BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1782 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Mike Gatto, Chair AB 1782 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 22, 2014 Policy Committee: Public SafetyVote: 7-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill increases the fine for maliciously disconnecting a telephone, cable or other specified electrical line from $500 to $10,000, and adds disruption of any backup deep cycle battery or other connected power supply to the existing offense. FISCAL EFFECT Negligible state and local cost as the basic offense remains essentially the same. Unknown potential local fine revenue increase. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author contends the existing penalty - a $500 fine and/or up to three years in county jail - has proved insufficient to deter cable-cutting incidents in Humboldt County. 2)With penalty assessments, a $500 fine is more than $2,000; a $10,000 fine is more than $40,000. 3)The previous version of the bill raised the fine to $50,000. 4)Support. According to the California and Cable Telecommunications Association, "The California cable and broadband industry has seen a dramatic increase in the number of incidents of willful damage to its broadband networks. Historically, those networks primarily provide multichannel video services but today provide advanced residential and business communications services and broadband bandwidth for AB 1782 Page 2 large data centers and cellular towers (blackhaul). Our cable networks also support critical services like E-911, and are the basis for enabling telemedicine, emergency alerts, energy efficiency monitoring and home security services and other innovative technologies. "Cable broadband companies in Northern California have been the victim of multiple intentional fiber cutting attacks, resulting in the loss of advanced communication and broadband service to thousands of customers. In Southern California, cable nodes have been vandalized and cable amplifiers and emergency backup batteries stolen, resulting in the loss of communications services including the ability to make 911 calls for thousands of residential and business customers. Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081