Baytown, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

The license regime sits in Chapter 82, Article II, Division 2 of the city code, covering metal recycling entities and secondhand metal dealers, defined in Sec. 82-55 to include auto wreckers, scrap metal processors, and anyone buying or gathering aluminum, bronze, copper, or brass material. A general "secondhand dealer" who trades non-metal used goods is defined separately in the same section but is not swept into this license and bond requirement. Under Sec. 82-59, no person may operate a metal recycling entity or secondhand metal dealer business, or own such a business, without a license, and a separate license is required for each permanent location.

Sec. 82-60 requires the applicant to file a $10,000 surety bond with a state-qualified surety before the city clerk will issue the license, running in favor of the city and any person with a cause of action against the dealer, and it must stay in effect for the entire license term. Sec. 82-61 sets a 14-item application: legal name, residential address, citizenship status, Social Security or federal tax ID number, driver's license number, the fixed business location or landlord authorization, hours of operation, a five-year address history, any prior arrests or convictions besides Class C traffic tickets, and a sworn, notarized statement that the application is true.

The city clerk must issue the license unless the application is incomplete, false, or the applicant had a Division 2 license revoked in the prior year. Sec. 00-per-day license for each location. Sec. 82-58 puts the chief of police in charge of administrative rules for the license program, on file for public inspection at the city clerk's office and the police department.