LANSING — State Rep. William Bruck, Erie-R, hosted a symposium on Wednesday, May 7, to discuss regulating drone use.
The three and a half hour meeting was aimed at allowing open discussion between legislators and stakeholders on current, proposed, and suggested bills that affect the procurement, use, availability, and enforcement of drone management in Michigan. It was attended by both legislators and stakeholders who had concerns about the safety and security of the state of Michigan.
“Drone regulation is a particularly critical issue because of drones’ technological capacity for image and video capturing and their widespread use by local law enforcement,” said a release from Bruck’s office.
One of the concerns is that some drone models are from companies owned by the Chinese Communist Party, which are obligated to share data with the CCP.
Another concern is the ability of local law enforcement to counter drones. If there’s a nefarious or weaponized drone, for example, nobody in the state aside from the federal government can do anything about it. According to Bruck, even the Air National Guard doesn’t have the authority in airspace to intercept or address a threatening drone.
“We have a very open airspace around the country,” he said. “It’s not just Michigan. That’s throughout the state because air is regulated by the FAA and they are not enforcing their restrictions that they have on drone operators… A lot of places they’re not supposed to fly over, but they have no enforcement mechanism and we at the state (level) are very vulnerable to a weaponized drone.”
The major topic of the symposium was a 12-bill package being put together by Bruck and other legislators and why it’s needed. According to Bruck, the package aims to be the most comprehensive legislation regarding drone regulation.
The types of regulations proposed during the symposium were regarding the types of drones flown, mainly focusing on addressing foreign-made drones which, according to Bruck, are legally allowed to fly over things like power plants as long as they don’t interfere with their operation. While that may sound benign, Bruck said that the drones can actually tell a lot about the infrastructure of the buildings.
“So that puts our critical infrastructure at immense risk,” he said. “So, one of the things we’re putting in (the legislation) is for the state and local governments to be able to create restrictive fly zones.”
Currently, state drone restrictions prohibit using them to harass others, interfere with law enforcement, or invade others’ privacy. They also require registration with the FAA if the drone weighs more than 0.55 pounds. The FAA holds exclusive authority over national airspace, including regulations on flight altitude, flight paths, and operation of aircraft.
— Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: State Rep. Bruck hosts drone safety symposium in Lansing
Reporting by Connor Veenstra, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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