AB 1327, as amended, Gorell. Unmanned aircraft systems.
Existing federal law, the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, provides for the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, into the national airspace system by September 30, 2015. Existing federal law requires the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to develop and implement operational and certification requirements for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace system by December 31, 2015.
This bill would generally prohibit public agencies from using unmanned aircraft systems, or contracting for the use of unmanned aircraft systems, as defined, with certain exceptions applicable to law enforcement agencies and in certain other cases.
The bill would require reasonable public notice to be provided by public agencies intending to deploy unmanned aircraft systems, as specified. The bill would require images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system under these provisions to be permanently destroyed within one year, except as specified. Unless authorized by federal law, the bill would prohibit a person or entity, including a public agency subject to these provisions, or a person or entity under contract to a public agency, for the purpose of that contract, from equipping or arming an unmanned aircraft system with a weapon or other device that may be carried by or launched from an unmanned aircraft system and that is intended to cause bodily injury or death, or damage to, or the destruction of, real or personal property.
The bill would make its provisions applicable to all public and private entities when contracting with a public agency for the use of an unmanned aircraft system.
Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make public records available for inspection, subject to certain exceptions.
This bill would make certain images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system under its provisions, or anybegin insert relatedend insert record, including, but not limited to, usage logs or logs that identify any person or entity that subsequently obtains or requests records of that system, subject to disclosure. The bill wouldbegin delete preventend deletebegin insert except from the disclosure requirements discussed aboveend insert images, footage, data, and records obtained through the use of an unmanned
aircraft systembegin delete by a law enforcement agency pursuant to a warrant based on probable cause, and images, footage, data, and records that pertain to a pending criminal investigation, from being subject to disclosure.end deletebegin insert if disclosure would endanger the safety of a person involved in a criminal investigation, or would endanger the successful completion of the criminal investigation.end insert
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
end insertbegin insertThis bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
end insertVote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 6254.31 is added to the Government
2Code, to read:
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter,
4images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned
5aircraft system pursuant tobegin delete subdivisions (c) or (d) of Section 14350end delete
6begin insert Title 14 (commencing with Section 14350) of Part 4end insert of the Penal
7Code, or anybegin insert relatedend insert record, including, but not limited to, usage
8logs or logs that identify any person or entity that subsequently
9obtains or requests records of that system, are public records
10subject to disclosure.
11(b) Notwithstandingbegin delete any provision of this chapter,end deletebegin insert subdivision
12(a), nothing in this chapter or any other law requires the disclosure
13ofend insert images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an
14unmanned aircraft system, or anybegin insert relatedend insert record, including, but
15not limited to, usage logs or logs that identify any person or entity
16that subsequently obtains or requests records of that system,begin delete are begin insert
to the extent that disclosure of the images, footage, data,
17not public records subject to disclosure in both of the following
18instances:end delete
19or records would endanger the safety of a person involved in a
20criminal investigation, or would endanger the successful
21completion of the criminal investigation.end insert
22(1) If the unmanned aircraft system was used pursuant to
23subdivision (b) of Section 14350 of the Penal Code.
24(2) If the images, footage, data, or records pertain to a pending
25criminal investigation.
Title 14 (commencing with Section 14350) is added
27to Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
28
(a) A public agency shall not use an unmanned aircraft
32system, or contract for the use of an unmanned aircraft system,
P4 1except as provided in this title. This title shall apply to all public
2and private entities when contracting with a public agency for the
3use of an unmanned aircraft system.
4(b) A law enforcement agency may use an unmanned aircraft
5system if it has obtained a warrant based on probable cause
6pursuant to this code.
7(c) (1) A law enforcement agency, without obtaining a warrant,
8may use an unmanned aircraft system in emergency situations if
9there is an imminent threat to
life or of great bodily harm,
10including, but not limited to, fires, hostage crises, “hot pursuit”
11situations if reasonably necessary to prevent harm to law
12enforcement officers or others, and search and rescue operations
13on land or water.
14(2) A law enforcement agency, without obtaining a warrant,
15may use an unmanned aircraft system to assess the necessity of
16first responders in situations relating to traffic accidents,begin insert andend insert to
17inspect state parks and wilderness areas for illegalbegin delete vegetation,end delete
18begin insert vegetationend insert or fires.
19(d) begin delete(1)end deletebegin delete end deleteA
public agency other than a law enforcement agency
20may use an unmanned aircraft system, or contract for the use of
21an unmanned aircraft system, to achieve the core mission of the
22agency provided that the purpose is unrelated to the gathering of
23criminal intelligence.
24(2) Except as permitted by this title and when a law enforcement
25agency is not required to obtain a warrant as specified in this title,
26data collected pursuant to this subdivision shall not be disseminated
27to a law enforcement agency unless the agency has obtained a
28warrant for the data based on probable cause pursuant to this code.
A public agency that uses an unmanned aircraft system,
30or contracts for the use of an unmanned aircraft system, pursuant
31to this title shall first provide reasonable notice to the public.
32Reasonable notice shall, at a minimum, consist of a one-time
33announcement regarding the agency’s intent to deploy unmanned
34aircraft system technology and a description of the technology’s
35capabilities.
