Copper wire theft knocks out power to Gilroy school as reform bill sits on governor's desk

GILROY, Calif. (KGO) -- Stolen copper wire left elementary school students in Gilroy in the dark Thursday morning.

The Gilroy Unified School District said there was a break-in at Luigi Aprea Elementary School. Almost half of the classrooms were without power at the start of the day.

We spoke with Mayor Greg Bozzo.

"You know, any type of theft that's going on in your community is absolutely terrible. And then, when it happens to a school, and affects learning and education, it just makes it even worse," Bozzo said.

The Gilroy Unified School District said this is the second incident in less than a month. A similar theft occurred at Rod Kelly Elementary School. Both incidents have been reported to the Gilroy Police Department.

MORE: AG Rob Bonta promises to crack down on copper wire thefts plaguing CA

"What's unfortunate is that this has been going on forever," Bozzo said.

Last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta highlighted the surge in copper wire theft throughout the state.

A bill that would bring stricter penalties for stolen metal sales is waiting to be signed by Governor Newsom. Assemblymember Mark González authored the bill.

"The goal here at the end of the day is to sort of sort devalue and debunk the idea that you're going to be able to cash-in by stealing copper wire," González said.

The bill would require junk dealers to document information about the seller and the name of the employee handling the transaction.

MORE: SJ woman repeatedly loses service due to copper wire thefts; 2 caught with 150 lbs of phone lines

It would also require identifying information about the actual metal -- like weight, etchings or serial numbers.

González said this bill is a steppingstone to fight back against a costly crime.

The Sixth Street Bridge is in González's district in Los Angeles.

"Thirty-eight thousand square feet of copper wire has been stolen on the street value of that, is $11,000, what it costs taxpayers $2.5 million dollars to repair and the lights are still out," González said.

Three weeks ago, Bozzo said he met with elected officials from throughout Santa Clara County that support this bill.

"It just holds the recyclers to a level that they should already be at, as a typical business running in any of our cities. But now, unfortunately, it has to go all the way up to the state to really elevate the type of expectations there are for these recyclers. Until they're part of the solution, they're part of the problem," Bozzo said.

The governor has until Monday to sign the bill.