SB1646

Damage, theft and possession: The new criminal-mischief provision makes an offense a third-degree felony when the specified damage or destruction also impairs or interrupts the facility or its equipment/wires. It covers a copper/brass facility component and equipment or communications wires connected to that component or needed for the facility to function, including equipment/wires outside a fence. The theft provision raises qualifying state-jail, third-degree and second-degree felony theft one category when copper or brass is taken from defined infrastructure or related equipment/wires. The increase applies to the categories identified in Section 31.03(e)(4)–(6), not a new dollar threshold written in this act. Final law.

The new possession offense requires intentional or knowing possession of specified copper/brass material without statutory authorization. Owners, utilities/common carriers, qualifying telecommunications, cable and video providers, ordinary-course sellers, documented carriers-for-hire, registered recyclers, lawful construction/remodeling/demolition/salvage businesses, and their authorized agents can qualify. A person who knows the material was unlawfully obtained cannot use these authorizations. The definition includes utility-type inverters, bus bars, wire/cable and qualifying construction/utility copper or brass items; it is broader than the new recycling-record definition below. Final law.

Unauthorized possession is normally a state-jail felony. It becomes a third-degree felony for material unlawfully obtained from critical infrastructure, specified prior convictions involving this offense or copper/brass crime, specified conspiracy or organized-crime conduct connected to the offense, or firearm possession during it. The act allows prosecution under this and another applicable law. It also adds specified criminal-mischief and unauthorized-possession conduct to the organized-crime statute, but that statute’s combination/gang/organization and intent requirements still apply; not every copper offense automatically becomes organized crime. Final law.

“Critical infrastructure” has a detailed new Penal Code definition. Listed refineries, power/water/communications facilities, transportation facilities, certain manufacturing and gas facilities, high-hazard dams, concentrated animal-feeding operations, and specified emergency-communications components need a qualifying enclosure or posted no-entry signs. Listed aboveground pipelines and oil/gas sites in the second group require an enclosure. The outside-equipment/wire language does not erase the definition’s facility conditions. This act does not amend the separate drone-law facility definition. Final law.

Recycling transactions: New Subchapter C-2 reaches purchases from businesses selling material in the ordinary course of their business, which were otherwise described in the chapter’s exemption. Its narrower material definition excludes general construction/utility items under Section 1956.001(4)(B), copper pipe/tubing under (C), and common household wire/cable. The seller must have acquired the covered material in the ordinary course of business; any individual representing it must have apparent authority and act within that authority. Existing Subchapter A-3 requirements, including rules for other sellers, are not displaced. Final law.

A recycler must record the covered material’s weight using trade practice, the selling business’s name, the transaction date, and—if communications wire was burned to remove insulation—acceptable documentation that it was salvaged from a fire. Records must be kept for two years, easily retrievable and available for inspection within 72 hours of purchase/acquisition. Existing routine business records can suffice if complete. Peace officers, DPS and qualifying local permit authorities may enter and inspect during usual business hours. Knowing or intentional failure to maintain required records is a Class A misdemeanor. The Public Safety Commission may impose an administrative penalty up to $10,000 for record violations or a purchase restriction violation resulting from failure to exercise due diligence; it is not an automatic $10,000 charge for every transaction. Final law.

Local governments generally cannot add transaction/possession restrictions for the covered business sellers or alter these record requirements. Local permits and inspection authority remain. The law also preserves the specified portion of a municipal ordinance in effect on March 1, 2025 requiring additional records to a searchable online law-enforcement database. DPS must develop identification/training materials with recyclers, communications industries, law enforcement, prosecutors and other stakeholders, with industry examples. It must study the effect of these and similar regulations on theft and examine recycler cooperation at least every three years, first by September 1, 2028, and post a report. Implementing rules were due January 1, 2026; this review does not establish whether those rules or training have actually been completed. Final law.

How it changed: The Senate substitute added the outside-wire/equipment language, carrier transport documentation, training, fire-salvage documentation rather than the introduced manufacturer-marking record proposal, the protected municipal database ordinance provision and a January 2026 rule deadline. King’s adopted Senate amendment added bus bars, industry examples, the recurring study, weight rather than volume, narrower recycling-material exclusions, seller-plus-agent requirements and clearer organized-crime cross-references. These changes survived. Introduced; Senate substitute; Senate-passed; King amendment; Final law.

The House substitute moved the infrastructure definition into the Penal Code, retained the existing Section 31.03(h)(8) provision that earlier versions would repeal, and applied the September offense-date transition to all Penal Code changes. Hefner’s adopted House amendment changed the damage provision from damage to a copper/brass component of equipment to the stated equipment/wires connected to a facility component or needed by the facility. Both indexed floor amendments were adopted; the Senate concurred in the House changes on May 20. No rejected floor amendment is indexed. House substitute; Hefner amendment; Final law; Version index; All indexed amendments.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Infrastructure operators and customers could benefit from fewer thefts and service interruptions, and records could help investigators trace stolen material. The act does not prove that crime or outages have already fallen. Recyclers and legitimate sellers face documentation and compliance burdens; the law also requires DPS to make training materials available, while affected defendants face new or higher criminal penalties. The ordinary-owner/business authorizations, narrower transaction definition and retained local exceptions limit the reach of the law; they are not blanket immunity for knowingly handling unlawfully obtained material. Final law.

The May 15 final fiscal note says overall state and local costs cannot be determined because the prevalence of affected conduct is unknown. Courts and correctional systems could face additional workload, supervision and confinement; court-cost revenue may rise but is not quantified. DPS anticipated no significant fiscal impact for its own responsibilities, which is not an estimate of zero cost for the whole law. There is no dollar total, multiyear savings table or appropriation in this act. The criminal-justice statement’s existing theft/mischief caseload figures are broad historical totals, not a forecast of new copper cases. Final fiscal note; Criminal-justice statement; Final law.