Each week during the 2024 state sessions, this newsletter will provide updates on the legislative actions taking place in statehouses across the country.
About Drone Prepared and AAM Prepared: AUVSI’s Prepared initiatives work to ensure that states and localities are ready for the benefits that uncrewed and autonomous flight will bring to their communities.
- What we're up to: This week, our Drone Prepared model legislation was introduced as Senate Bill 169 in South Dakota. We have been working with Senator Johnson and Senator Foster on this bill and are excited to see it formally introduced.
- By the numbers: In statehouses nationwide this week, there were 12 new measures, five measures with committee activity, and two measures with floor activity. There are five measures scheduled for committee hearings in the next week.
- Florida House Bill 7049 – Requires the long-range 20-year transportation plan to include AAM and autonomous/electric vehicles. Companion to SB 1032.?
- Hawaii House Bill 1959 – Establishes the Aerospace and Aeronautics development program. Companion to SB 2081.?
- Hawaii House Bill 1869 - Establishes the felony misuse of unmanned aircraft in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees. Companion to SB 2194.??
- Hawaii House Bill 2014 – Prohibits the use of a location tracker to harass, stalk, or perpetuate a crime against another person, includes UAS in the definition of location tracker. Companion to SB 2310.?
- Iowa House File 2090 – Clarifies that an emergency use proclamation may not authorize the use of any UAS or advanced robotics to enforce the proclamation. Companion to SF 2030.?
- Illinois Senate Bill 2849 Allows a local government unit to adopt rules related to the use of the first 150 feet of airspace above publicly owned or controlled property intended or permitted for recreational or conservation purposes.??
- Oklahoma House Bill 3068 – Prohibits the operation and purchase of UAS from covered foreign entities by public agencies. Includes a two-year transition period.?
- Oklahoma House Bill 3672 - Modifies language to include vertiports as municipally owned air facilities. Allows for the creation of a statewide plan to provide the framework for the development of vertiports and other AAM infrastructure.?
- Oklahoma House Bill 3146 - Prohibits a law enforcement agency from using a drone to gather evidence and prohibits the use of a drone with an imaging device to record private property or individual with the intent to conduct surveillance. Provides exceptions, including for a licensed business, to deliver cargo, for aerial mapping, and for the navigation of a drone.??
- South Dakota Senate Bill 169 – Drone Prepared Model Legislation. Permits the commercial and recreational operation of a drone, provides for preemption.?
- Utah Senate Bill 135 - Clarifies that the funds from UAS registration fees may only be used for related infrastructure; includes public use vertiports in definition of airport; allows a highway authority to lease the navigable airspace above a highway; prohibits the purchase of drones from a covered foreign entity by public agencies.??
- West Virginia House Bill 5072 – Prohibits public entities from purchasing drones from covered foreign entities; establishes a Drone Replacement Grant Program.??
- Florida Senate Bill 1362 – This measure was amended and passed the Senate Transportation Committee. It requires the DOT to address for and plan for the needs for the integration of AAM.?
- Florida House Bill 1301 - This measure was amended and passed the House Transportation and Modals Subcommittee. It creates a grant program for funding to develop and establish vertiports in the State.??
- Florida House Bill 981 – This measure was amended and passed the House Transportation and Modals Committee.??
- Florida House Bill 1425 – This measure passed the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. It applies critical infrastructure UAS restrictions to moderate-risk residential facilities.??
- West Virginia House Bill 4825 – This measure was amended and passed the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. It prohibits law enforcement from searching private lands without a warrant, including through a UAV.??
- Indiana Senate Bill 182 – This measure passed the Senate by a unanimous vote. It clarifies that trafficking with an inmate includes delivering, carrying, or receiving through a UAS.?
- Indiana Senate Bill 189 – This measure was amended and passed the Senate by a vote of 41-5. It allows the use of UAS to locate and recover legally taken animals.??
- Maryland Senate Bill 273 – This measure is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Proceedings Committee on February 6th. It prohibits the intentional photography or image capture of a correctional facility and the delivery of contraband through a UAS.?
- Maryland House Bill 303 – This measure is scheduled for a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on January 30th. It prohibits a unit of the State from conducting persistent aerial surveillance to gather evidence in a criminal investigation unless certain circumstances are met.?
- New Hampshire Senate Bill 460 – This measure is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 30th. It provides penalties for operating a UAS in violation of FAA or state regulations, to interfere with emergency response operations, to interfere with a human-occupied aircraft or airport, in FAA restricted airspace over a correctional facility/to deliver contraband, and to possess or equipe a sUAS with a firearm of projectile.??
- Tennessee House Bill 1620 – This measure is scheduled for a hearing in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on January 30th. It removes the termination date for Chapter 462 of the Public Acts of 2021, allowing a law enforcement agency to continue to use a drone to search for and collect evidence or obtain information with the consent of a private property owner, in case of a natural emergency, or to investigate a crime that is occurring or has occurred.??
- Tennesse Senate Bill 1645 – This measure is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 30th. It is the companion to the above bill.??
January 31st: Introduction deadline for South Dakota and New Mexico; deadline to pass remaining 2023 bills out of chamber of origin in California.
Elizabeth Sila is Manager, Government Affairs at AUVSI.
