August 2, 2022
The Honorable Anthony Portantino
Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
1021 0 Street, Suite 6240
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 2407 (O’Donnell) Vehicle tampering: theft of catalytic converters City of South San Francisco – Notice of Support
Dear Senator Portantino,
On behalf of the City of South San Francisco, I write in strong support of AB 2407 (O’Donnell), which would establish methods of tracing for catalytic converters. Specifically, this bill requires a core recycler who accepts a catalytic converter for recycling to report the information in the specified written record to the chief of police or to the sheriff. Additionally, the bill prohibits a core recycler form providing payment for a catalytic converter unless the recycler obtains a thumbprint of the seller and maintains records of that thumbprint for a period of two years after the date of the sale. Finally, the bill requires a core recycler to request to receive theft alert notifications regarding the theft of catalytic converters in the core recycler’s geographic region.
The City of South San Francisco has seen a drastic uptick in catalytic converter theft in recent years. Stealing catalytic converters has become a common trend as it can take less than 10 minutes to remove one from the underside of a parked car. Scrap metal yards are paying as much as $1,000 for the stolen converters for their valuable materials such as platinum and palladium, while victims end up paying up to $3,000 to replace the stolen converter. What's more, manufacturers often exclude serial numbers when making the car part, adding another layer of ease for the criminal activity.
Catalytic converter theft has both large payoffs and often goes undetected because of a lack of tracing methods. When converters are stolen, victims must file police reports in order to activate insurance reimbursement, which strains existing public safety personnel resources, particularly when cases increase drastically.
AB 2407 adds common sense tools to prevent catalytic converter theft by adding specific traceable requirements and associating misdemeanor penalties for violators. The bill will help discourage, prevent, and prosecute the growing crime of catalytic converter theft in California.
For these reasons, the City of South San Francisco supports AB 2407.
Sincerely,
Mark Nagales
Mayor
City of South San Francisco