Just spotted this bill mentioned online elsewhere (I'm not from WY). WOW this is a bad one, and the folks discussing it in the House session linked below legitimately seem hostile to drone usage on some levels:
www.wyoleg.gov
tl;dr, Criminal trespass for flying 200ft or lower over private land or residence without landowner/resident authorization.
House discussion here:
The first speaker discusses basically that he thinks the CFRs are too permissive for drones. He literally says he's trying to establish here that he thinks you should have a right to a particular amount of airspace around your property and set it into state law.
Lots of other F.U.D. language in the discussion around "how do we know who these people are, how do we track them, now it's my job to track them on my property" . He even jokes about how shooting the drones would be the simplest solution although he knows he can't, which one of the representatives laughs at and asks if they actually could amend that in somehow.
The only glimmer of hope was that the president of the WY airports coalition did come forward and express (timestamp link) that they should proceed with caution here as this is definitely overstepping into federal preemption and mentions the FAA fact sheet for state legislative guidance. The chairman did ask to get that sent over so they could evaluate it. However, a representative prior to that was claiming that US v. Causby meant they were at least entitle 83ft so it meant there was precedent to push it further, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them lean on that
.
There was a call from some folks to I think table it and have an interim discussion, but it sounded like they wanted to push it forward and work it on the floor instead -- and at least admitted to needing more expert input. Although a rep basically said he'd prefer to push something forward with unintended consequences first and make corrections later...
Any drone pilots here from Wyoming should be getting some calls in ASAP... it got 6 yeas to 3 nays...
Legislative Service Office
tl;dr, Criminal trespass for flying 200ft or lower over private land or residence without landowner/resident authorization.
House discussion here:
The first speaker discusses basically that he thinks the CFRs are too permissive for drones. He literally says he's trying to establish here that he thinks you should have a right to a particular amount of airspace around your property and set it into state law.
Lots of other F.U.D. language in the discussion around "how do we know who these people are, how do we track them, now it's my job to track them on my property" . He even jokes about how shooting the drones would be the simplest solution although he knows he can't, which one of the representatives laughs at and asks if they actually could amend that in somehow.
The only glimmer of hope was that the president of the WY airports coalition did come forward and express (timestamp link) that they should proceed with caution here as this is definitely overstepping into federal preemption and mentions the FAA fact sheet for state legislative guidance. The chairman did ask to get that sent over so they could evaluate it. However, a representative prior to that was claiming that US v. Causby meant they were at least entitle 83ft so it meant there was precedent to push it further, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them lean on that
.There was a call from some folks to I think table it and have an interim discussion, but it sounded like they wanted to push it forward and work it on the floor instead -- and at least admitted to needing more expert input. Although a rep basically said he'd prefer to push something forward with unintended consequences first and make corrections later...
Any drone pilots here from Wyoming should be getting some calls in ASAP... it got 6 yeas to 3 nays...
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Thanks for the catch.
