BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1782|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1782
Author: Chesbro (D), et al.
Amended: 6/19/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/17/14
AYES: Hancock, De Le�n, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Knight
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/19/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Wires: unlawful removal
SOURCE : California Center for Rural Policy
Suddenlink Communications
DIGEST : This bill increases the fine for maliciously
disconnecting a telephone, cable, or other specified electrical
line.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides that a person who does any of the following acts is
guilty of an alternate felony-misdemeanor, punishable by a
felony jail term of 16 months, two or three years in the
county jail, or by a fine not exceeding $500, or imprisonment
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in the county jail not exceeding one year:
A. Unlawfully and maliciously takes down, removes, injures,
or obstructs any part of a telegraph, telephone, or cable
television line, or any line used to conduct electricity,
or appurtenances or apparatuses connected therewith.
B. Severs any wire thereof of a noted line, or makes any
unauthorized connection with any line, other than a
telegraph, telephone, or cable television line, used to
conduct electricity.
1.Provides that a person who, unlawfully and maliciously
removes, injures, destroys, damages, or obstructs the use of
any wireless communication device with the intent to prevent
the use of the device to summon assistance or notify law
enforcement or any public safety agency of a crime is guilty
of a misdemeanor.
This bill makes the following changes in the alternate
felony-misdemeanor statute that prohibits removing, destroying,
obstructing use of or damaging, any communications line or line
used to conduct electricity, or connecting without authorization
to a line used to conduct electricity:
1.Adds or includes the acts of disconnecting or cutting a
specified communications line or line used to conduct
electricity.
2.Includes a backup deep cycle battery or other connected power
supply in the devices covered by the law prohibiting and
punishing the act of removing, damaging or obstructing a
specified communications line or line used to conduct
electricity.
3.Increases the maximum fine for the offense to imprisonment in
a county jail for a misdemeanor offense not exceeding one
year, by a fine not exceeding $1000, or by both that
imprisonment and fine, or by imprisonment in a county jail for
a felony offense for 16 months, two or three years and a fine
of up to $10,000.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
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SUPPORT : (Verified 8/4/14)
California Center for Rural Policy (co-source)
Suddenlink Communications (co-source)
California Cable and Telecommunications Association
California Municipal Utilities Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Cox Communications
Frontier Communications
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
PacifiCorp
Southern California Edison
Southern California Public Power Authority
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
Trinity Public Utilities District
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/4/14)
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, in Humboldt
County, Suddenlink Communications has been the victim of
multiple intentional fiber cutting attacks resulting in the loss
of services for over 10,000 customers on several occurrences.
These acts of intentional vandalism have resulted in losses to
date of over $100,000 to Suddenlink - this amount does not
address reduced customer confidence, customer financial impact
due to loss of services, damage to critical communication
infrastructure and the potential impact during an emergency.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : California Attorneys for Criminal
Justice states:
Although undoubtedly intended to safeguard California's
important infrastructure, AB 1782 increases the monetary
sanction for a misdemeanor by 1000%. This unprecedented
increase in the amount of a fine for any misdemeanor offense
should caution against adoption of this bill.
Penalties of this size would cripple the financial capacity of
offenders who commit even minor offenses related to maliciously
"interfering" with a cable line or "any other line used to
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conduct electricity" or "make any unauthorized connection" with
such lines. Although it is no doubt unfortunate that citizens
sometimes split cable lines or vandalize electrical lines of any
sort, a fine of this size is completely disproportionate with
the nature of the listed offenses. This is particularly true
because of the broad language of the statute sweeps up conduct
which, though unlawful, is not particularly egregious.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/19/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Olsen, Pan,
Patterson, Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Nazarian, Nestande, Vacancy
JG:e 8/4/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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