For about five years, Cayuga County Sheriff Rob Outhouse and his deputies have been looking for help from Albany to crack down on anhydrous ammonia thefts around the county.

He may be getting those stronger enforcement powers from legislation proposed last week by Assembly Republicans. A new bill has provisions intended to reduce methamphetamine problems that have recently plagued rural counties like Cayuga.

Anhydrous ammonia, a common corn fertilizer, is being stolen across the state and used in the illegal production of methamphetamines.

Rural counties like Cayuga, Tioga and Jefferson have seen anhydrous theft and methamphetamine use grow at alarming rates. In Cayuga County alone, more than 200 anhydrous ammonia thefts were reported by farmers between 2001 and 2002. Meth is taking over a lot of the cocaine use in the county, Outhouse said.

Part of that growing epidemic steams from how easy meth is to make. Clandestine labs can make the drug by combining commonly-available pharmaceuticals, like some cold medicines, with anhydrous.

"It's not as pricey and more of it is available. Anyone who can put together a cookie recipe can make this stuff," Outhouse said.

But it's been harder to deter anhydrous felons and meth makers, especially when the law doesn't allow for tough prosecution, Outhouse said.

That's why he was so pleased when Assemblyman Gary Finch, R-Springport, told him that the Assembly's Republicans had drafted legislation to address the problems.

Outhouse, Finch, Minority Leader Charles Nesbitt, R-Albion, and other Assembly Republicans and law enforcement officials joined in Albany Tuesday to explain the legislation.

"I said I'd drive (Finch) to Albany because it was so good," Outhouse said. "It's a very comprehensive legislation that addresses a real public safety problem."

The proposal will make it a crime to possess the makings of a clandestine meth lab, increase penalties for theft of anhydrous, make it harder for meth makers to obtain the necessary ingredients, protect children living in or near meth labs and create new regulations to cleanup dangerous meth production sites.

"They had no real teeth in the law to prosecute before this," Finch said.

Similar legislation introduced three years ago failed, but Finch believes there's more of a widespread belief among Albany lawmakers that something has to be done to fight the problem.

"It has been looked at as a rural issue," he said.

The legislation has been written and is in the process of getting a bill number, said Kelly Cummings, a spokeswoman in Nesbitt's office. All 46 Assembly Republicans are on board, she said.

Staff writer Liz Hacken can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or elizabeth.hacken@lee.net