BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1680|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1680
Author: Rodriguez (D)
Amended: 5/5/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/21/16
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/9/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Crimes: emergency personnel
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill makes it a misdemeanor to use a drone to
impede specified emergency personnel in the performance of their
duties while coping with an emergency.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)States that every person who willfully resists, delays, or
obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency
medical technician, as specified, in the discharge or attempt
to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment, is
guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Code § 148 (a).)
2)Specifies that the fact that a person takes a photograph or
makes an audio or video recording of a public officer or peace
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Page 2
officer, while the officer is in a public place or the person
taking the photograph or making the recording is in a place he
or she has the right to be, does not constitute, in and of
itself, a violation of resisting, delaying or obstructing an
officer, nor does it constitute reasonable suspicion to detain
the person or probable cause to arrest the person. (Penal Code
§ 148 (g).)
3)States that every person who willfully commits any of the
following acts at the burning of a building or at any other
time and place where any fireman or firemen or emergency
rescue personnel are discharging or attempting to discharge an
official duty, is guilty of a misdemeanor: (a) resists or
interferes with the lawful efforts of any fireman or firemen
or emergency rescue personnel in the discharge or attempt to
discharge an official duty; (b) disobeys the lawful orders of
any fireman or public officer; (c) engages in any disorderly
conduct which delays or prevents a fire from being timely
extinguished; or (d) forbids or prevents others from assisting
in extinguishing a fire or exhorts another person, as to whom
he has no legal right or obligation to protect or control,
from assisting in extinguishing a fire. (Penal Code § 148.2)
4)Provides that any person who hinders, delays, or obstructs any
portion of the militia parading or performing any military
duty, or who attempts so to do, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(Military & Veterans Code § 396.)
5)States that every person who goes to the scene of an
emergency, or stops at the scene of an emergency, for the
purpose of viewing the scene or the activities of police
officers, firefighters, emergency medical, or other emergency
personnel, or military personnel coping with the emergency in
the course of their duties during the time it is necessary for
emergency vehicles or those personnel to be at the scene of
the emergency or to be moving to or from the scene of the
emergency for the purpose of protecting lives or property,
unless it is part of the duties of that person's employment to
view that scene or activities, and thereby impedes police
officers, firefighters, emergency medical, or other emergency
personnel or military personnel, in the performance of their
duties in coping with the emergency, is guilty of a
misdemeanor. (Penal Code § 402 (a).)
AB 1680
Page 3
6)Provides that every person who knowingly resists or interferes
with the lawful efforts of a lifeguard in the discharge or
attempted discharge of an official duty in an emergency
situation, when the person knows or reasonably should know
that the lifeguard is engaged in the performance of his or her
official duty, is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Penal Code § 402
(b).)
7)Specifies that "emergency" includes a condition or situation
involving injury to persons, damage to property, or peril to
the safety of persons or property, which results from a fire,
an explosion, an airplane crash, flooding, windstorm damage, a
railroad accident, a traffic accident, a power plant accident,
a toxic chemical or biological spill, or any other natural or
human-caused event. (Penal Code § 402(c).)
This bill amends Penal Code Section 402 to state that a person
subject to this section shall include a person, regardless of
his or her location, who operates or uses an unmanned aerial
vehicle, remote piloted aircraft, or drone that is at the scene
of an emergency.
Comments
According to the author:
Recently in California a pilot flying a helicopter with
seven firefighters on board who were battling a blaze
threatening nearby homes, saw a four-rotor drone only 10
feet from his windshield. This forced him to make a hard
left to avoid a collision about 500 feet above ground. In
another incident, the sighting of five drones in the area
of a wildfire that closed Interstate 15 in Southern
California and destroyed numerous vehicles, grounded air
tanker crews for 20 minutes as flames spread.
The unregulated and irresponsible use of drones is placing
Californians, our firefighters and emergency response
personnel in increasing danger.
The existing Penal Code section dealing with interfering
with police, fire and EMTs does not specifically state
that the crime can be committed by using a drone. By
clarifying existing law, police, fire and EMTs will be
able to tell drone operators that the use of an unmanned
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aircraft that interferes with their official activities is
a crime and that they must discontinue their use or face
being charged.
Unmanned aircraft or the use of a drone is an emerging
industry and technology that is rapidly gaining in
popularity. The sheer numbers of drones is creating
problems and concerns about how and where they should be
used and it is only now that they are being regulated by
the FAA. AB 1680 recognizes the fact that drones will
need additional federal and state regulation but takes a
common sense intermediate approach to doing so.
Last year the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency
management and the Senate Judiciary Committee held a
hearing on drones in California. While the use of drones
has been presenting increasing numbers of problems and
difficulties, many of those testifying recommended moving
slowly to see what the Federal Aviation Administration's
response would be in regulating unmanned aerial vehicles.
AB 1680 is a modest step in ensuring that drones do not
interfere with law enforcement, fire fighters and
emergency personnel.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/2/16)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Association of Air Medical Services
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California Special Districts Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Statewide Law Enforcement Association
East Bay Regional Park District
Fire Districts Association of California
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Los Angeles Professional Peace Officers Association
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
AB 1680
Page 5
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/2/16)
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/9/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, Eduardo Garcia
Prepared by:Mary Kennedy / PUB. S. /
8/3/16 18:49:55
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