criminal damage; trespassing; critical facilities

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms or fiscal impacts, leaving some aspects of the bill's implementation uncertain.

Criminal Damage; Trespassing; Critical Facilities

HB2205 classifies interfering with utility infrastructure as aggravated criminal damage and updates penalties for damaging critical facilities.

What This Bill Does

• Defines interfering with or preventing the normal function of any utility infrastructure or property, or the intended course or path of a utility service, as aggravated criminal damage.
• Includes the cost of lost utility services in calculating damages when determining the severity of criminal damage.
• Updates penalties for damaging critical facilities to reflect different levels of felony based on the amount and type of damage.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who commit aggravated criminal damage by interfering with utility infrastructure or property.
• Utility companies and other entities that own critical infrastructure.

Terms To Know

aggravated criminal damage

A more serious form of criminal damage, involving intentional or reckless actions without permission that cause significant harm to property or disrupt essential services.

utility

An enterprise, public or private, providing gas, electric, irrigation, steam, water, sewer, communications services, and common carriers on land, rail, sea, or air.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the exact fiscal impact to the state General Fund.
• It is unclear how this legislation will be enforced in practice.

Official Summary Text

HB2205 - 572R - Senate Fact Sheet

Assigned to
JUDE������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ FOR
COMMITTEE

ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Fifty-Seventh
Legislature, Second Regular Session

FACT SHEET FOR
H.B. 2205

criminal damage; trespassing;
critical facilities

Purpose

Classifies
interfering with or preventing the performance of a normal function of any
utility infrastructure or property, or the intended course or path of any
utility service, as
aggravated criminal damage
.

Background

A person commits

aggravated criminal damage
by intentionally or recklessly, and without
the express permission of the owner: 1) defacing, damaging or in any way
changing the appearance of any building, structure, personal property or place
used for worship or any religious purpose;

2) defacing or damaging any building, structure or place used as a school or as
an educational facility; 3) defacing, damaging or tampering with any cemetery,
mortuary or personal property of the cemetery or mortuary or other facility
used for the purpose of burial or memorializing the dead; or 4) defacing,
damaging or tampering with any utility or agricultural infrastructure or
property, construction site or existing structure for the purpose of obtaining
nonferrous metals.
Aggravated criminal damage
ranges from a class 6
felony to a class 3 felony, depending on the amount of damage and type of
property or object damaged (
A.R.S.
� 13-1604
).

����������� A person commits
criminal
damage
by: 1) recklessly defacing or damaging property of another person;
2) recklessly tampering with property of another person in a manner that
substantially impairs its function or value; 3) recklessly damaging property of
a utility;

4) recklessly and physically obstructing a passageway in such a manner as to
deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water; 5)
recklessly drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made
on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground, and
that is made without permission of the owner; or 6) intentionally tampering
with utility property.
Criminal damage
ranges from a class 2 misdemeanor
to a class 4 felony, based on the amount and type of damage (
A.R.S.
� 13-1602
).

Utility
means
any enterprise, public or private, that provides gas, electric, irrigation,
steam, water, water conservation, sewer or communications services, as well as
any common carrier on land, rail, sea or air (
A.R.S.
� 13-1601
).

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund
associated with this legislation.

Provisions

1.

Classifies interfering with or preventing the performance of a normal
function of any utility infrastructure or property, or the intended course or
path of any utility service, as
aggravated criminal damage
.

2.

Adds the cost of the loss of a utility service to the list of damages used
to determine the amount of damage to property.

3.

Makes technical changes.

4.

Becomes effective on the general effective date.

House Action

JUD���������������� 2/4/26������� DP������ 6-2-0-1

3
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Read��������� 2/24/26����������������� 31-25-4

Prepared by Senate Research

March 6, 2026

ZD/KS/ci

Current Bill Text

HB2205 - 572R - H Ver

House Engrossed

criminal damage;
trespassing; critical facilities

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HOUSE BILL 2205

AN
ACT

amending section 13-1604, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to criminal penalties.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 13-1604, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
13-1604.

Aggravated criminal damage; classification

A. A person commits aggravated criminal damage by
intentionally or recklessly without the express permission of the owner:

1. Defacing, damaging or in any way changing the
appearance of any building, structure, personal property or place used for
worship or any religious purpose.

2. Defacing or damaging any building, structure or
place used as a school or as an educational facility.

3. Defacing, damaging or tampering with any
cemetery, mortuary or personal property of the cemetery or mortuary or other
facility used for the purpose of burial or memorializing the dead.

4. Defacing, damaging or tampering with any utility
or agricultural infrastructure or property, construction site or existing
structure for the purpose of obtaining nonferrous metals
or
interfering with or otherwise preventing the performance of a normal function
of any utility infrastructure or property or the intended course or path of any
utility service
.

B. Aggravated criminal damage is punishable as
follows:

1. If the person intentionally or recklessly does
any act described in subsection A of this section that causes damage to the
property of another in an amount of
ten thousand dollars

$10,000
or more, aggravated criminal damage:

(a) Resulting from actions described in subsection
A, paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of this section is a class 4 felony.

(b) Resulting from actions described in subsection
A, paragraph 4 of this section is a class 3 felony.

2. If the person intentionally or recklessly damages
property of another in an amount of
one thousand five hundred
dollars

$1,500
or more but less than
ten thousand dollars
$10,000
, aggravated
criminal damage:

(a) Resulting from actions described in subsection
A, paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of this section is a class 5 felony.

(b) Resulting from actions described in subsection
A, paragraph 4 of this section is a class 4

felony.

3. In all other cases aggravated criminal damage is:

(a) A class 6 felony if it results from actions
described in subsection A, paragraph 1, 2 or 3 of this section.

(b) A class 5 felony if it results from actions
described in subsection A, paragraph 4 of this section.

C. In determining the
amount of damage to property, damages include the cost of repair or replacement
of the property that was damaged,
the cost of the loss of the
utility service,
the cost of the loss of crops and livestock, reasonable
labor costs of any kind, reasonable material costs of any kind and any
reasonable costs that are attributed to equipment that is used to abate or
repair the damage to the property.
END_STATUTE