Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Erik Paulsen have introduced legislation that they hope will squash the growing epidemic of metal thefts.

The Secondary Metal Theft Prevention Act of 2009 is co-sponsored with Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and Lee Terry of Nebraska in the House.

The legislation is designed to deter metal thefts by making it more difficult for thieves to sell the stolen property to scrap metal dealers.

Under the legislation, scrap metal dealers would be required to keep records of all copper transactions, including name and address of the seller, transaction date, detailed description of the copper sold, and information from a driver’s license or other government-issued ID.

Dealers would also have to maintain these records and make them available to law enforcement agencies to track down copper thieves, and perform all transactions over $75 by check rather than cash.

The legislation would also require scrap dealers to maintain records of their transactions and have them readily available to law enforcement for two years.