Bill Text: VA HB2012 | 2013 | Regular Session | Conference Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Drones; moratorium on use of unmanned aircraft systems by state or local government department, etc.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-04-03 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0755) [HB2012 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2013-HB2012-Conference_Sub.html

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13105471D
HOUSE BILL NO. 2012 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the Joint Conference Committee on February 22, 2013) (Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Cline) A BILL to place a moratorium on the use of unmanned aircraft systems.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. §1. No state or local agency or organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement or regulatory violations, including but not limited to the Department of State Police, and no department of law enforcement as defined in §15.2-836 of the Code of Virginia of any county, city, or town shall utilize an unmanned aircraft system before July 1, 2015.

Notwithstanding the prohibition in this section, an unmanned aircraft system may be deployed before July 1, 2015, when an Amber Alert is activated pursuant to §52-34.3 of the Code of Virginia, when a Senior Alert is activated pursuant to §52-34.6 of the Code of Virginia, when a Blue Alert is activated pursuant to §52-34.9 of the Code of Virginia, or for the purpose of a search and rescue operation. In no case may a weaponized unmanned aircraft system be deployed or its use facilitated by a state or local agency in Virginia.

The prohibitions in this section shall not apply to the Virginia National Guard while utilizing unmanned aircraft systems during training required to maintain readiness for its federal mission, when facilitating training for other United States Department of Defense units, or when such systems are utilized to support the Commonwealth for purposes other than law enforcement, including damage assessment, traffic assessment, flood stages, and wildfire assessment.