State Attorney General Mark Bennett will recommend that Gov. Linda Lingle sign a bill into law that clamps down on illegal copper sales, saying the bill is enforceable despite a flaw in its wording.

Bennett said yesterday that, while the bill contains an extra word — "and" — that Bennett had wanted removed, the wording should not prevent police from enforcing the new, stricter rules on buying copper.

State Rep. Tommy Waters, chairman of the House judiciary committee that passed HB 1246, agreed that the extra "and" does not doom the bill.

"The bill is enforceable as written," Waters said. "Perhaps next session we could clarify it and I'm happy to do so. But as it stands, the bill is fine and enforceable."

Honolulu Police Maj. Kurt Kendro, whose officers have handled the bulk of copper theft cases on O'ahu, said on Wednesday that the extra "and" in HB 1246 "basically makes the law unenforceable."

During the legislative session, Bennett said, Honolulu police, the Honolulu prosecutor's office and Bennett's office all wanted the extra "and" changed to a comma to remove any confusion.

Instead, one line of HB 1246 now reads, "Any person who violates sections 445-232 (which requires scrap metal recyclers to be licensed) and 445-233 (which includes the new stricter rules) ... shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." Kendro interpreted the inadvertent "and" to mean that only metal recyclers who don't have licenses will be in violation of the law — and most of them are already licensed.

Bennett said the bill is still sound because existing state law defines the terms "or" and "and" as having essentially the same meaning.

Section 1-18 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes states "Each of the terms 'or' and 'and,' has the meaning of the other or of both."

In addition, he said, legislators never intended to aim the new requirements at unlicensed scrap metal recyclers.

"In interpreting the statute, you look at the cause of the legislation and reject constructions which lead to an absurdity," Bennett said. "Basically, you try to make sense of the statute and look at the legislative intent."

The "and" had been changed to a comma by the time lawmakers approved HB 1246 in conference committee, Bennett said.

"For some reason that I don't understand, it actually went back to 'and' after they voted in the conference committee," Bennett said. "We would have preferred to change it to a comma just to be absolutely clear as to the meaning. But I don't look at it as anything that will affect the statute."

Among other things, HB 1246 makes it a felony to steal a pound or more of copper or any metal containing copper; requires scrap dealers to photograph any copper purchased, and all of the copper offered for sale to the scrap dealer; requires scrap dealers to take photographs of people offering copper for sale, and to photocopy their identification.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.