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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Rep. David Tyson Smith, D-Columbia, celebrated the unanimous passage of a bill to criminalize the purchase of a stolen catalytic converter out of the House Emerging Issues Committee Wednesday.
Smith’s House Bill 2276 was incorporated into HB 2066 from state Rep. Don Mayhew, R-Crocker along with two other bills on catalytic converters: HB 1721 from state Rep. Aaron Crossley, D-Independence and HB 1406 from state Rep. Hardy Billington, R-Poplar Bluff. The bill would require scrap metal shops to verify that any detached catalytic converter was obtained legally by the seller. Knowingly purchasing a stolen or otherwise illegally obtained catalytic converter would become a Class E felony.
“I’m happy to see this bill move forward through the legislative process as part of a bipartisan effort to clamp down on catalytic converter theft,” Smith said. “By making it much riskier to buy a catalytic converter, we can dry up the market, and hopefully stop this issue that plagues car owners in our state.”
Catalytic converters make the toxic exhaust from motor vehicles notably less toxic, and they utilize precious metals — namely platinum, palladium and rhodium — which are expensive. This revelation made them a quick and easy target for thieves across the world. In 2021, State Farm paid $1.2 million in stolen catalytic converter claims just in the state of Missouri. Across the country, they paid out over $70 million. In response to the issue, several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Smith, have worked to add laws that can stymie catalytic converter theft.
While catalytic converter thefts dropped dramatically in Kansas City and St. Louis last year due to better awareness from car owners and tougher enforcement of existing laws, Smith hopes that his bill and others can help those rates of theft drop even further.
“This bill can be another tool in the toolbox to help car owners across the state,” Smith said.
