The Los Angeles City Council approved a reward program on Tuesday aimed at curbing precious metal theft.

If signed by Mayor Karen Bass, the ordinance will allow the city to offer a $5,000 reward for information in felony grand theft cases and a $1,000 reward for information in misdemeanor theft investigations. 

In addition to light fixtures and copper wires, the ordinance will provide a reward for information on the theft off city plaques, tombstones, statues and metals linked to the Sixth Street Bridge. 

The Sixth Street Bridge in downtown Los Angeles, originally called the “Ribbon of Light,” is a glaring example, as it sits in darkness with seven miles of copper wire stolen and stripped from the 2023-built bridge.

While the stolen copper is valued at $11,000, repairs to rewire it for lighting are estimated to cost over $2.5 million – and have yet to be completed.

CBS News California Investigates obtained and analyzed city data and found that there have been more than 37,000 streetlight repair requests made so far in 2025. As of September, more than half are still waiting for service.

The Bureau of Street Lighting said through an email statement that 15% of the system is affected by outages. The Bureau says nearly half of its service requests are due to wire theft, and the other half are routine maintenance. This leads to a nine to 12-month period before repairs can be made, as there are fewer than 200 field staff to cover the city’s quarter of a million streetlights.

A report from the City Attorney’s Office stated that the Los Angeles Police Department supported the ordinance, believing that it would help investigators locate suspects. 

Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, one of the two council members who voted against the ordinance, previously argued that a lack of regular maintenance caused the outages.

“In fact, it’s just regular maintenance that the city has neglected to do over the years. This should come as no surprise because we haven’t assessed our street lighting funds since 1996. We’ve had to eliminate vacancies and so forth,” Soto-Martinez previously said.  

As an alternative, Soto-Martinez urged his colleagues to provide the Bureau of Street Lighting with more funding and personnel. 

At the state level, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 476, which places greater responsibility on junk dealers when purchasing scrap metal, leaving thieves with fewer options for selling. 

Buyers will be required to verify the seller’s identity and lawful ownership. Certain scrap metal from streetlights and traffic signals will be illegal to possess, and the bill also increases penalties for recyclers who purchase materials belonging to public entities without ensuring the seller has proper authorization.