Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 540, Sec. 2. (SB 394) Effective January 1, 2026.
A utility may bring a civil action for damages against any person who commits, authorizes, solicits, aids, abets, or attempts any of the following acts:
(a)Diverts, or causes to be diverted, utility services by any means whatsoever.
(b)Makes, or causes to be made, any connection or reconnection with property owned or used by the utility to provide utility service without the authorization or consent of the utility.
(c)Prevents any utility meter, or other device used in determining the charge for utility services, from accurately performing its measuring function by tampering or
by any other means.
(d)Tampers with any property owned or used by the utility to provide utility services.
(e)Uses or receives the direct benefit of all, or a portion, of the utility service with knowledge of, or reason to believe that, the diversion, tampering, or unauthorized connection existed at the time of the use, or that the use or receipt, was without the authorization or consent of the utility.
(f)(1) Tampers with a fire hydrant, fire hydrant meter, or fire detector check, or
connects to, diverts water from, or causes water to be diverted from, a fire hydrant without authorization from the utility that owns the fire hydrant.
(2)A public agency having firefighting or emergency response responsibilities during a fire, or a qualified insurance resource, as defined in Section 1139 of the Labor Code, with approval from incident command or the authority having jurisdiction over the active fire incident, shall be considered to have authorization from the utility that owns the fire hydrant during an active fire incident.
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