AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 13, 2026

AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 4, 2026

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

95

Introduced by Assembly Member Mark González

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ahrens, Alanis, Castillo, Davies, Ellis, Haney, Hoover, Macedo, Patel, Sanchez, Schiavo, Ta, and Wallis)

February 13, 2026

An act to add Section 496f to the Penal Code, relating to metal theft.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: yes

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law makes a person who is a dealer in or collector of junk, metals, or secondhand materials, or their agent, employee, or representative, who buys or receives any wire, cable, copper, lead, solder, mercury, iron, or brass that the person knows or reasonably should know is used by or belongs to specified entities, including a railroad, certain utility companies, or a public entity engaged in furnishing public utility service, without using due diligence to ascertain that the person selling or delivering that material has a legal right to do so, guilty of criminally receiving that property and, in addition to imprisonment, makes that act punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000.

This bill would prohibit organized metal theft, described as acting in concert with one or more persons to steal metal materials from one or more of specified materials and items with the intent to sell, exchange, or return those metal materials for value, acting in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess those metal materials knowing or believing it to have been stolen, acting as an agent of another to steal those metal materials as part of an organized plan to commit theft, or recruiting, coordinating, organizing, supervising, directing, managing, or financing another to undertake acts of theft of metal. The bill would make a violation of organized metal theft punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony. The bill would make related findings and declarations and state the intent of the Legislature. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) California is facing a statewide surge in organized metal theft, particularly involving copper wire and other high-value metals used in public infrastructure, communication networks, and utility systems.

(b) Driven by soaring global copper prices and gaps in enforcement and regulation, criminals have increasingly targeted essential public assets, including streetlights, bridges, rail systems, telecommunications lines, and electrical infrastructure, to strip and resell stolen metal for profit.

(c) This epidemic of metal theft has caused widespread public safety hazards, power outages, and costly disruptions to critical infrastructure. The resulting repair costs are borne by taxpayers and local agencies, often exceeding millions of dollars for damage that yields thieves only a fraction of that amount in illicit sales.

(d) Recent incidents illustrate the scope and severity of the problem across California:

(1) In Los Angeles, copper wire theft has repeatedly plunged entire neighborhoods and landmarks, including the Sixth Street Viaduct known as the “Ribbon of Light,” into darkness with repair costs exceeding $2,500,000 and thousands of feet of wire stolen in broad daylight.

(2) The Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting has reported unprecedented levels of streetlight outages, with nearly 46,000 service requests in 2024, of which approximately 40 percent were theft related.

(3) Telecommunications providers, including Frontier, have been forced to suspend service to residents due to repeated copper theft cutting off access to 911 emergency systems and leaving seniors and vulnerable populations without reliable communication.

(4) In northern California, copper theft has caused power outages severe enough to close public schools and disrupt essential services.

(e) Law enforcement agencies have made arrests and seized tens of thousands of pounds of stolen copper. Despite these efforts, organized theft rings and unscrupulous recyclers continue to profit from the resale of stolen metal, often exploiting loopholes in existing laws and insufficient oversight of scrap metal transactions.

(f) The financial burden of repairing damaged infrastructure continues to escalate. Municipalities have been forced to divert scarce public resources and propose increased property assessments to fund streetlight repairs and security improvements.

(g) Metal theft undermines public safety by darkening streets, disabling traffic signals, and jeopardizing emergency communications and thus creates conditions that endanger residents, first responders, and essential workers.

(h) The Legislature recognizes that, while local task forces and ordinances have been established to combat this growing threat, a statewide response is necessary to deter theft, strengthen penalties for organized operations, and enhance accountability for metal recyclers and dealers who knowingly purchase stolen materials.

(i) It is the intent of the Legislature to support local governments and law enforcement agencies through enhanced penalties targeting organized theft networks and protect public infrastructure, utilities, and community safety from the escalating economic and social harms caused by metal theft.

SEC. 2.

Section 496f is added to the Penal Code, to read:

496f.

(a) A person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of organized metal theft and shall be punished pursuant to subdivision (b):

(1) Acts in concert with one or more persons to steal metal materials from one or more of the items described in subdivision (a) of Section 496a or subdivision (a) of Section 496e with the intent to sell, exchange, or return the metal materials for value.

(2) Acts in concert with two or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess metal materials described in subdivision (a) of Section 496a or subdivision (a) of Section 496e knowing or believing it to have been stolen.

(3) Acts as an agent of another individual or group of individuals to steal metal materials described in subdivision (a) of Section 496a or subdivision (a) of Section 496e as part of an organized plan to commit metal theft.

(4) Recruits, coordinates, organizes, supervises, directs, manages, or finances another to undertake any of the acts described in paragraph (1) or (2) or any other statute defining theft of metal.

(b) Organized metal theft is punishable as follows:

(1) If violations of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (a) are committed on two or more separate occasions within a 12-month period, and if the aggregated value of the metal stolen, received, purchased, or possessed within that 12-month period exceeds nine hundred fifty dollars ($950), the offense is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.

(2) Any other violation of paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (a) that is not described in paragraph (1) of this subdivision is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year.

(3) A violation of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.

(c) For the purpose of determining whether the defendant acted in concert with another person or persons in any proceeding, the trier of fact may consider any competent evidence, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) The defendant has previously acted in concert with another person or persons in committing acts constituting theft, or any related offense, including any conduct that occurred in counties other than the county of the current offense, if relevant to demonstrate a fact other than the defendant’s disposition to commit the act.

(2) That the defendant used or possessed an artifice, instrument, container, device, or other article capable of facilitating the removal of metal from materials described in subdivision (a) of Section 496a or subdivision (a) of Section 496e without permission or authorization and use of the artifice, instrument, container, or device or other article is part of an organized plan to commit metal theft.

(3) The property involved in the offense is of a type or quantity that would not normally be collected or purchased for personal use, the property consists of metal materials bearing markings, tags, or other identifying characteristics of a telecommunications provider, railroad, public utility, or public entity engaged in furnishing public utility service, and the property is intended for resale. However, evidence that a licensed scrap recycler purchased metal materials for resale in the ordinary course of business shall not, by itself, establish that the recycler acted in concert with another person or persons.

(d) In a prosecution under this section, the prosecutor shall not be required to charge any other coparticipant of the organized metal theft.

(e) This section does not preclude or prohibit prosecution pursuant to Section 594 or charging an enhancement pursuant to Sections 12022.6 or 12022.65.

SEC. 3.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.