Congress criminalizes broadband sabotage, treating internet as critical infrastructure.
H.R. 2784 — Stopping the Theft and Destruction of Broadband Act of 2025 · Filed by Laurel Lee (R-FL) · 27 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal criminal law to make it illegal to destroy or damage broadband internet infrastructure. It expands an existing statute that criminalizes destruction of communications facilities to explicitly include broadband networks and adds a definition of broadband service that covers mass-market retail internet access by wire or radio, as well as any service the FCC determines is functionally equivalent.
Why we flagged it
The bill straightforwardly extends criminal penalties for destruction of communications infrastructure to explicitly cover broadband networks, treating internet access as critical infrastructure worthy of the same legal protection as telephone lines and power grids.
What the text implies
- Broadband providers may face increased liability exposure if their infrastructure is damaged by third parties, potentially shifting security costs to carriers.
- The FCC's authority to determine 'functional equivalents' of broadband service creates regulatory flexibility but also potential for scope creep in what counts as protected infrastructure.
- Criminal penalties may apply to protest activities, civil disobedience, or sabotage targeting broadband infrastructure in ways that existing law did not explicitly cover.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens depend on broadband infrastructure for work, education, healthcare, and emergency services. Criminalizing destruction of that infrastructure protects public access to essential services and deters sabotage or vandalism that could harm entire communities.
Who stands to gain
- broadband service providers
- telecommunications infrastructure companies
Named in the bill
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 18 U.S.C. § 1362, broadband internet access service providers
Where it stands
27 cosponsors: 16 Republicans, 10 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- Apr 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
13 lobbying clients named this bill on 22 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $22,870,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 94% of bills with at least one filing.
Laurel Lee, the sponsor, reported $910,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $15,000 of that came from 2 PACs tied to these lobbying clients.
- Ncta - the Internet & Television Association — $6,870,000 on 2 filings
- Comcast Corporation — $6,210,000 on 2 filings
- Charter Communications Inc — $5,020,000 on 2 filings
- Lumen Technologies, Inc. — $1,480,000 on 2 filings
- United States Telecom Assn — $1,340,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,165 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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