To amend sections 4727.08, 4727.11, 4737.01, and 4737.04 and to enact sections 4737.041, 4737.042, and 4737.043 of the Revised Code to make certain changes to the Pawnbrokers Law and the Secondhand Dealers Law.

Section 1. That sections 4727.08, 4727.11, 4737.01, and 4737.04 be amended and sections 4737.041, 4737.042, and 4737.043 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 4727.08.  (A) Every person licensed as a pawnbroker shall keep and use separate pawn forms and purchase forms to be approved by the superintendent of financial institutions.

(B) The licensee shall record on the appropriate form for each pawn or purchase all of the following information:

(1) The date and time of the pledging or purchasing;

(2) The amount of the loan or the purchase price;

(3) The rate of interest and the charges to be paid on the loan;

(4) The time within which the pledgor is to redeem the pledged property;

(5) The name, age, and address of the pledgor or seller;

(6) A driver's license number, military identification number, or other personal identification number found on any other government-issued identification card;

(7) A physical description of the pledgor or seller;

(8) An accurate description of the pledged or purchased property, including the name of the manufacturer, any serial and model numbers, any identifying features, and any identifying letters or marks;

(9) Any other disclosures required by federal law.

(C) A copy of each form used in a pawn or purchase shall be kept at all times in numerical order in an active or inactive file, as appropriate, and the licensee shall account for all form numbers.

(D) The records and forms, at all times, shall be kept at the licensed location and available for inspection by the superintendent and by the chief of police of the municipal corporation or township in which the licensee's place of business is located or, if the place of business is not located within a municipal corporation or a township that has a chief of police, by the sheriff of the county in which the place of business is located. Upon demand of any of them, the licensee shall produce and show any records, forms, pledges, or purchases which are in the licensee's possession.

(E) Except in the case of a pledged motor vehicle, watercraft, or outboard motor, the licensee shall keep all pledges and purchases at the licensee's place of business unless a pledgor, in writing, agrees otherwise at the time the pledge is made. If the item pledged for the pawn loan is a motor vehicle, watercraft, or outboard motor, the licensee shall take possession of both the motor vehicle, watercraft, or outboard motor and the certificate of title to the motor vehicle, watercraft, or outboard motor and shall keep the certificate at the licensee's place of business but, upon notification to the pledgor, may keep the motor vehicle, watercraft, or outboard motor at a location other than the licensee's place of business. No pledge shall be removed from the place of business for the licensee's personal use or gain.

(F) Every person licensed as a pawnbroker under this chapter shall keep and use an intelligible set of books and records in the English language in complying with this chapter with respect to recording the details of each purchase or loan. Except as provided in division (J) of this section, all information required to be recorded by this chapter shall be entered in a bound book or on loose-leaf, permanent forms used exclusively for that purpose. Forms shall be identical and consecutively numbered, and each shall contain two or more pages. One part of each form shall be detachable and, when completed, shall serve as the statement to be given by the licensee to the pledgor or seller as provided by section 4727.07 of the Revised Code, the. The remaining part of the form shall be retained in the licensee's permanent records. All forms shall be accounted for.

(G) No licensee shall require a borrower to affix the borrower's signature to a blank or partially filled out pawn form or other record.

(H) Every licensee shall preserve the licensee's books, forms, accounts, and records for at least two years after making the final entry regarding any purchase or pledge of property recorded therein.

(I) All pawn and purchase forms, legal notices, and payment receipt forms shall reflect the name under which the licensee is registered with the superintendent and the complete address of the place of business.

(J) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a licensee may use other methods of recording data, keeping records, and keeping books, such as electronic or computerized methods, in lieu of the methods described in this section, provided written printouts or hard copies of the required data are readily available in a form approved, in advance, by the superintendent.

Sec. 4727.11.  (A) If a pledgor fails to pay interest to a person licensed as a pawnbroker on a pawn loan for two months from the date of the loan or the date on which the last interest payment is due, the licensee shall notify the pledgor by mail, with proof of mailing, to the last place of address given by the pledgor, that unless the pledgor redeems the pledged property or pays all interest due and storage charges within thirty days from the date the notice is mailed, the pledged property shall be forfeited to the licensee. If the pledgor fails to redeem or pay all interest due and storage charges within the period specified in the notice, the licensee becomes the owner of the pledged property.

(B) In the event that any article or property is redeemed by a person other than the pledgor, the pledgor shall sign the pledgor's copy of the statement required under section 4727.07 of the Revised Code, which copy shall be presented by the person to the licensee. The licensee shall verify the name of the person redeeming the article or property, and shall record the person's name and driver's license number, military identification number, or other personal identification number found on any other government-issued identification card, on the licensee's copy of the statement, and shall require the person to sign this copy.

