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.