Mar. 21, 2022—Californian Senator Brian Jones introduced a bill targeting thieves of catalytic converters in California. Senate Bill 919 will require all catalytic converters to be marked with a vehicle identification number aimed at helping officials to identify the stolen part.
“The bottom line is that California is number one in the nation for catalytic converter thefts,” Jones told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Last year, over 18,000 catalytic converters were stolen from California. And we are 30 percent of the insurance claims filed nationally, and we need to get a handle on this.”
Thieves steal catalytic converters to gain access to the precious metals rhodium, palladium and platinum within the part. Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the price of those metals has risen beyond the price of gold, making the devices valuable on the black market.
