BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 807
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Date of Hearing: June 14, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PRIVACY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
Ed Chau, Chair
SB
807 (Gaines) - As Amended May 27, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 37-0
SUBJECT: Unmanned aircraft systems
SUMMARY: Grants civil immunity to public entities, public
employees, and unpaid volunteers and private entities acting
within the scope of delegated authority that damage an unmanned
aircraft system (UAS) in the course of providing emergency
services. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that an emergency responder is not liable for damage
to a UAS if the damage was caused while the emergency
responder was providing, and the UAS was interfering with, the
operation, support, or enabling of any of the following
emergency services:
a) Emergency medical services or ambulance transport
services, including, but not limited to, air ambulance
services;
b) Firefighting or firefighting-related services,
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including, but not limited to, air services related to
firefighting or firefighting-related services; and
c)Search and rescue services, including, but not limited to, air
search and rescue services.
2)Defines the term "emergency responder" for purposes of the
civil immunity to mean either of the following, if acting
within the scope of authority implicitly or expressly provided
by a public entity or a public employee to provide emergency
services:
a)A paid or unpaid volunteer; or
b)A private entity.
3)Specifies that a public entity or public employee is not
liable for any damage to a UAS if the damage was caused while
the public entity or public employee was providing, and the
UAS was interfering with, the operation, support, or enabling
of any of the following emergency services:
a) Emergency medical services or ambulance transport
services, including, but not limited to, air ambulance
services;
b) Firefighting or firefighting-related services,
including, but not limited to, air services related to
firefighting or firefighting-related services; and
c)Search and rescue services, including, but not limited to, air
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search and rescue services.
4)Defines the term "unmanned aircraft" to mean an aircraft that
is operated without the possibility of direct human
intervention from within or on the aircraft.
5)Defines the term "unmanned aircraft system" to mean an
unmanned aircraft and all of the associated elements,
including, but not limited to, communication links and the
components that control the unmanned aircraft that are
required for the pilot in command to operate safely and
efficiently in the national airspace system.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Generally exempts a public agency, or public employee acting
in the scope of his employment, from liability for injury
resulting from the condition of fire protection or
firefighting equipment or facilities, and for any injury
caused fighting fires. (Government Code Section (GC) 850.4)
2)Establishes, under the Government Tort Claims Act (Act), rules
of civil liability that apply to public entities and public
employees in California. (GC 810, et seq.)
3)Defines a "public entity" to include the state, the Regents of
the University of California, the Trustees of the California
State University and the California State University, a
county, city, district, public authority, public agency, and
any other political subdivision or public corporation in the
State, and makes all public entities, state and local, liable
in tort to the extent declared by statute, subject to stated
immunities and defenses. (GC 811.2 and 815, et seq.)
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4)Defines a "public employee" as an employee of a public entity
and makes public employees liable to the same extent as
private persons, subject to various immunities and defenses.
(GC 811.4 and 820, et seq.)
5)Makes it a misdemeanor to go to the scene of an emergency or
stop at the scene of an emergency to watch the scene or the
activities of first responders or military personnel if doing
so impedes their efforts, unless it is part of the duties of
the person's employment to view the scene or activities.
(Penal Code (PC) 402(a))
6)Defines an "emergency" as 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, explosion,
airplane crash, flooding, windstorm damage, rail accident,
traffic accident, power plant accident, toxic chemical or
biological spill, or any other natural or human-caused event.
(PC 402(c))
7)Requires, under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the FAA to integrate UAS
into the national airspace system by September 30, 2015, and
to develop and implement certification requirements for the
operation of UAS in the national airspace system by December
31, 2015. (Public Law Number 112-095)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, any additional state
costs are not significant, and do not and will not require the
appropriation of additional state funds, and the bill will cause
no significant reduction in revenues.
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of this bill . This bill is intended to prevent
civilian UAS from interfering with firefighting and other
emergency response activities by granting immunity from
lawsuits to public entities, public employees, and unpaid
volunteers and private entities acting within the scope of
delegated authority who damage a drone in the line of duty
(such as conducting firefighting, air ambulance, and
search-and-rescue operations). This bill is sponsored by the
League of California Cities and the California Police Chiefs
Association.
2)Author's statement . According to the author: "Early in the
course of last year's drought-heightened fire season, private
unauthorized drones repeatedly halted firefighting efforts.
The simple presence of these drones forced firefighters to
ground mission-critical tanker aircraft, unnecessarily putting
pilots, firefighters, civilians and property at risk.
Disruption by drones at all fires-wildfire or otherwise-can
have grave consequences. Additionally, these rogue drones
have interfered with other lifesaving missions, such as air
ambulance services. This bill will help ensure that emergency
responders can do the job of protecting the public without
worrying about frivolous lawsuits."
"As drones become more accessible to the public, their
presence in the sky is quickly increasing. It is essential
that lifesaving services provided by emergency responders be
free to continue despite someone's misplaced desire to capture
images for YouTube and the like. It is the author's hope and
intent that the advent of effective 'jamming' technology could
keep drones away from emergency response areas and flight
paths, and that warnings and public education efforts could
ensure that the safest, least-damaging methods for avoiding or
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disabling unauthorized drones will be the primary methods used
in these crises. This bill is a critical piece of legislation
to keep rogue drones from interfering with the most effective
response to time-sensitive crises."
