Drivers in Harrisonburg are among the latest victims of a series of thefts. Harrisonburg Police are reporting almost a dozen thefts of catalytic converters around the city in the last week.

Catalytic converters reduce the toxicity of car emissions, and they're becoming more valuable because of the rising value of the platinum inside them. The crimes are an issue nationwide.

These kinds of thefts have some legislators trying to address the problem. West Virginia lawmakers, currently in a special session in Charleston, passed legislation Wednesday to make it tougher for thieves to sell stolen catalytic converters anonymously.

Lawmakers in both the state House and Senate passed their versions of a bill that would require people purchasing catalytic converters to make a record of them. The record would include the name and contact information of the person selling the converter.

"If you have more than one, more than two [catalytic converters], this is recorded as such, and the dealer himself is in great violation if he doesn't keep these records," says Sen. Shirley Love, 11th District senator.

Meanwhile, some car-repair companies are working with law enforcement to track catalytic converters. For that to be effective, they need the cooperation of the people actually buying them.

Gov. Joe Manchin has up to 30 days to sign the legislation into law.