(a) begin insert(1)end insertbegin insert end insert Except as permitted by this title, images,
37footage, or data obtained by a publicbegin delete agency, or any entity
38contracting with a public agency, through the use of an unmanned
39aircraft system shall not be disseminated outside the collecting
40public agency, and shall not be used by the public agency for any
P5 1purpose other than that for which it was collected. Images, footage,
2or data obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system
3shall be permanently destroyed within
one year, except that a public
4agency may retain the images, footage, or data for the purposes of
5training, academic research, teaching, and monitoring material
6assets owned by the public agency, and shall retain any image,
7footage, or data if a warrant authorized its collection or if the
8images, footage, or data are evidence in any claim filed or any
9pending litigation.end delete
10agency, pursuant to this title shall not be disseminated to a law
11enforcement agency unless the law enforcement agency has
12obtained a warrant for the images, footage, or data based on
13probable cause pursuant to this code, or the law enforcement
14agency would not have been required to obtain a warrant to collect
15the
images, footage, or data itself, as specified in subdivision (c)
16of Section 14350.end insert
17(2) Except as permitted by this title, images, footage, or data
18obtained by a public agency, or any entity contracting with a public
19agency, through the use of an unmanned aircraft system shall not
20be disseminated outside the collecting public agency, unless one
21of the following circumstances applies:
22(A) Images, footage, or data obtained by a public agency
23through the use of an unmanned aircraft system may be
24disseminated to another public agency that is not a law
25enforcement agency if the images, footage, or data are related to
26the core mission of both public agencies involved in the
sending
27or receiving of the images, footage, or data.
28(B) Images, footage, or data obtained by a public agency
29through the use of an unmanned aircraft system may be
30disseminated outside the collecting public agency if the images,
31footage, or data are evidence in any claim filed or any pending
32litigation.
33(C) Images, footage, or data obtained by a public agency
34through the use of an unmanned aircraft system may be
35disseminated to a private entity if both of the following conditions
36are satisfied:
37(i) The collecting public agency is not a law enforcement agency.
end insertbegin insert
38(ii) The images, footage, or data are related to the core function
39of the collecting public agency.
P6 1(b) Except as permitted by this title, images, footage, or data
2obtained by a public agency through the use of an unmanned
3aircraft system shall not be used by the public agency for any
4purpose other than that for which it was collected.
5(c) (1) Images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an
6
unmanned aircraft system shall be permanently destroyed within
7one year, except that a public agency may retain the images,
8footage, or data in all of the following circumstances:
9(b)
end delete
10begin insert(A)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertFor training purposes.end insert Images, footage, or data retained for
11training purposes shall be used only for the education and
12instruction ofbegin delete anend deletebegin insert a publicend insert
agency’s employees in matters related
13to the mission of thebegin insert publicend insert agency and for no other purpose.
14(c)
end delete
15begin insert(B)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertFor academic research or teaching purposes.end insert Images,
16footage, or data retained for academic research or teaching purposes
17shall be used only for the advancement of research and teaching
18conducted by California’s public colleges and universities and
19matters related to the mission of the institution and for no other
20purpose.
21(C) For purposes of monitoring material assets owned by the
22public agency.
23(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a public agency shall retain
24images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned
25aircraft system in both of the following circumstances:
26(A) If a warrant authorized the collection of the images, footage,
27or data.
28(B) If the images, footage, or data are evidence in any claim
29filed or any pending litigation.
Unless authorized by federal law, a person or entity,
31including a public agency subject to Section 14350 or a person or
32entity under contract to a public agency, for the purpose of that
33contract, shall not equip or arm an unmanned aircraft system with
34a weapon or other device that may be carried by or launched from
35an unmanned aircraft system and that is intended to cause bodily
36injury or death, or damage to, or the destruction of, real or personal
37property.
All unmanned aircraft systems shall be operated so as
39to minimize the collection of images, footage, or data of persons,
40places, or things not specified with particularity in the warrant
P7 1authorizing the use of an unmanned aircraft system, or, if no
2warrant was obtained, for purposes unrelated to the justification
3for the operation.
(a) This title is not intended to conflict with or
5supersede federal law, including rules and regulations of the
6Federal Aviation Administration.
7(b) A local legislative body may adopt more restrictive policies
8on the acquisition or use of unmanned aircraft systems.
For the purposes of this title, the following definitions
10shall apply:
11(a) “Criminal intelligence” means information compiled,
12analyzed, or disseminated in an effort to anticipate, prevent,
13monitor, or investigate criminal activity.
14(b) “Law enforcement agency” means the Attorney General of
15the State of California, each district attorney, and each agency of
16the State of California authorized by statute to investigate or
17prosecute law violators.
18(c) “Public agency” means and includes each state agency and
19each local agency.
20(d) “Unmanned aircraft system” means an unmanned aircraft
21and associated elements, including communication links and the
22components that control the unmanned aircraft, that are required
23for the pilot in command to operate safely and efficiently in the
24national airspace system.
The surveillance restrictions on electronic devices
26pursuant to Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 630) of Title
2715 of Part 1 shall apply to unmanned aircraft systems.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
29this act, which adds Section 6254.31 of the Government Code,
30imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings
31of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies
32within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California
33Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the
34Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest
35protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that
36interest:
37In order to ensure the safety of persons
involved in criminal
38investigations and to preserve the integrity of those investigations,
39it is necessary that this act take effect.
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