3)Growth in commercial and recreational uses of UAS . UAS are
widely available to the public for recreational use. Retail
UAS devices outfitted with cameras now range from roughly $300
to $1,500. A July 2015 report by the Consumer Electronics
Association estimates that hobbyists in the United States will
buy 700,000 drones in 2015 alone.
Commercial applications for UAS are being rapidly developed.
UAS can give the news media economical and
environmentally-friendly access to aerial views of traffic,
storms, and other events when compared to the current use of
helicopters and other manned aircraft. UAS can be used in the
agricultural industry to observe and measure crops while
conserving resources and avoiding the use of heavy equipment.
And UAS may be the future delivery system for mail-order and
Internet companies.
4)FAA regulation of UAS . In 2012, Congress passed the FAA
Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Act). The Act required
the FAA to establish a framework for safely integrating UAS
into the national airspace, and authorized the FAA establish
interim requirements for the commercial operation of UAS.
While the FAA is not expected to finish its final rulemaking
for another year or two, the FAA's interim rules require
entities that wish to conduct commercial, governmental,
research or educational UAS operations to meet certain
standards and apply for a Certificate of Authorization to
operate.
In 2015, the FAA issued rules requiring any UAS weighing
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between half a pound and 55 pounds to be registered with the
FAA by February 19, 2016. The new FAA registration rules
apply only to "model aircraft," i.e., recreational UAS. Upon
registration, the FAA issues a unique identifier, which must
be affixed to the UAS in a "readily accessible and visible
manner." The unique identifier can then be used to look up
the UAS owner in the event of a problem or accident.
5)Recent drone incidents near wildfires . During last year's
fire season, several hobby UAS operators disrupted
firefighting efforts during the initial stage of the North
Fire near Cajon Pass. According to the California Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), as the fire burned
toward Interstate 15, which links Southern California to Las
Vegas, fire officials were forced to ground firefighting
aircraft after drones were sighted nearby - hampering efforts
that could otherwise have held back the blaze that ultimately
destroyed 20 vehicles and forced motorists to flee on foot
from oncoming flames.
The North Fire was just one of many incidents in 2015 in which
hobby drones have caused disruptions in the suppression of
California's major wildfires. On July 22, 2015, a drone
grounded Cal Fire air support crews that were fighting a
grassfire near Auburn in Placer County. Drone operators also
interfered with emergency crews at the Mill 2 Fire in Yucaipa
on July 12, 2015, and the Lake Fire near Barton Flats on June
17, 2015.
Aerial firefighting aircraft, such as air tankers and
helicopters, must fly at very low altitudes in order to be
effective. Hobbyists who fly UAS near fires create the
potential for a mid-air collision that could injure or kill
aerial and ground firefighters as well as innocent bystanders
on the ground below. Because of this risk, when firefighters
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detect a UAS flying over or near a wildfire, air operations
must be suspended until all drones flying in a fire area are
removed. This delay allows wildfires to grow, and in some
cases like the North Fire, such a delay can pose an immediate
threat to human lives and property.
6)Civil immunity for damage to drones that interfere with
emergency services . This bill would provide immunity from
civil liability for damage caused to UAS that interfere with
emergency services more broadly, including ambulance services,
services related to firefighting, and search and rescue
operations - whether air, land or water-based - and whether
public or private sector emergency responders are involved.
Generally speaking, under the state Government Tort Claims
Act, public entities and public employees already enjoy
immunity from civil liability for injury caused fighting
fires. This bill would expand immunity from civil liability
to both public and private sector emergency responders for any
damage to a UAS, if the damage was caused while the responder
was providing, and the UAS was interfering with, emergency
services. For example, if an emergency responder collided
with a drone, or if a drone had to be purposely damaged or
destroyed in order to conduct emergency operations, then the
immunity in this bill would apply, but only for damage to the
UAS itself and not any secondary effects.
Note that, for purposes of the civil immunity, the bill
applies to forms of emergency response beyond firefighting,
including ambulance services and search and rescue services.
This bill also defines "emergency responder" to include not
just public entities and public employees, but also unpaid
volunteers and private entities who are acting within the
scope of authority implicitly or expressly provided by a
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public entity or public employee to respond to an emergency
situation.
7)Consumer education and other UAS mitigation tools . Law
enforcement agencies currently have a limited number of tools,
such as consumer education, UAS communications jamming, and
"geofencing" technology to help mitigate UAS interference in
wildfires and other emergencies.
Cal Fire and other agencies have already begun an extensive
public education campaign under the motto, "If You Fly, We
Can't!" to inform the public of the dangers of flying UAS near
emergencies and to discourage hobbyists from flying UAS near
wildfires. Cal Fire has also established a hotline
(1-844-DRONE11) for reporting information about irresponsible
UAS operators flying close to disasters and emergencies.
