HB 2061 Kansas House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Including aboveground and belowground lines, cables and wires in the definition of a critical infrastructure facility used for telecommunications or video services for the crimes of trespassing on a critical infrastructure facility and criminal damage to a critical infrastructure facility.

HB 2061 expands the legal definition of "critical infrastructure facility" for telecommunications crimes to explicitly include aboveground and belowground lines, cables, and wires. This change directly affects telecommunications and video service providers (like Charter Communications, which requested the bill) by bringing physical infrastructure such as buried fiber optic cables and overhead power lines under existing trespassing and damage laws. The bill amends Kansas law to clarify that knowingly entering or damaging these infrastructure elements - previously not explicitly covered - constitutes trespassing or criminal damage to a critical infrastructure facility. Penalties range from misdemeanors to felonies depending on the severity, aligning physical telecom infrastructure with other critical facilities like power grids under the same legal protections.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Jan 22, 2025 Signed Apr 10, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

As Amended by House Committee on Judiciary As Amended by Senate Committee on Judiciary · 3 edits
MINOR
The Senate Committee amended the bill to reorganize the list of protected critical infrastructure facilities, shifting the order of items and updating the definition of telecommunications infrastructure to be more inclusive. The core legal penalties for damaging these facilities and the list of specific facilities protected remain substantively unchanged, though the numbering and specific phrasing for telecommunications equipment were adjusted.
Scope change
The scope of the bill remains the same regarding which facilities are protected and the penalties applied, but the definition of telecommunications infrastructure was slightly broadened to explicitly include 'any aboveground or belowground line, cable or wire' used for such services.
DEFINITION

The definition of 'critical infrastructure facility' was restructured; the telecommunications section was rewritten to explicitly include any line, cable, or wire used for wireline, broadband, or wireless services, and the lettered sub-lists (A through E) were renumbered and rephrased for clarity.

TECHNICAL

The order of the numbered list of protected facilities was changed, moving the gas processing plant and television station items to different positions in the sequence.

The original House Committee version included a specific line defining the intent to impede operations as part of the aggravated criminal damage definition, which was removed in this version and replaced with a separate line to clarify the definition.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
17
Key actions
10
Committee
4
Apr 10, 2025
Signed into law
Approved by Governor on Tuesday, April 1, 2025
lower
Mar 24, 2025
Lower · Passed
Concurred with amendments; Yea 110, Nay 12, Absent 3
lower
Mar 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
Final Action - Passed as amended; Yea 40, Nay 0
upper
Mar 17, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee of the Whole - Be passed as amended
upper
Mar 17, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee of the Whole - Committee Report be adopted
upper
Mar 11, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee Report recommending bill be passed as amended by Senate Committee on Judiciary
upper
Feb 18, 2025
Committee
Referred to Senate Committee on Judiciary
upper
Feb 17, 2025
Introduced
Received and Introduced
upper
Feb 14, 2025
Lower · Passed
Final Action - Passed as amended; Yea 104, Nay 14, Absent 7
lower
Feb 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee of the Whole - Be passed as amended
lower
Feb 13, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee of the Whole - Committee Report be adopted
lower
Feb 5, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee Report recommending bill be passed as amended by House Committee on Judiciary
lower
Jan 22, 2025
Committee
Referred to House Committee on Judiciary
lower
Jan 22, 2025
Introduced
Introduced
lower
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.