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Panel advances bill broadening critical-infrastructure protections to communications networks
Summary
The State Government Committee approved HB290 to expand protections for critical infrastructure to include aerial and underground communications lines and certain industry facilities; the measure passed committee by voice vote and will proceed toward the House floor.
The State Government Committee on Wednesday advanced HB290, a bill by Representative Mooney that expands the state's critical-infrastructure protections to explicitly cover communications infrastructure and related facilities.
Representative Mooney, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure updates a definitions bill passed last year and extends protections beyond enclosed facilities to “aerial and underground connections,” adding industries that depend on communications for education, health care and safety. He said the change aims to give prosecutors and law enforcement broader authority to charge people who intentionally damage communications lines.
The bill sponsor cited multiple recent outages as examples of the effect of communications damage, saying an October 2024 outage affected 2,847 residences, eight businesses and one cell tower, and that other incidents have affected thousands of customers. “What this bill does … is take what we did last year and add some things to it to make it more effective,” Representative Mooney said.
Committee members asked whether the bill would cover accidental damage. Representative Mooney and other speakers clarified the measure targets intentional damage: trespass with the intent to damage or conduct that proves intent would be covered, while accidental cuts by workers would not be intended to be prosecuted under the critical-infrastructure provisions, according to committee discussion.
Representative Mooney moved a favorable report; the committee voiced its approval and the measure passed in committee. Afterward, members briefly recessed to confirm a substitute version had been filed; the bill sponsor and staff agreed the committee would carry the bill forward and bring the correct substitute back up for final committee action or floor consideration. A committee member said the bill would next appear on the House floor later in the week.
