Florida 2024 2024 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0275 Enrolled / Bill

Filed 02/28/2024

                            
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CS/CS/CS/HB 275  	2024 Legislature 
 
 
 
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      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 F lorida: 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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 2.  Any of the following for which the owner or operator 26 
thereof has employed measures designed to exclude unauthorized 27 
persons, including, but not limited to, fences, barriers, guard 28 
posts, or signs prohibiting trespass: 29 
 a.  An electric power generation, transmission, or 30 
distribution facility, or a substation, a switching station, or 31 
an electrical control center. 32 
 b.  A chemical or rubber ma nufacturing or storage facility. 33 
 c.  A mining facility. 34 
 d.  A natural gas or compressed gas compressor station or 35 
storage facility.  36 
 e.  A gas processing plant, including a plant used in the 37 
processing, treatment, or fractionation of natural gas. 38 
 f.  A liquid natural gas or propane gas terminal or storage 39 
facility with a capacity of 4,000 gallons or more. 40 
 g.  A wireless or wired communications facility, including 41 
the tower, antennae, support structures, and all associated 42 
ground-based equipment. 43 
 h.  A water intake structure, water treatment facility, 44 
wastewater treatment plant, pump station, or lift station. 45 
 i.  A seaport listed in s. 311.09. 46 
 j.  A railroad switching yard, trucking terminal, or other 47 
freight transportation facility. 48 
 k.  An airport as defined in s. 330.27. 49 
 l.  A spaceport territory as defined in s. 331.303. 50          
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 m.  A transmission facility used by a federally licensed 51 
radio or television station. 52 
 n.  A military base or military facility conducting 53 
research and development of milita ry weapons systems, 54 
subsystems, components, or parts. 55 
 o.  A civilian defense industrial base conducting research 56 
and development of military weapons systems, subsystems, 57 
components, or parts. 58 
 p.  A dam as defined in s. 373.403(1), or other water 59 
control structures such as locks, floodgates, or dikes that are 60 
designed to maintain or control the level of navigable 61 
waterways. 62 
 (b)  "Improperly tampers" means to cause, or attempt to 63 
cause, significant damage to, or a significant interruption or 64 
impairment of a function of, critical infrastructure without 65 
permission or authority to do so. 66 
 (c)  "Linear asset" means any electric distribution or 67 
transmission asset, oil or gas distribution or transmission 68 
pipeline, communication wirelines, or railway, and any 69 
attachments thereto. 70 
 (2)  A person commits a felony of the second degree, 71 
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, 72 
if he or she knowingly and intentionally improperly tampers with 73 
critical infrastructure which results in: 74 
 (a)  Damage to such critical infrastructure that is $200 or 75          
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more; or 76 
 (b)  The interruption or impairment of the function of such 77 
critical infrastructure which costs $200 or more in labor and 78 
supplies to restore. 79 
 (3)  A person who is found in a civil action to have 80 
improperly tampered with critical infrastructure based on a 81 
conviction for a violation of subsection (2) is liable to the 82 
owner or operator of the critical infrastructure for damages in 83 
an amount equal to three times the actual damage sustained by 84 
the owner or operator due to any property damage, personal 85 
injury, or wrongful death, caused by the act or an amount equal 86 
to three times any claim the owner or operator was required to 87 
pay for any property damage, personal injury, or wrongful death 88 
caused by the malfunction of the critical infrastructure 89 
resulting from the act, whichever is greater . 90 
 (4)  A person commits the offense of trespass on critical 91 
infrastructure, a felony of the third degree, punishable as 92 
provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084 , if he or she 93 
without being authorized, licensed, or invited, willfully enters 94 
upon or remains on critical infrastructure as to which notice 95 
against entering or remaining in is given, either by actual 96 
communication to the offender or by posting, fencing, or 97 
cultivation as described in s. 810.011. 98 
 (5)(a)  A person who willfully, knowingly, and without 99 
authorization gains access to a computer, a computer system, a 100          
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computer network, or an electronic device that is owned, 101 
operated, or used by any critical inf rastructure entity while 102 
knowing that such access is unauthorized commits a felony of the 103 
third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, 104 
or s. 775.084. 105 
 (b)  A person who willfully, knowingly, and without 106 
authorization physically tampers w ith, inserts a computer 107 
contaminant into, or otherwise transmits commands or electronic 108 
communications to, a computer, a computer system, a computer 109 
network, or an electronic device that causes a disruption in any 110 
service delivered by any critical infrastr ucture commits a 111 
felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 112 
775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. 113 
 (c)  For purposes of this subsection, the terms "computer," 114 
"computer system," "computer network," and "electronic device" 115 
have the same meaning s as in s. 815.03. 116 
 Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2024. 117