Clel BaudlerState Representative Clel Baudler has been working diligently this legislative session to pass a bill that oversees the use of drones, or as they are more properly termed, “unmanned aerial vehicles.”

The bill from his drone subcommittee did pass through the House last week, receiving 82 votes in favor and 16 against.  Two Representatives were absent during the vote.

While he does believe there can be good use of drones, Baudler says there is “absolutely no regulation in Iowa on drones,” and his bill focuses first on the oversight of drone usage by government agencies. Baudler says if a county or city department wants to purchase a drone, they will have to go before the County Supervisors or City Council to ask permission to do so.

The House drone bill also has regulations that law enforcement agencies would have to abide by.  A search warrant would be needed to use a drone in a long-term investigation, though use would be allowed if an emergency situation were to arise.  However, if a drone is used by law enforcement under an emergency scenario, that agency would be required to go before a district court judge within 48 hours of the incident to explain the emergency and get permission to keep the collected evidence for investigation purposes.

Baudler says these regulations are needed to simply protect the privacy of Iowans.

“We have seen such abuses from the NSA (National Security Agency)… I guess you say spying on Americans and keeping that information sometimes in a secret area of government.  We don’t want that to happen in Iowa.”

The House bill has regulations for private drone usage, too.  Baudler says drone use for recreation by a private citizen is acceptable, but if a drone is used against the will of another citizen, consequences could be seen.

“If (people) try to use a drone and film let’s say an ex-wife, ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend and fly over their backyard with the intent to intimidate or harass, then they would be guilty of certain misdemeanors, up to and including aggravated misdemeanors.”

Baudler says his goal is to have a House and Senate accepted drone bill on the Governor’s desk by the time this session adjourns.

The next step in the passage process for the drone bill is reconsideration by the House after the Senate made significant amendments in session this week.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>