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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to offenses involving critical 2
infrastructure; creating s. 812.141, F.S.; providing 3
definitions; providing criminal penalties for 4
improperly tampering with critical infrastructure 5
resulting in specified monetary damage or cost to 6
restore; providing for civil liability upon a 7
conviction for such violations; providing criminal 8
penalties for trespass upon critical infrastructure; 9
providing notice requirements; providing criminal 10
penalties for the unauthorized access to or tampering 11
with specified electronic devices or networks of 12
critical infrastructure; providing an effective date. 13
14
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 15
16
Section 1. Section 812.141, Florida Statutes, is created 17
to read: 18
812.141 Offenses involving critical infrastructure; 19
improper tampering; civil remedies; trespass on critical 20
infrastructure; computer offenses involving critical 21
infrastructure.— 22
(1) For purposes of this section, the term: 23
(a) "Critical infrastructure" means: 24
1. Any linear asset; or 25
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
2. Any of the following for which the owner or operator 26
thereof has employed physical or digital measures designed to 27
exclude unauthorized persons, in cluding, but not limited to, 28
fences, barriers, guard posts, identity and access management, 29
firewalls, virtual private networks, encryption, multifactor 30
authentication, passwords, or other cybersecurity systems and 31
controls: 32
a. An electric power generati on, transmission, or 33
distribution facility, or a substation, a switching station, or 34
an electrical control center. 35
b. A chemical or rubber manufacturing or storage facility. 36
c. A mining facility. 37
d. A natural gas or compressed gas compressor station, 38
storage facility, or pipeline. 39
e. A gas processing plant, including a plant used in the 40
processing, treatment, or fractionation of natural gas. 41
f. A liquid natural gas or propane gas terminal or storage 42
facility with a capacity of 4,000 gallons or mo re. 43
g. Any portion of an aboveground oil or gas pipeline. 44
h. A wireless or wired communications network, including 45
the tower, antennae, support structures, and all associated 46
ground-based equipment, including equipment intended to provide 47
communications to governmental entities, including, but not 48
limited to, law enforcement agencies, fire emergency medical 49
services, emergency management agencies, or any other 50
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governmental entity. 51
i. A water intake structure, water treatment facility, 52
wastewater treatment plant, pump station, or lift station. 53
j. A deepwater port, railroad switching yard, airport, 54
trucking terminal, or other freight transportation facility. 55
k. A facility used for the operation, landing, takeoff, or 56
surface maneuvering of vehicles, aircraft, or spacecraft. 57
l. A transmission facility used by a federally licensed 58
radio or television station. 59
m. A military base or military facility conducting 60
research and development of military weapons systems, 61
subsystems, components, or parts. 62
n. A civilian defense industrial base conducting research 63
and development of military weapons systems, subsystems, 64
components, or parts. 65
o. Cyber or virtual assets, including electronic systems, 66
networks, servers, data centers, devices, hardware, software, or 67
data that are essential to the reliable operations, monit oring, 68
and security of any critical infrastructure. 69
p. Dams and other water control structures. 70
(b) "Improperly tampers" means to knowingly and 71
intentionally cause, or attempt to cause, a significant 72
interruption or impairment of a function of critical 73
infrastructure by: 74
1. Changing the physical location or physical or virtual 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
condition of the critical infrastructure, or any portion 76
thereof, without permission or authority to do so; 77
2. Otherwise moving, damaging, or destroying the critical 78
infrastructure or any portion thereof, without permission or 79
authority to do so; or 80
3. Accessing without authorization, introducing malware, 81
or taking any other action that compromises the integrity or 82
availability of the critical infrastructure's digital systems . 83
(c) "Linear asset" means any electric distribution or 84
transmission asset, gas distribution or transmission pipeline, 85
communication wirelines, or railway, and any attachments 86
thereto. 87
(2) A person who improperly tampers with critical 88
infrastructure resulting in damage to critical infrastructure 89
that is $200 or more or in the interruption or impairment of the 90
function of critical infrastructure which costs $200 or more in 91
labor and supplies to restore, commits a felony of the second 92
degree, punishable a s provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 93
775.084. 94
(3) A person who is found in a civil action to have 95
improperly tampered with critical infrastructure based on a 96
conviction for a violation of subsection (2) is liable to the 97
owner or operator of the cr itical infrastructure for damages in 98
an amount equal to three times the actual damage sustained by 99
the owner or operator due to any property damage, personal 100
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injury, or wrongful death, caused by the act or an amount equal 101
to three times any claim made agai nst the owner or operator for 102
any property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death caused 103
by the malfunction of the critical infrastructure resulting from 104
the act, whichever is greater . 105
(4) A person commits the offense of trespass on critical 106
infrastructure, a felony of the third degree, punishable as 107
provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if he or she 108
without being authorized, licensed, or invited, willfully enters 109
upon or remains on: 110
(a) A linear asset; or 111
(b) Physical critical infras tructure as to which notice 112
against entering or remaining in is given, either by actual 113
communication to the offender or by posting, fencing, or 114
cultivation as described in s. 810.011. 115
(5)(a) A person who willfully, knowingly, and without 116
authorization gains access to a computer, a computer system, a 117
computer network, or an electronic device that is owned, 118
operated, or used by any critical infrastructure entity while 119
knowing that such access is unauthorized commits a felony of the 120
third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, 121
or s. 775.084. 122
(b) A person who willfully, knowingly, and without 123
authorization physically tampers with, inserts a computer 124
contaminant into, or otherwise transmits commands or electronic 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
communications to, a compu ter, a computer system, a computer 126
network, or an electronic device that causes a disruption in any 127
service delivered by any critical infrastructure commits a 128
felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 129
775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 130
(c) For purposes of this subsection, the terms "computer," 131
"computer system," "computer network," and "electronic device" 132
have the same meanings as in s. 815.03. 133
Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024. 134