(C) In the event that any articles or property pledged are lost or rendered inoperable due to negligence of the licensee, the licensee shall replace the articles or property with identical articles or property, except that if the licensee cannot reasonably obtain identical articles or property, the licensee shall replace the articles or property with like articles or property.

(D) When an account is paid in full, the licensee shall return the pledged article immediately to the pledgor. In the event the pledgor sells, transfers, or assigns the pledge, the licensee shall verify the name of the person redeeming the pledge and record that person's name,; driver's license number, military identification number, or other identification number found on any other government-issued identification card; and signature on the permanent copy of the statement of pledge required pursuant to section 4727.07 of the Revised Code. The licensee also shall obtain the signature of the pledgor, or other person redeeming the pledge, upon a separate record of the transaction, that acknowledges the total dollar amount paid for redemption and the date of redemption. All records shall be kept in the licensee's place of business.

Sec. 4737.01.  (A) A person purchasing, selling, exchanging, or receiving secondhand articles of any kind, scrap iron, old metal, canvas, rope, branded bottles, junk or lead pipe, except plow irons, old stoves, and furniture, shall post in a conspicuous place in or upon his the person's shop, store, wagon, boat, or other place of business, a sign having his the person's name and occupation legibly inscribed thereon, and keep a separate book, open to inspection by any law enforcement officer, in which shall be written, in the English language, at the time of the purchase or exchange of such articles, a description thereof, the name, description, and residence, and driver's license number, military identification number, or other identification number found on any other government-issued identification card of the person from whom purchased and received, and the day and hour when such purchase or exchange was made. Every entry shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one.

(B) Any person, prior to purchasing any secondhand article of furniture or secondhand electrical or gas appliance or equipment for the purpose of resale to the general public, other than an article or special procedures article, the acquisition of which is governed by section 4737.04 or 4737.041 of the Revised Code, shall demand to examine the seller's driver's or commercial driver's license or identification card issued under sections 4507.50 to 4507.52 of the Revised Code and one additional type of card typically used for identification purposes.

The purchaser shall keep a written record of the number of the license or identification card and the type and number of the other identification card accepted together with the date of purchase, the name and address of the seller, and a description of the article purchased. The purchaser shall retain the written record for at least one year and shall make the record available for inspection by any law enforcement officer at all reasonable times. For the purposes of this division, the purchaser may utilize the written record he the purchaser is required to keep where applicable under division (A) of this section and add to it the information required by this division.

Sec. 4737.04. (A) As used in this section and sections 4737.041 and 4737.042 of the Revised Code:

(1) "Scrap metal dealer" means a person who purchases or receives scrap iron, metal, and waste materials.

(2) "Special procedures article" means all of the following:

(a) Air conditioners;

(b) Beer kegs;

(c) Cable or other wire that is wound upon a spool or reel;

(d) Electronic devices;

(e) Furnaces;

(f) Grave markers, sculptures, plaques, and vases, the appearance of which suggest that the articles have been obtained from a cemetery;

(g) Guard rails for bridges, highways, and roads; highway and street signs; street light poles and fixtures; manhole covers, water meter covers, and other similar types of utility access covers; traffic directional and control signs and light signals, metal marked with the name of a political subdivision of the state, and other articles that are purchased and installed for use upon authorization of the state or any political subdivision of the state;

(h) Historical markers;

(i) Hot water heaters;

(j) Motor vehicles, as defined in division (B) of section 4501.01 of the Revised Code;

(k) Refrigerators, freezers, stoves, clothes washers or dryers.

(3) "Electronic device" means any device relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities but does not include any common consumer household electronic device.

(4) "Common consumer household electronic device" means a device powered by electricity that is commonly used in a personal residence and is not designed for commercial use and includes, but is not limited to, garage door openers; answering machines; blenders; cassette players and recorders; record players; compact disc players and recorders; calculators; clocks; coffee or tea makers; copy machines; digital video disc players and recorders; fans, hairdryers; hot pots; lamps and light fixtures; microwave ovens; paper shredders; personal computers; printers; scanners; fax machines; security system components; stereo components; televisions; telephones; toasters; toaster ovens; vacuums and other floor cleaning or care equipment; videocassette players and recorders; can openers, griddles, grills, knives, slicers, slow-cookers, and other similar kitchen appliances; razors, toothbrushes, curling or straightening irons, and other similar personal care and hygiene items; drills, sanders, saws, and other similar tools; blowers, chain saws, hedge clippers, mowers, pressure washers, trimmers, and other similar workshop lawn and garden tools.

(5) "Common recycled matter" means glass bottles and other glass containers, plastic bottles and other plastic containers, newspapers, and magazines.

(6) "Industrial sales" means sales transacted between a scrap metal dealer and a person whose primary business is to supply scrap metal dealers with ferrous and nonferrous metal in bulk quantities on a regular basis.

