BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  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
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            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