Existing law provides that every dealer in or collector of junk, metals, or secondhand materials, or the agent, employee, or representative of that dealer or collector, who buys or receives any wire, cable, copper, lead, solder, mercury, iron, or brass which he or she knows or reasonably should know is ordinarily used by or ordinarily belongs to a railroad or other transportation, telephone, telegraph, gas, water, or electric light company or county, city, city and county, or other political subdivision of this state engaged in furnishing public utility service without using due diligence to ascertain that the person selling or delivering the same has a legal right to do so, is guilty of criminally receiving that property, and shall be punished by imprisonment as specified, by a fine of not more than $250, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
California AB 1971 (20112012) — Theft: junk, metals, and secondhand materials.
Existing law provides that every dealer in or collector of junk, metals, or secondhand materials, or the agent, employee, or representative of that dealer or collector, who buys or receives any wire, cable, copper, lead, solder, mercury, iron, or brass which he or she knows or reasonably should know is ordinarily used by or ordinarily belongs to a railroad or other transportation, telephone, telegraph, gas, water, or electric light company or county, city, city and county, or other political subdivision of this state engaged in furnishing public utility service without using due diligence to ascertain that the person selling or delivering the same has a legal right to do so, is guilty of criminally receiving that property, and shall be punished by imprisonment as specified, by a fine of not more than $250, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
AB 1971 BUCHANAN Consent Calendar Second Day — 76–0 (pass) · lower
Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — 6–0 (pass) · lower
Do pass. — 6–0 (pass) · upper
Special Consent #13 — 33–0 (pass) · upper
Sponsors
Buchanan — primary (person)
Bonilla — coauthor (person)
Jeffries — coauthor (person)
Ma — coauthor (person)
Portantino — coauthor (person)
Wieckowski — coauthor (person)
Timeline
The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
2012-02-23 Read first time. To print. reading-1
2012-02-24 From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
2012-03-29 Referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
2012-03-29 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage
2012-04-09 Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
2012-04-30 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage
2012-05-01 Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
2012-05-08 From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (May 8). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2012-05-09 Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. reading-2, reading-1
2012-05-14 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 4830.) reading-3, reading-1, passage
2012-05-14 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
2012-05-24 Referred to Com. on PUB. S. referral-committee
2012-06-12 From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 12). committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
2012-06-13 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
2012-06-20 Ordered to special consent calendar.
2012-06-25 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 0. Page 4058.). reading-3, reading-1, passage
2012-06-25 In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. committee-passage
2012-06-29 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
2012-07-10 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
2012-07-10 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 82, Statutes of 2012.
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/b56be33c-ae2d-4495-82fe-aeef90080de0. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).
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