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Committee discusses creating state crimes for "porch pirates"; subcommittee bill held for one session
Summary
A subcommittee bill to create state criminal penalties for package theft and related offenses (including use or possession of "arrow keys") was presented; the sponsor offered the draft amendment, and the committee agreed to hold the measure for one voting session to allow additional review.
The Judiciary Committee considered House Bill 210 on March 13, a subcommittee measure that would create state criminal penalties for certain package-theft offenses and make related changes to permissible investigative defenses.
The subcommittee chair summarized the amendment: it would create a misdemeanor state crime for “veil theft” with a two-year maximum penalty for general porch-package theft, establish felony offenses for using an "arrow key" to steal mail or for possession with intent to use an arrow key, and add three ‘‘veil theft’’ defenses to the list of authorized defenses for facial-recognition or other identification technologies used in investigations.
A committee member whose name appears on a related bill asked to hold the amended measure to make sure it reflected the intent of their original proposal. The committee chair agreed to hold the bill for one voting session to allow additional review and potential fixes at the amendment office. The committee did not vote on final passage on March 13.
