Louisiana Law

10/13/11 Baltimore, Maryland – “Is this just stupid? Or sinister by design?” We couldn’t help asking the question when confronted by a law that took effect in Louisiana on Aug. 15, 2011.

The short of it: In Louisiana, if you sell clothes or toys that your kids have outgrown for cash — more than once a month — you’re now breaking the law.

And… the why: Over the summer, Louisiana lawmakers decided that mere laws against theft might’ve been good enough for Moses and his people back in the day, but not for the Pelican State.

The state legislature crafted and passed a new law designed to target copper and scrap thieves specifically… but entrapped a host of housewives and flea market aficionados in the process.

Given the tenor of the public debate these days, we’re not sure what to make of the following details. You decide…

“Louisiana,” reports New Orleans CityBusiness, “is among a handful of states and cities to ban junkyards from purchasing scrap with cash as police crack down on copper and metal thefts.”

“What sets the Louisiana law apart is its breadth,” CityBusiness goes on. “Louisiana law bans cash purchases for all secondhand goods.”

The letter of the law: “Anyone, other than a nonprofit entity, who buys, sells, trades in or otherwise acquires or disposes of junk or used or secondhand property more frequently than once per month from any other person, other than a nonprofit entity, shall be deemed as being in the business of a secondhand dealer.

“A secondhand dealer,” the law continues, “shall not enter into any cash transactions in payment for the purchase of junk or used or secondhand property.”

[Ed note. One of the questions raised by the film we’re screening in Baltimore this evening: “When, in our culture, did ‘profit’ become a bad thing? When did the nonprofits become the good people… and ‘for profit’ mean that you’re bad?” We’ll let you know how our Reserve audience responds to the themes in the film later…]

“The broad scope of the definition [of the law],” writes a gentleman named Thad Ackel, “can essentially encompass everyone; from your local flea market vendors and buyers to a housewife purchasing goods on eBay or Craigslist, to a group of guys trading baseball cards, they could all be considered secondhand dealers.

“The added restrictions under this recent legislation have come about under the pretense of cracking down on crime and helping the government take care of you, all at the cost of your individual privacy, economic, civil liberty and freedom.”

It appears he is a principal in a Louisiana auctioneer and has a vested interest in overturning the law. But in this case, his interest coincides with that of, well, just about anyone except nosy government officials who want a way to track your transactions.

“If you wish to be paid in cash, you’re a criminal,” says attorney Danielle Waterfield of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, representing more than 1,600 scrap dealers nationwide. “We have a problem with that.”

But if Ms. Waterfield hopes to challenge the statute in court, she’ll have an uphill climb. Federal courts have upheld similar statutes in New York, Mississippi and Tennessee. Those laws were more narrowly tailored to scrap metal, but in each case, they were challenged on the grounds that states and cities can’t ban transactions in legal tender, i.e., Federal Reserve Notes.

“States are saying, ‘We have the right to specify the form in which the payments are made, then you can tender the check for any legal tender you want,’” explains Mark Beebe of the New Orleans law firm Adams and Reese. “They’re not saying this is the only medium you can use and that’s where it ends.”

“For every transaction,” Ackel writes, “a secondhand dealer must obtain the seller’s personal information such as their name, address, driver’s license number and the license plate number of the vehicle in which the goods were delivered.

“They must also make a detailed description of the item(s) purchased and submit this with the personal identification information of every transaction to the local policing authorities through electronic daily reports.”

Many scrap dealers do this already. Most people selling their odds and ends on Craigslist do not. So not only are cash transactions banned — the better to create a paper trail — the transaction must also be reported to law enforcement in real-time.

Questioned about the breadth of the Louisiana law, its sponsor, State Rep. Clifton Richardson (R-Baton Rouge), says, “I’m always open to improving it, but I don’t want to weaken it.”

The state legislature crafted and passed a new law designed to target copper and scrap thieves specifically…

Having had my AC Compressor stolen this past winter I feel like the liberal who gets mugged and starts carrying a gun. Cost my $1,300 bucks.

(we were in the process of selling the house so we were not living there. I would have shot the bastard if we had been there)

I have lived in what the government deems poverty all my life - you wouldn’t know it - I wear designer clothes and popular brand name shoes - I have taken yard-sale living to an art form. I can honestly say I have purchased one “new” clothing item in the past 10 years. I raised and clothed 4 kids this way.

This type of law will greatly curtail my means of maintaining my standard of living. Every time I think of a way to earn or save a little money the government makes new rules, insists on permits, licenses or prohibits the activity altogether.

I do not want to accept government assistance but they are trying their hardest to force me to. I have a garden and chickens and thankfully for the last two years have been buying clothes (especially winter items) ahead in various sizes (planning on weight gain :)or loss) and boots and shoes. I refuse to bend to their force!

Happened to me as well. I bought a house up in Arkansas to move my motherinlaw into. While we were cleaning it up and remodeling they stole a/c and an antique stove and tore up the electric system for the copper.

Good news is we called all scrap yards in 100 mile radius. One called yesterday with the A/C and the thief's name. He is in custody. Now I can't decide if I am satisfied to leave things as they are and call him a convict or pay his bail and call him a target.

Good for you, they didn’t get inside of our home due to an alarm system they just ripped the unit apart outside.
I called the police and they didn’t even bother taking a report.

To begin with any law that makes an outlaw of someone who deals in cash, no matter who or what the reason given, is a bad frickin' law and, IMO, unconstitutional. since when did the government get this kind of power? I will tell you when, when we all decided it was ok for the law to determine how much of your own money you could with draw from a bank without reporting it and allowing the gestapo we call police today to confiscate any large amount of cash you might have on your person or in your vehicle.

Now it is ok to outlaw people from using cash in day to day sales. The people of LA had better get up in arms about this BS.

It's an attempt to take control of the cash transaction ground level economy. State and local governments already have in place ways to deal with selling stolen scrap metal, along with fencing stolen goods. It has nothing to do with preventing theft, and everything to do with tax collection. They have essentially legislated flea markets and yard sales out of existence, making them illegal endeavors.

They are wasting their time, if the objective is copper thieves. What’s they need to do is seriously up the penalty for those cought. Stealing copper is too easy and hard to catch. Only draconian penalties for the crime have any hope of stopping it.

They have essentially legislated flea markets and yard sales out of existence, making them illegal endeavors.

Flea markets, yes. Yard sales, not so much.

Few people have a yard sale more than once a month. Those that do, it isn't really a yard sale, it's a side business. Got one just down the street.

Once again we have an example of why the most important job a legislator has is to prevent the passage of laws.

Law being both a blunt instrument and a fragile thing is ill suited to correcting the ill of the world.

Law is a blunt instrument because human wisdom is finite. Law is a fragile thing because it is so easily broken.

Mark Twain wasn't being anything other than straight forward when he said something like, "Imagine I am an idiot. Then imagine I am a member of Congress. Ah, but I repeat myself."

It is telling that the Lord Himself doesn't rely upon The Law to make a people for Himself. He gives us His Holy Spirit who works within us to conform us to His own image.

What a wise and good Creator He is, One who tells us that the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life.

Would that be the perpetual yard sale? Or just some one looking to unload some clutter from around the house? I’ve seen both. The point I’m driving at is that the state and fed govs are cracking down on cash and barter transactions. They want their cut of the action though taxes, regardless of how insignificant the amount it may seem to be.

Sorry for your loss. I had my place burgled once. Non the less, this law is poorly written and needs to be narrowed down to the concern at hand and leave the friggin citizens alone.

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