Private sector smart phone applications, like Hover, can also
help drone users avoid restricted areas.
In certain cases, law enforcement agencies can jam
communication frequencies to stop drones from approaching
danger zones. However, untargeted jamming technologies can
also inadvertently interfere with first-responder and civilian
communications, and could disable drones in use by legitimate
first responders.
Earlier this year, this Committee approved AB 2724 (Gatto),
which proposes requiring UAS to have so-called "geofencing"
chips that could one day automatically prevent a UAS from
flying into an area designated by authorities as a danger
zone. However, many recreational drones in use today do not
contain geofencing technology, and those that do can be
disabled by drone operators.
This bill would ensure all manner of emergency responders
would have immunity in the instance that a UAS must be taken
down in a way that damages the UAS but that is necessary for
emergency response services to proceed.
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8)Governor's veto of prior legislation . In 2015, this Committee
unanimously approved SB 168 (Gaines and Jackson), which
contained immunity provisions similar to this bill. While SB
168 received unanimous approval from the Legislature, Governor
Brown vetoed it along with several other bills that created
new crimes. Governor Brown's veto message read as follows:
"Each of these bills creates a new crime - usually by
finding a novel way to characterize and criminalize conduct
that is already proscribed. This multiplication and
particularization of criminal behavior creates increasing
complexity without commensurate benefit.
"Over the last several decades, California's criminal code
has grown to more than 5,000 separate provisions, covering
almost every conceivable form of human misbehavior. During
the same period, our jail and prison populations have
exploded.
"Before we keep going down this road, I think we should
pause and reflect on how our system of criminal justice
could be made more human, more just and more
cost-effective."
The criminal penalty provisions that were contained in SB 168
are not included in this bill.
9)Arguments in support . According to the bill's sponsors, the
California Police Chiefs Association and the League of
California Cities, "Privately operated drones pose a serious
threat to our state's first responders battling wildfires,
transporting critically ill individuals and searching for
missing persons?[I]n Fresno we witnessed a civilian's drone
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nearly collide with an air ambulance. At the Cajon Pass, we
witnessed a tragedy as dozens of cars combusted. The cause?
A civilian drone forced firefighting operations to land,
allowing for the fire to grow and jump the freeway. The U.S.
Forest Services has tallied thirteen wildfires in which
suspected drones interfered with firefighting aircraft last
year. In fact, this increasingly frequent hazard is causing
local jurisdiction to offer rewards ranging from $25,000 to
$75,000 for information on interrupting drone-operators. The
distractions, delays, and heightened threat to public safety
caused by the irresponsible use of civilian drones pose an
unacceptable and growing risk for both our first responders
and members of the public. SB 807 will allow first responders
to continue their operations and keep Californians safe."
According to the Civil Justice Association of California, this
bill "protects emergency responders whether paid or unpaid,
private or public employees, performing a list of emergency
services including firefighting, search and rescue, ambulance
and air ambulance. These essential roles are inherently
dangerous. We should not add to the risks associated with
these roles by exposing the people who fill them to lawsuits
over damage to drones interfering with emergency response."
10)Technical amendment . The author has agreed to accept the
following technical amendment to the Government Code to
clarify that this bill does not limit any other immunity in
existing law that may apply to public entity or public
employee:
On page 3, between lines 20 and 21, insert:
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"853.1. The immunity provided by this chapter is in
addition to any other immunity provided to a public entity
or public employee under law."
11)Related legislation . AB 1680 (Rodriguez) makes it a
misdemeanor to operate a UAS in a way that interferes with
first responders. AB 1680 is pending in the Senate Public
Safety Committee.
AB 2320 (Calderon and Low) prohibits, among other things,
operating a UAS in a way that interferes with emergency
response in an emergency. AB 2320 is pending in the Senate
Public Safety Committee.
AB 2724 (Gatto) requires UAS makers to include with the UAS a
copy of FAA safety regulations, and if the UAS is required to
be registered with the FAA, a notice of the registration
requirement. That bill also requires UAS with GPS technology
to be outfitted with a geo-fencing feature and requires UAS
owners to have adequate liability insurance. AB 2724 is
pending in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.
12)Double-referral . This bill was double-referred to the
Assembly Judiciary Committee, where it will be heard if passed
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by this Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Police Chiefs Association (co-sponsor)
League of California Cities (co-sponsor)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Ambulance Association
California Association of Code Enforcement Officers
California College and University Police Chiefs Association
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Forestry Association
California Justice Association of California
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California Narcotic Officers Association
California Professional Firefighters
California Special Districts Association
California State Association of Counties
California State Sheriffs' Association
California Statewide Law Enforcement Association
City of Ontario
City of Thousand Oaks
Civil Justice Association of California
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority
DJI Technology
Fire Districts Association of California
LIUNA Local 792
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Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Orange County Board of Supervisors
Orange County Professional Firefighters Association, Local 3631
Riverside Sheriffs Association
San Bernardino County
Ventura Council of Governments
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennie Bretschneider / P. & C.P. / (916)
319-2200
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