement statewide and can. And they say, have you had any reports in your areas of anything like this that's been stolen? This has, we've had this functioning now for just a couple months, and just in the couple months that it's been functioning, it's amazing. This joint strike task force has put together a system that I think eventually could be used as a model language for Bill nationwide for communication to try and stop thefts. The report that's referenced in the bill is a report the ags office has to require is required to, um, put together and report. We've never found any value in that report, first of all. 'cause we, we've probably never seen it. It, he submits it to wherever it has to be submitted for you guys, I guess. But we've never really seen it. So we didn't know what that report was worth. And when they ask us if we would be okay with them removing that report, we were like, sure. We don't see any reason for that report to be an extra burden for you, especially if you're going to work on putting this statewide communication database together. And the communication is absolutely amazing because the office has worked with every single law enforcement entity across the entire state. So if something's stolen in San Juan and it's brought to Salt Lake County, Salt Lake County, scrap metal recyclers are gonna know to look for it. Box Elder County, cash County, you know, something stolen in Salt Lake, taken to St. George, if there's a report that's been open and that's been sent to this communication system, my guys will know to look for it. And that's what they appreciate. Thank you.

Uh, chair Wilcox, members of the committee. My name is Tara Tui and I am president for at and t in the Mountain States. Um, I'm here to support the bill today and thank Representative Christofferson for bringing this forward. Copper and metal theft, or metal or copper vandalism are increasingly big issues for the wireless industry in Utah with these crimes leaving leading to ser service outages for our customers who rely on network, on our network for their critical communications needs. Even with the legislature passing escalated criminal penalties in recent years, we are seeing trends where we have sophisticated criminals, repeatingly hitting the same sites first for copper, then for anything else they can find, including network elements, battery rectifier, and often cutting our fiber, fiber and the power in the process. This bill will increase law enforcement's ability to coordinate investigations, response and deterrence, theft, and vandalism of communications networks and facilities are serious matters that disrupt essential services for our customers, for public safety and for the community at large. We're actively working with local law enforcement as they investigate to find those responsible. I also wanted to take this opportunity and thank Salt Lake City Police, chief Brian Red and his investigative team for working directly with us to address these criminal issues. I also wanna thank again, the sponsor for bringing this forward and, uh, would welcome any comm uh, questions that committee might have today. Thanks.

Just, there you go. We don't, We don't have a sub. Do we make a motion we pass out with favorable recommendation House bill 2 71?

Uh, I just, I know that, uh, the metal theft is definitely an issue here in the mountain west. Uh, copper has definitely been something that, uh, new construction places like that, that I've had a lot of issues with. And so hopefully this helps us track that a little better. And I'll look forward to, uh, the catalytic converter report still showing up somehow. So with that, uh, I'll move that we pass this out favorably.

And I'll just say, um, I'm a little concerned about the, the data piece without having what that coordination looks like. I've got conflicting information just to be super clear, um, about whether or not that information is made its way to CCJJ. So I may be doing an amendment on the floor either on this one or the data bill that clarifies that, hey, we still need to know that I still also have those reports and, and want to know how many and where, you know, the price of palladium rhodium changes. Again, we're gonna, my, my thought is we'll probably see a rash of increase in those. Um, so I don't wanna, I don't wanna do anything where we get it behind the eight ball like we were last time. Um, but I do wanna recognize as well, um, in this part of the meeting, uh, SAC and, you know, some of our other law enforcement friends that have been heavily involved in coming up with the solution. Um, appreciate the recyclers for, you know, staying on it and being patient with the ags office. Uh, and you know, in a lot of ways we work through the, the tracking of this and, and really a good team, you know, coming together effort to try to get it resolved. So thank you for doing that.

Yeah, appreciate that and, and part of the reporting, I'm happy to work on that. I think there are some discrepancies on what really is being reported and how, and if I, if I need to clarify that, I can work on that.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I move, uh, first substitute HB 2 71. That motion is an order we'd like to speak to it. Yeah, there was a question on who gets the reports on, uh, cataly catalytic converter thefts. And we just, uh, made a clarification that that goes to the Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Interim Committee and to the State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.

Okay. This bill just adds, uh, metal theft to one of the responsibilities of the multi-agency joint, uh, strike Force. And, uh, the reason that is, is because they have oversight over, uh, statewide. Uh, crime and metal theft is getting to be such a big problem that, uh, you know, people buy, uh, steal metal from one area, go to another area and try to get, uh, get rid of it. And so this task force has, uh, uh, more resources and better ability to, uh, to solve those crimes.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I move, uh, first substitute HB 2 71. That motion is an order we'd like to speak to it. Yeah, there was a question on who gets the reports on, uh, cataly catalytic converter thefts. And we just, uh, made a clarification that that goes to the Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Interim Committee and to the State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.

Okay. This bill just adds, uh, metal theft to one of the responsibilities of the multi-agency joint, uh, strike Force. And, uh, the reason that is, is because they have oversight over, uh, statewide. Uh, crime and metal theft is getting to be such a big problem that, uh, you know, people buy, uh, steal metal from one area, go to another area and try to get, uh, get rid of it. And so this task force has, uh, uh, more resources and better ability to, uh, to solve those crimes.

into, um, the statute, uh, for the multi, let me get this right. Agency strike force and requires them to report, um, once a year with, um, and with that I'll move

Senator Vickers Baldy Blue in Brammer Bus Comore Escamilla. Bill Moore, Grover Aye. Harper Aye. Kins Aye. Ipson Johnson. K Juab McKay Mikel Aye. Milner Oman. Lemme see If Everyone's here. Owens pitcher. Plum Rebe. Sandal Stevenson Stratton pickers Aye. Weiler Aye. Wilson. Aye. Winterton President Adams Aye.

Today with me, I have Senator Al Schiller from