SB-1233, As Passed House, December 13, 2018

SB-1233, As Passed Senate, December 6, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBSTITUTE FOR

 

SENATE BILL NO. 1233

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 2016 PA 436, entitled

 

"Unmanned aircraft systems act,"

 

(MCL 259.301 to 259.331) by adding section 7.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 7. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (6), a

 

department, agency, board, or commission of this state or a person

 

under a contract with or acting at the direction or on behalf of a

 

department, agency, board, or commission of this state shall not

 

use an unmanned aircraft system to surveil, inspect, or gather

 

evidence or collect information about a facility that is subject to

 

a permit, license, or order issued by or a decree or other

 

requirement governed by that department, agency, board, or

 

commission unless any of the following apply:

 

Senate Bill No. 1233 as amended December 13, 2018

     (a) The owner or operator of the facility has given express

 

consent for the use of an unmanned aircraft system for the purposes

 

described in this subsection in a particular instance.

 

     (b) The department, agency, board, commission, or person is

 

acting under a valid search warrant and the use of the unmanned

 

aircraft system is strictly limited to the subject matter and scope

 

of that warrant.

 

     (c) The department, agency, board, or commission has reason to

 

believe that there may be an imminent threat to public health,

 

safety, property, or the natural resources of the state from the

 

facility and the use of the unmanned aircraft system is strictly

 

limited to the investigation of that imminent threat.

 

     (d) The department, agency, board, commission, or person is

 

inspecting a roadway, highway, airport, airport approach corridor,

 

port, or similar infrastructure.

 

     (2) An unmanned aircraft system that is used as described in

 

subsection (1) must be clearly marked as a state-owned or operated

 

aircraft unless it is an unmanned aircraft system operated in

 

accordance with subsection (3).

 

     (3) For any use that is governed by subsection (1)(a),[both of the

following apply:

     (a)Subject to subdivision (b),] the

consent of the owner or operator may be conditioned on the use of

 

an unmanned aircraft system that is owned and operated by that

 

owner or operator under, and in compliance with, Federal Aviation

 

Administration regulations, authorizations, or exemptions. The

 

department, agency, board, commission, or person under contract

 

with or acting at the direction or on behalf of the department,

 

agency, board, or commission shall allow, under its direct

Senate Bill No. 1233 as amended December 13, 2018

supervision, the use of the unmanned aircraft system by the owner

 

or operator to conduct the surveillance, inspection, evidence

 

gathering, or information collecting under this section, if doing

 

so will gather information of a quality and nature sufficient for

 

the intended purpose of the surveillance, inspection, evidence

 

gathering, or information collection.

[(b) IF the OWNER OR OPERATOR provides consent on the condition described IN subdivision (A), OR if the owner or operator WITHHOLDS CONSENT, THE OWNER OR OPERATOR SHALL provide TO THE DEPARTMENT, AGENCY, BOARD, OR COMMISSION A STATEMENT, in writing, that indicates the HEALTH AND SAFETY REASONS for providing consent on the condition described IN subdivision (A) or WITHHOLDING consent.]

     (4) Any surveillance, inspection, evidence gathering, or

 

information collecting conducted under subsection (1)(c) shall be

 

under the direct supervision of the department, agency, board, or

 

commission.

 

     (5) Any data, including videos, photographic images, or

 

geospatial data, collected by the operation of an unmanned aircraft

 

system concerning a facility described in subsection (1) shall be

 

furnished promptly to the facility's owner or operator upon request

 

and shall be rebuttably presumed to be not subject to disclosure

 

under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to

 

15.246.

 

     (6) This section does not apply to a law enforcement agency

 

operating an unmanned aircraft system as part of a law enforcement

 

investigation.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.