With some metals fetching up to $3 per pound, nothing is sacred in Illinois: Manhole covers, buried power lines, even the brass plates on tombstones have been pilfered.

The problem has intensified the last two years, police say, because of the record metal building prices fueled by demand for building supplies in Asia.

However, as the crimes grow more egregious, several states, including Illinois, are responding with laws to curtail it. The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois legislation, signed into law Aug. 17, aims to tighten regulations on the scrap dealers who purchase metal building materials.

In many states, dealers haven't been required to identify sellers, which means that even if someone's stolen property is recovered, the scrap dealers don't have any idea who sold it to them.

Illinois' law changes that for transactions worth $100 or more. Dealers would have to record details of purchases, including the make, model and license plate number of the car the seller was driving.

"We're just trying to ensure that we're not having people taking wires off poles, or digging them out of the ground, or ripping them off the sides of existing structures," Monroe District police Cmdr. Ronald Sodini said. "We're not trying to deter or inhibit any recycling. We're trying to prevent a growing problem."

At least 10 other states, from California to Alabama, are preparing similar legislation. Several states already have responded with laws to curb the rampant theft of general steel building materials.

"We believe that statewide legislation is often better if for no other reason than it hands a level playing field throughout the area," said Steve Hirsch, associate counsel for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. "I hear anecdotally that our members ... occasionally see someone who sees the sign that says 'Photo ID Required,' and they'll turn around and go somewhere else."

"I embrace the law wholeheartedly," said Oscar Castillo, owner of American Metals Co. "I think it will be helpful for everybody."

At his six locations in the Chicago area, Castillo said he purchases most of his metal building materials from industrial manufacturers, though he does get the occasional person who sells aluminum cans.

Either way, the law won't have much impact on him because he's already keeping records of transactions, he said.

"They have to be legitimate transactions," said Castillo, who sells more than $3 million in scrap metal a year. "You just have to abide by the law because this is the way we make a living."