(7) "Recyclable materials" means items for which a code is designated by the institute for scrap recycling industries or its successor organization.

(B) Every scrap metal dealer in scrap iron, metal, and waste materials shall maintain a record book of records or electronic file, in which he the dealer shall keep an accurate and complete record of all articles purchased or received by him the dealer in the course of his the dealer's daily business. On and after the effective date of this amendment, every entry in the record book or electronic file shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with number one. Every dealer shall maintain the record for each article purchased or received for a minimum period of six months after the date the dealer purchased or received the article. Said records shall contain all of the name following information:

(1) Name, description, and residence, and driver's license number, military identification number, or other identification number found on any other government-issued identification card of the person from whom said articles were purchased or received and the;

(2) The date and hour time when such purchases or exchange were made;

(3) Except as otherwise specified in division (C) of this section, a full and accurate description of each article purchased or received by the dealer that includes identifying letters or marks written, inscribed, or otherwise included on the article and the name and maker of the article if known;

(4) If the seller or provider of the articles arrives at the dealer's place of business in a motor vehicle, the license plate number of that motor vehicle along with the state that issued the license plate.

(C) For the purchase or receipt of recyclable materials that are not special procedures articles, use of codes for recyclable materials as specified by the institute for scrap recycling industries or its successor organization is sufficient as a description of the articles purchased or received by a scrap metal dealer.

(D) All journal brasses, and other railroad metals, other than purchases and sales under sections 4973.13 to 4973.16, inclusive, of the Revised Code, shall be held by the dealer for a period of thirty days after being purchased or acquired.

Such (E) The records required under division (B) of this section shall be open for inspection by the representative of any law enforcement agency at and the director of public safety or the director's designated representative during all business hours. A scrap metal dealer shall provide a copy of those records to any law enforcement agency who requests the records or to the director or director's representative, upon request. Records submitted to any law enforcement agency pursuant to this section are not considered public records for purposes of section 149.43 of the Revised Code. Any person may, however, request such records, but the law enforcement agency shall redact information that reveals the name of the seller of any article and the price the dealer paid for any article the dealer purchased or the estimated value of any article the dealer received.

(F) No scrap metal dealer shall purchase or receive any articles from a person who refuses to show the dealer a current and valid form of identification that includes a photograph of that person.

No scrap metal dealer shall purchase or receive articles from any person the dealer knows is a thief or receiver of stolen property. The law enforcement agency that serves the jurisdiction in which the dealer is located shall provide a list, as that agency determines appropriate, of the names and descriptions of persons known to be or who are suspected to be thieves or receivers of stolen property.

No scrap metal dealer shall purchase or receive any special procedures articles from any person who is under eighteen years of age.

(G) Every scrap metal dealer shall post a notice in a conspicuous place on the dealer's premises notifying persons who may wish to transact business with the dealer of the penalties applicable to any person who, with the intent to deceive, does any of the following:

(1) Provides a false form of identification of the person to the dealer;

(2) Provides any other false information to the dealer in connection with the dealer's duty to maintain the records required under division (B) of this section;

(3) Commits a theft offense.

Sec. 4737.041. A scrap metal dealer who purchases or receives special procedures articles shall do all of the following with respect to each special procedures article:

(A) Comply with the requirements of this section in addition to complying with the requirements of section 4737.04 of the Revised Code with respect to those special procedures articles;

(B) Take photographs of each special procedures article from at least three perspectives to obtain photographs of the article that depict various sides of the article;

(C) If payment is rendered for the special procedures articles, issue a check for the purchase of the special procedures articles;

(D) Withhold payment for the purchase of the special procedures articles for a period of two days after the day the special procedures articles are purchased;

(E) Make records describing special procedures articles purchased or received available for inspection to business entities for a period of six months after the date of purchase or receipt of the articles, except that the name of the person from whom the special procedures articles are purchased or received and the amount paid for the special procedures articles shall not be made available for such inspection.

Sec. 4737.042.  Sections 4737.04 and 4737.041 of the Revised Code do not apply with respect to any of the following:

(A) The donation of articles to nonprofit organizations or to any other person, on the condition that the person donating the articles receives no payment or any other valuable consideration in exchange for or due to donating the articles;

(B) The sale of common recycled matter;

(C) Industrial sales.

Sec. 4737.043. Sections 4737.01 to 4737.04 of the Revised Code do not prevent the legislative authority of a municipal corporation from making further and additional regulations not in conflict with those sections. Those sections do not modify or repeal any regulations adopted by a municipal corporation that are in force on the effective date of this section that are not in conflict with those sections.

Section 2. That existing sections 4727.08, 4727.11, 4737.01, and 4737.04 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.