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A 5533

Provides for tenant responses to applications for a major capital improvement rent increase

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Chantel Jackson

Requires disclosure and strict recordkeeping by scrap metal buyers and sellers to prevent batteries, especially lithium-ion, from entering scrap streams.

REFERRED TO HOUSING
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Bill Summary · A 5533

Summary — A5533 (Reprint AHO 6/19/25)

Title: Provides for tenant responses to applications for a major capital improvement rent increase (note: bill text concerns scrap metal / batteries)

Status: Passed Assembly (6/30/2025, 63–8–8); reported with committee amendments (Assembly Housing Committee, 6/19/2025); referred to Housing; received in the Senate without reference (10/20/2025). Introduced: 4/10/2025. Primary sponsor: Chantel Jackson.

Note: Although the bill caption references rent increases, A5533’s substantive text addresses requirements for scrap metal businesses regarding scrap that may contain propulsion or lithium‑ion batteries.

Purpose
- Reduce safety and environmental risks (e.g., fires, hazardous disposal) associated with lithium‑ion and other propulsion batteries entering scrap metal streams by creating disclosure, inspection, and recordkeeping requirements for scrap metal transactions.

Key provisions
- Definitions
- Adds/clarifies definitions for “propulsion battery” (aligned with P.L.2023, c.222 and expanded to include any battery that could pose an environmental danger — committee amendments assign that determination to the Department of Environmental Protection) and defines “lithium‑ion battery” (per committee amendments).
- Retains statutory definitions of “scrap metal” and “scrap metal business.”

  • Seller/discloser obligation

    • Any person delivering or selling scrap metal to a scrap metal business must disclose, in writing and to the best of their knowledge, whether the scrap metal contains a lithium‑ion battery or other propulsion battery before the scrap metal is received or purchased.

  • Buyer/scrap metal business obligations

    • Verify identity of sellers (photo ID), copy and record ID number before purchase.
    • Maintain records for purchases/receipts over 100 pounds or $50 (or as prescribed by the Attorney General), including date, seller name/address, ID type/number and copy, description of scrap, seller signature, and additional required info (e.g., VIN/certificate for catalytic converters).
    • If a seller’s written disclosure indicates the scrap does NOT contain a lithium‑ion or propulsion battery, the scrap metal business must inspect the material prior to receipt/purchase to confirm absence of such batteries.
    • Maintain for at least five years records of all written battery disclosures and of any inspections performed to confirm absence of batteries. Records retention format may be prescribed by the Attorney General.
    • Make records available to law enforcement investigating theft or resale of scrap metals.

  • Administrative/implementation provisions

    • Effective on the first day of the sixth month after enactment.
    • Committee amendments authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to take anticipatory administrative actions prior to the bill’s effective date (and assign DEP responsibility to determine whether a battery poses an environmental danger).

Who is affected
- Primary: scrap metal businesses/operators and persons delivering or selling scrap metal (members of the public, auto repair shops, salvage yards, businesses handling end‑of‑life metal components).
- Secondary: law enforcement (access to records), waste/recycling and battery‑recycling sectors, and state environmental agencies (DEP/Attorney General for implementation guidance).

Potential impacts
- Safety/environmental: Expected to reduce incidents of fires and improper disposal of hazardous batteries in scrap streams and improve traceability.
- Administrative/compliance: Additional paperwork, inspection duty, and record retention requirements for scrap metal businesses; potential modest costs for training and record systems.
- Enforcement/oversight: DEP and the Attorney General will have roles in prescribing procedures and formats; records available to law enforcement for investigations.

Related legislation
- Companion/similar: S4525, S3812; several prior‑session related bills (A8755, S5317, S3328, A10006).

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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