All 50 state legislatures have passed laws intended to combat the growth in metals theft over recent years. These laws impose varying requirements on purchasers, sellers, law enforcement, and other parties, with little uniformity between the states. In addition, states are frequently amending their laws to better address the problems they face.
These changes can make it increasingly challenging for citizens, law enforcement, lawmakers, and recyclers to stay on top of current requirements. This database is a public resource to help understand the laws by allowing visitors to view and download pre-made or custom reports on the provisions and states that interest them.
Please pay careful attention to the Materials Covered and Exemptions for each state! States may define the same term (such as "regulated metal") to cover entirely different types of metals or transactions and give different exemptions for particular materials and entities. ReMA has attempted to present the definitions and materials covered as clearly as possible; unfortunately, this means that we've occasionally had to edit the definitions from how they are presented in the state law.
The database has been updated for 2023 with amendments in 23 states. ReMA provides a public compilation of the State Metals Theft Statutes (last updated October 31, 2023) that includes all of our individual state metals theft law summaries; members can also access the individual summaries from ReMA's State Resources and Tracking pages.