On Wednesday, 4/23, the North Carolina House Committee on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) released its report and recommendations for new legislation governing the use of UAS within the state.
The proposed legislation restricts the government use of UAS and the use of unmanned aircraft in conducting surveillance and capturing images of individuals. And though the proposed legislation is intended to protect individual privacy, it extends this protection to public settings where there may not be any expectations of privacy and where capturing images by any other means would be legal. The language in the proposed bill would make it illegal to “photograph an individual, without the individual’s written consent, for the purpose of publishing or otherwise publicly disseminating the photograph”.
If enacted, the Bill would make it a Class H felony for the use of a unmanned aircraft to in any way interfere with the operation of a manned aircraft. It would also make it illegal to fish or hunt using a UAS.
The proposed legislation also institutes state licensing and training requirements for the government and commercial use of UAS, and limits the issuance of a commercial UAS license to persons who are at least 21 years old. This provision and the state’s licensing requirement may well run afoul with federal regulation and any proposed licensure criteria presented in FAA’s small unmanned aircraft systems rule.
it’s possible this bill will be introduced during the North Carolina legislature’s short session, which begins May 14. However, the draft must first be approved by the Legislative Research Commission.
Clink the link below to read the article posted by the Winston-Salem Journal and reported by Fox 8 WPHG News…
NC House panel OKs draft bill on drones
Download the complete report released Wed, 4/23/2014…
North Carolina House Committee on Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Rich Hanson
AMA Government and Regulatory Affairs