This bill amends Washington’s scrap metal statutes (RCW 19.290.020, .030, .040, .080, and .140) to impose detailed transaction, identification, payment, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements on scrap metal businesses. It requires an accurate, legible English record for each nonferrous metal transaction with specified fields (including seller signature, ID, vehicle and material descriptions, photographs, employee name, time/date/value), a signed seller declaration witnessed by an employee, and that records be available to commissioned law enforcement and retained where the business is conducted for five years. The bill requires digital upload of transaction information to a Washington State Patrol–approved database, prohibits selling transaction records, tightens identification and commercial-account rules, restricts purchases of burned wire and beer kegs, limits cash payments and prescribes permitted electronic payment and nontransferable check procedures (including timing), and sets image and video retention periods (two years for photos, 30 days for video). It also requires scrap businesses to create and keep a permanent commercial-account record and to maintain purchase/receipt records for three years. The bill creates new civil penalties and licensing rules: civil penalties up to $1,000 for violations not carrying criminal penalties, rising to $2,000 for repeat violations within two years, and specific higher penalties for purchases or pledges of stolen copper used in telecommunications cable (up to $10,000 for a first violation, $20,000 for a second, and loss of licensure for a third). It alters licensing procedures so licenses renew annually, must be surrendered on suspension/revocation or when ceasing business, require payment of the original fee if not timely renewed, and must be surrendered immediately after three violations under the civil penalty provision. The bill also adds new sections to chapter 9A.56 RCW establishing a new criminal offense and a civil cause of action: a new class C felony for knowingly damaging or rendering inoperable voice, video, or data services (including physical and cyber components) with intent to cause damage, commit theft, or harm communications infrastructure, and a civil right for persons injured in person, business, or property by such acts to sue in superior court for damages, investigative costs, and attorneys’ fees. The bill revises definitions in RCW 9A.82.010 (including “beneficial interest,” “control,” “creditor,” and “criminal profiteering,” though the supplied definition for criminal profiteering is truncated) and amends the sentencing seriousness table in RCW 9.94A.515 to reflect listed offenses and the new offense. Portions of the bill text are missing or incomplete in the provided material (including the remainder of the criminal profiteering definition, the full amendments to RCW 9.94A.515/Table 2, and any additional sections added to chapter 9A.56), so the complete scope of some changes cannot be determined from these extracts.

If enacted, scrap metal dealers will face much more paperwork and new operational steps for every nonferrous metal purchase: they must collect a standardized English record with detailed seller and vehicle information, take photos or video of the material, have the seller sign a sworn declaration witnessed by an employee, keep records longer (three to five years for different records), allow law enforcement inspections, and electronically upload transaction information to a Washington State Patrol–approved database. Sellers must bring government photo ID and may not receive immediate cash except in very limited circumstances, which will shift more transactions to electronic payments or delayed nontransferable checks and could reduce quick-cash sales; businesses will likely incur costs for capturing images/video, training employees, handling delayed payments, and complying with new retention and inspection rules, with civil fines up to $1,000 (rising to $2,000 for repeat noncriminal violations) and much higher, license‑threatening penalties for involvement with stolen telecommunication copper. The bill also creates a new class C felony for knowingly damaging or disabling voice, video, or data services and gives people and businesses harmed by such acts a right to sue for damages and legal costs in superior court, which increases criminal exposure for perpetrators and creates a new pathway for victims to recover losses. Some important details are missing from the provided text (several definitions are truncated and other referenced amendments are not shown), so the full scope of penalties and how the Washington State Patrol database requirement will be administered are unclear from these excerpts.