California lawmakers are pushing again for state restrictions on drone flights, unwilling to leave the issue to the federal government and hopeful that Gov. Jerry Brown will side with them this year.
The Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday approved legislation that would ban drones near airports and critical infrastructure over the objections of a burgeoning drone industry, technology groups and business interests.
“We must develop some kind of approach to addressing this very exciting, but also very potentially dangerous technology,” bill author Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, told the panel.
SB 868 is Jackson’s second attempt to regulate drones in California’s skies after Gov. Jerry Brown last year vetoed legislation that would have banned drones over private property. In his veto message, he said the measure would have exposed drone users “to burdensome litigation and new causes of action.”
Over the last few years, drones have grounded firefighting aircraft, crashed into buildings and come too close to commercial aircraft, including a near-miss last month of a Lufthansa plane landing at Los Angeles International Airport.
The often noisy drones are also impacting wildlife, affecting animals’ migratory patterns, breeding habits and habitats, said Jena Price, legislative affairs manager at the California League of Conservation Voters. The bill would ban drones over state parks and wildlife refuges.
SB 868 also would make it illegal to fly a drone within 500 feet of critical infrastructure, such as bridges, power plants, hospitals, water delivery systems, and oil refineries. Drones wouldn’t be allowed within 1,000 feet of a heliport or 5 miles of an airport unless given permission.
Critics say such restrictions should be left to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is currently drafting rules for unmanned vehicles and already has the 5-mile limit around airports. And they warn Jackson’s bill would hamper a nascent industry with “a complicated hodgepodge of laws” that could “erode, rather than enhance, safety.”
“Indeed the law is clear — only the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can regulate the national airspace; states and municipalities cannot,” Brian Wynne, president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International wrote in an opposition letter.
In addition, the California Manufacturers & Technology Association has expressed concern the proposed rules would deter innovation and investment in California by imposing technology-specific criminal offenses and penalties and the heavy regulatory burden of liability insurance.
Jackson dismissed concerns that California would be preempted by the federal regulations, telling lawmakers “the FAA doesn’t control everything, and the state has its responsibilities.” She also downplayed the effect of her bill on commercial drone flights, which companies like Amazon, Google and Walmart would like to use to deliver packages to their customers within the next few years.
Under the bill, violators could be charged with an infraction up to $250, fined up to $1,000, or jailed for up to six months. And commercial operators would need liability insurance, a mandate the insurance industry says is not yet available.
“Nearly every day we hear of another potentially dangerous or destructive incident involving a drone,” Jackson said. “We simply cannot wait for disaster to strike before setting clear, common-sense rules that provide certainty for everyone while keeping the public safe.”
