Senate bill would create advisory panel to address EV charger vandalism and cable theft

Senate Transportation Committee members heard testimony on engrossed Senate Bill 5,746, which would direct the Electric Vehicle Coordinating Council (EV Council) to convene an industry advisory committee to develop recommendations to reduce electric vehicle charger property crime. The bill requires the EV Council, subject to transportation-budget appropriations, to staff and oversee an industry-led working group through July 1, 2027.

The advisory committee would be able to include representatives from the attorney general—s office, law enforcement, utilities, EV charging industry firms, EV station hosts, community advocacy groups, and recycling or scrap-metal trade groups. The committee would advise the EV Council on policy, best practices and operational steps to reduce vandalism and cable theft and would report findings as part of the EV Council—s annual legislative report.

EV Council staff briefed the committee and Commerce—s fiscal note flagged a one-time staffing cost to support the subcommittee in the 2025-27 biennium; staff said a small stipend is anticipated for community representatives. Proponents told the committee vandalism and cable theft are already causing outages and discouraging hosts and fleet operators from investing in public charging. "Every stolen cable makes the charger unusable to the customers who need charging and erodes public confidence," Christopher Robertson of the City of Seattle said in testimony, adding that repair costs and downtime threaten private investment and public funding for chargers.

Sponsor Sen. Jeff Wilson framed the bill as a practical, early-action response to growing property crime at chargers. "This bill begins to put it in perspective with the niche and the expertise of people that do this, whether it's a host, whether it's a manufacturer, to come become, I guess, creative on how to be proactive on something we know is only going to escalate," Wilson said, citing incidents in multiple districts and an instance he described where more than 100 cords were cut in a year in Seattle.

Private-sector fast-charger operators said they support the advisory process and would participate. Isabella Craddock of Electric Era said her company incorporates security features such as on-site staff and tamper-proof hardware but cannot prevent all forms of crime and welcomed the chance to work with the Department of Commerce. Rhiannon Davis of Electrify America described repeated vandalism in the Seattle-Tacoma area that took chargers offline days after repair and urged a coordinated, multi-stakeholder response.

The bill also includes a public-records exemption for proprietary information submitted by private-sector entities to Commerce as part of the advisory work. Committee staff noted the bill would take effect 90 days after adjournment and that Commerce estimated a modest one-time fiscal impact for staffing in 2025-27 with indeterminate ongoing workload for Commerce and the EV Council.

Advocates and industry witnesses urged the committee to move the bill forward so the advisory group can convene and produce near-term recommendations. The committee suspended the public hearing on the bill to take additional testimony and move on to other agenda items.

The hearing record contains multiple public testimonies in support from charger operators, utilities, and city representatives; no final vote was taken at this hearing.