California Legislative Action
California lawmakers on Monday approved two bills that, if signed by the Governor, will regulate drone use in California. SB 142 would make it a crime to fly a drone less than 350 feet above private property without permission. The 350 limit represents a balance between those who think the limit should be 400 feet to avoid preemption by FAA regulations and those who argue that a better limit would be 200 feet to allow drone operators more flexibility to operate below 400 feet—for instance to develop drone delivery capability. SB 142 carves out an exception for “otherwise lawful activities” of law enforcement personnel or government agencies.
AB 856 is a so-called “anti paparazzi” law. It expands existing liability for invasion of privacy to include a person who knowingly enters into the airspace above the land of another person without permission in order to capture a visual image or sound recording of the person “engaging in a private, personal, or familial activity and the invasion occurs in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person.” The new law, if signed by the Governor, provides for the imposition of damages, including punitive damages, for commercial use of any recorded images that result from an invasion of privacy.