A measure intended to deter scrap metal thieves is making its way through the New Jersey legislature.

Assemblyman Angel Fuentes says thieves trying to profit from selling metal have vandalized construction sites, parks, and empty buildings around the state. He says they even targeted a church in Deptford Township.
 

"Water heating systems destroyed, church flooded, the kitchen destroyed. $3,000 just to repair from $100 worth of copper theft."

Fuentes is one of the sponsors of a bill that would require scrap metal dealers to maintain records of all transactions for at least five years. The license plate of the vehicle that delivered the metal would have to be recorded.

Nick Giordano has a family run recycling business in Vineland and is president of the New Jersey chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. He has concerns about the bill's requirement that payment for the metal would have to be in the form of a non-transferable check mailed to the seller's address.

"If we had to write checks it would add a substantial amount of costs for us especially for the little dealers. It could possibly put these guys out of business or they'll go to another state and open a business because a lot of the transactions we do are  5, 6, 7 dollar transactions. So the cost to cash a check is more than the transaction."

The scrap metal dealers' group prefers that a list of the items most likely to be stolen be distributed to metal recyclers who would be banned from purchasing those items.