Twice in the past four years, San Joaquin County farmer Richard Rodriguez has been victimized by metal thieves making off with nearly $25,000 in sprinkler pipes.

"As long as there's a market and the people who buy this stuff don't ask questions, this is going to be a problem," said Rodriguez, who works 500 acres.

Republican Assemblyman Tom Berryhill of Modesto and Democratic Sen. Ron Calderon of Montebello have crafted legislation designed to put the screws on metal thieves and shady recyclers.

Berryhill's Assembly Bill 844, which the Senate passed Wednesday, would require people selling metals to recycling yards to provide their thumbprint and photo identification and wait three days before they are paid by check.

Recyclers who fail to collect and maintain these records would be fined $1,000 for the first offense, $2,000 for the second offense and $4,000 for the third and subsequent offenses.

Berryhill calls metal theft an "epidemic." Across California, thieves have stolen manhole covers, disabled streetlights by removing copper wire, and taken guardrails from freeways.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has tallied more than $4 million in losses in the past three years at substations where thieves made off with copper wire, causing numerous power outages.

AT&T Inc. reported 250 copper thefts at its California facilities last year. The California Farm Bureau, which is co-sponsoring the legislation, reported that more than $6 million worth of metal was stolen in the San Joaquin Valley in 2006.

Berryhill said most metal thieves are methamphetamine users who commonly return to the scenes of their crimes and sell their wares to the same recyclers.

His legislation applies to "nonferrous material," including copper, stainless steel and aluminum.

"We're trying to deter thieves, but if they do this, there will be a paper trail that we can follow and hopefully catch the bad guys," Berryhill said recently before his legislation cleared the Senate Public Safety Committee.

The measure has strong bipartisan support, with more than 40 co-authors. It now goes to the Assembly for a concurrence vote.

The bill's lone opponent has been the American Civil Liberties Union, which calls the fingerprint requirement an unwarranted invasion of privacy. In response, supporters amended the bill to require law enforcement officials to get a court warrant before they can view or take possession of a fingerprint.

While some counties already have scrap metal ordinances, metal thieves commonly skirt those regulations by selling their loot in a different county.

Berryhill said his legislation – which is supported by the California chapter of the Institute of Scrap Metal Recycling – would create a state standard. Recyclers with three or more offenses could be ordered by a court to stop doing business for a year.

San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore said law enforcement officials have "longed for this type of legislation" – and so have farmers.

"Right after I was elected (in 2006), I was invited to lunch and I found out when I got there that I was lunch because farmers were very upset about the loss of their pumps and damage to their crops," Moore said.

In many cases, the money that thieves make pales in comparison to the damage they cause. Vito Chiesa, a candidate for Stanislaus County supervisor, has seen numerous thefts on his farm.

"Last year, I went out to turn on my ag pump and I realized the copper wiring had been stolen," Chiesa said. "I got it fixed, but before I could turn the pump on the next day, the metal had been stolen again."

The theft, he said, caused "$2,500 worth of damage for what people would consider $60 worth of scrap metal."

Berryhill's legislation would hold thieves and recyclers liable for that damage.

"We think this will be a serious deterrent for both the 'meth-heads,' who are stealing the merchandise, and the people who are taking their merchandise," Berryhill said.

Call Aurelio Rojas, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5545.