HBA-BSM C.S.S.B. 917 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 917
By: Shapiro
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/22/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under  current law, there are no provisions in regard to computer crime
that permit aggregation  of benefits obtained by the perpetrator when a
victim is defrauded or harmed or a computer, program, or network is
altered, damaged, or deleted.  As a consequence, a person may have
committed multiple violations as part of one scheme or one continuing
course of conduct but may only be charged and found guilty of one separate
offense for each discrete violation.   C.S.S.B.  917 permits the
aggregation of damages or losses incurred in a breach of computer security
when those multiple violations are part of one scheme or one continuing
course of conduct. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 917 amends the Penal Code to provide that when benefits are
obtained, a victim is defrauded or harmed, or property is altered, damaged,
or deleted in committing an offense of breach of computer security, whether
or not in a single incident, the conduct may be considered as one offense
and the value of the benefits obtained and of the losses incurred because
of the fraud or harm or the alteration, damage, or deletion of property may
be aggregated in determining the grade of the offense. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.S.B. 917 differs from the original by not amending the definition of
"aggregate amount" to specify that it means any direct or indirect loss and
any expenditure by the victim to verify that a computer, network, or
program was affected by the offense rather than one or the other.