BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 807


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          807 (Gaines)


          As Amended  August 18, 2016


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  37-0


           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                   |Noes                 |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
          |Privacy         |11-0 |Chau, Wilk, Baker,     |                     |
          |                |     |Calderon, Chang,       |                     |
          |                |     |Cooper, Dababneh,      |                     |
          |                |     |Gatto, Gordon, Low,    |                     |
          |                |     |Olsen                  |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
          |Judiciary       |10-0 |Mark Stone, Wagner,    |                     |
          |                |     |Alejo, Chau, Chiu,     |                     |
          |                |     |Gallagher,             |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |Cristina Garcia,       |                     |
          |                |     |Holden, Maienschein,   |                     |
          |                |     |Ting                   |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|








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          |Appropriations  |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow,     |                     |
          |                |     |Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, |                     |
          |                |     |Calderon, Chang, Daly, |                     |
          |                |     |Eggman, Gallagher,     |                     |
          |                |     |Eduardo Garcia,        |                     |
          |                |     |Holden, Jones,         |                     |
          |                |     |Obernolte, Quirk,      |                     |
          |                |     |Santiago, Wagner,      |                     |
          |                |     |Weber, Wood, Chau      |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 


          SUMMARY:  Grants civil immunity to local public entities, public  
          employees, and unpaid volunteers and private entities acting  
          within the scope of delegated authority granted by a local  
          public entity that damage an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in  
          the course of providing emergency services.  Specifically, this  
          bill:  


          1)Specifies that a local 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,  
               including, but not limited to, air services related to  
               firefighting or firefighting-related services; and










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          c)Search and rescue services, including, but not limited to, air  
            search and rescue services.


          2)Specifies that the term "emergency responder" includes paid or  
            unpaid volunteers and private entities if they are acting  
            within the scope of authority implicitly or expressly provided  
            by a local public entity or a public employee of a local  
            public entity to provide emergency services.


          3)Specifies that a local public entity or public employee of a  
            local public entity is not liable for any damage to a UAS if  
            the damage was caused while the local public entity or public  
            employee of a local public entity was providing, and the UAS  
            was interfering with, the operation, support, or enabling of  
            any of the above listed emergency services.


          4)Clarifies that the immunity provided by this bill is in  
            addition to any other immunity provided to a local public  
            entity or public employee of a local public entity under law.


          5)Defines the terms "unmanned aircraft" and "unmanned aircraft  
            system" consistent with federal law.  


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, negligible fiscal impact.


          COMMENTS:  This bill is intended to prevent civilian UAS from  
          interfering with local firefighting and other local emergency  
          response activities by granting immunity from lawsuits to local  
          public entities, public employees of local public entities, and  
          unpaid volunteers and private entities acting within the scope  
          of delegated authority of a local public entity who damage a  
          drone in the line of duty (such as conducting firefighting, air  








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          ambulance, and search-and-rescue operations).  This bill is  
          sponsored by the League of California Cities and the California  
          Police Chiefs Association. 


          This bill would provide immunity from civil liability for damage  
          caused to UAS that interfere with local 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.  The bill applies to forms of  
          local emergency response beyond firefighting, including  
          ambulance services and search and rescue services and defines  
          "emergency responder" to include not just local public entities  
          and public employees of local public entities, but also unpaid  
          volunteers and private entities who are acting within the scope  
          of authority implicitly or expressly provided by a local public  
          entity or public employee of a local public entity to respond to  
          an emergency situation. 


          In 2015, the Legislature approved a bill containing immunity  
          provisions for both state and local public entities, SB 168  
          (Gaines), which received unanimous approval from the  
          Legislature, but Governor Brown vetoed it along with several  
          other bills that created new crimes.  Governor Brown's veto  
          message reads 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  








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            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 last  
          year's SB 168 are not included in this bill. 




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Jennie Bretschneider / P. & C.P. / (916)  
                          319-2200                                         
          FN: 0004349