Florida Senate - 2025 CS for SB 1422
By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senator Truenow
591-02559-25 20251422c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to unmanned aircraft or unmanned
3 aircraft systems; amending s. 330.41, F.S.; revising
4 the definition of the term “critical infrastructure
5 facility”; providing an exception to the prohibition
6 on operating a drone over a critical infrastructure
7 facility; increasing the criminal penalty for certain
8 prohibited actions relating to drones; amending s.
9 330.411, F.S.; prohibiting certain actions relating to
10 unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft systems;
11 providing exceptions; providing criminal penalties;
12 amending s. 934.50, F.S.; authorizing certain persons
13 to use reasonable force to prohibit a drone from
14 conducting surveillance under certain circumstances;
15 revising and providing exceptions to certain
16 prohibited actions relating to drones; providing
17 criminal penalties; providing applicability; providing
18 an effective date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and paragraphs
23 (a) and (b) of subsection (4) of section 330.41, Florida
24 Statutes, are amended to read:
25 330.41 Unmanned Aircraft Systems Act.—
26 (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this act, the term:
27 (a) “Critical infrastructure facility” means any of the
28 following, if completely enclosed by a fence or other physical
29 barrier that is obviously designed to exclude intruders, or if
30 clearly marked with a sign or signs which indicate that entry is
31 forbidden and which are posted on the property in a manner
32 reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders:
33 1. A power generation or transmission facility, substation,
34 switching station, or electrical control center.
35 2. A chemical or rubber manufacturing or storage facility.
36 3. A water intake structure, water treatment facility,
37 wastewater treatment plant, or pump station.
38 4. A mining facility.
39 5. A natural gas or compressed gas compressor station,
40 storage facility, or natural gas or compressed gas pipeline.
41 6. A liquid natural gas or propane gas terminal or storage
42 facility.
43 7. Any portion of an aboveground oil or gas pipeline.
44 8. A refinery.
45 9. A gas processing plant, including a plant used in the
46 processing, treatment, or fractionation of natural gas.
47 10. A wireless or wired communications facility, including
48 the tower, antennas antennae, support structures, and all
49 associated ground-based equipment.
50 11. A seaport as listed in s. 311.09(1), which need not be
51 completely enclosed by a fence or other physical barrier and
52 need not be marked with a sign or signs indicating that entry is
53 forbidden.
54 12. An inland port or other facility or group of facilities
55 serving as a point of intermodal transfer of freight in a
56 specific area physically separated from a seaport.
57 13. An airport as defined in s. 330.27.
58 14. A spaceport territory as defined in s. 331.303(19).
59 15. A military installation as defined in 10 U.S.C. s.
60 2801(c)(4) and an armory as defined in s. 250.01.
61 16. A dam as defined in s. 373.403(1) or other structures,
62 such as locks, floodgates, or dikes, which are designed to
63 maintain or control the level of navigable waterways.
64 17. A state correctional institution as defined in s.
65 944.02 or a contractor-operated correctional facility authorized
66 under chapter 957.
67 18. A secure detention center or facility as defined in s.
68 985.03, or a moderate-risk residential facility, a high-risk
69 residential facility, or a maximum-risk residential facility as
70 those terms are described in s. 985.03(44).
71 19. A county detention facility as defined in s. 951.23.
72 20. A critical infrastructure facility as defined in s.
73 692.201.
74 (4) PROTECTION OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES.—
75 (a) A person may not knowingly or willfully:
76 1. Operate a drone over a critical infrastructure facility,
77 unless the operation is for a commercial purpose and is
78 authorized by and in compliance with the Federal Aviation
79 Administration regulations;
80 2. Allow a drone to make contact with a critical
81 infrastructure facility, including any person or object on the
82 premises of or within the facility; or
83 3. Allow a drone to come within a distance of a critical
84 infrastructure facility that is close enough to interfere with
85 the operations of or cause a disturbance to the facility.
86 (b) A person who violates paragraph (a) commits a felony of
87 the third misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as
88 provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. A person who commits a
89 second or subsequent violation commits a misdemeanor of the
90 first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s.
91 775.083.
92 Section 2. Section 330.411, Florida Statutes, is amended to
93 read:
94 330.411 Prohibited possession, alteration, or operation of
95 unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system.—
96 (1) A person may not knowingly or willfully possess or
97 operate an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system as
98 defined in s. 330.41(2) s. 330.41 with an attached weapon,
99 firearm, explosive, destructive device, or ammunition as defined
100 in s. 790.001.
101 (2) A person may not knowingly or willfully alter,
102 manipulate, tamper with, or otherwise change an unmanned
103 aircraft or unmanned aircraft system’s hardware or software to
104 purposefully frustrate any tool, system, or technology intended
105 to satisfy the remote identification requirements established by
106 the Federal Aviation Administration as they relate to any
107 unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft systems in violation of
108 s. 330.41(4)(a), unless authorized by the administrator of the
109 Federal Aviation Administration or the Secretary of Defense, or
110 their respective designees.
111 (3) A person may not knowingly or willfully possess or
112 operate an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system that
113 has been altered, manipulated, tampered with, or otherwise
114 changed to purposefully frustrate any tool, system, or
115 technology intended to satisfy the remote identification
116 requirements established by the Federal Aviation Administration
117 as they relate to any unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft
118 systems in violation of s. 330.41(4)(a), unless authorized by
119 the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration or the
120 Secretary of Defense, or their respective designees.
121 (4) A person who violates subsection (1), subsection (2),
122 or subsection (3) commits a felony of the third degree,
123 punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
124 (5) A person who, without lawful authority, possesses or
125 operates an unmanned aircraft system carrying a weapon of mass
126 destruction, a hoax weapon of mass destruction, a biological
127 agent, or a toxin, as those terms are defined in s. 790.166(1),
128 commits a felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in
129 s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
130 Section 3. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) and paragraph
131 (d) of subsection (4) of section 934.50, Florida Statutes, are
132 amended, and paragraph (r) of subsection (4) and subsection (8)
133 are added to that section, to read:
134 934.50 Searches and seizure using a drone.—
135 (3) PROHIBITED USE OF DRONES.—
136 (b)1. A person, a state agency, or a political subdivision
137 as defined in s. 11.45 may not use a drone equipped with an
138 imaging device to record an image of privately owned real
139 property or of the owner, tenant, occupant, invitee, or licensee
140 of such property with the intent to conduct surveillance on the
141 individual or property captured in the image in violation of
142 such person’s reasonable expectation of privacy without his or
143 her written consent. For purposes of this section, a person is
144 presumed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy on his or
145 her privately owned real property if he or she is not observable
146 by persons located at ground level in a place where they have a
147 legal right to be, regardless of whether he or she is observable
148 from the air with the use of a drone.
149 2. A person who has a reasonable expectation of privacy on
150 his or her privately owned real property may use reasonable
151 force to prohibit a drone from conducting surveillance in
152 violation of this paragraph, if such drone is operating under
153 500 feet over such property.
154 (4) EXCEPTIONS.—This section does not prohibit the use of a
155 drone:
156 (d) To provide a law enforcement agency with an aerial
157 perspective of a crowd of 50 people or more or to provide or
158 maintain the public safety of such crowd, provided that:
159 1. The law enforcement agency that uses the drone to
160 provide an aerial perspective of a crowd of 50 people or more
161 must have policies and procedures that include guidelines:
162 a. For the agency’s use of a drone.
163 b. For the proper storage, retention, and release of any
164 images or video captured by the drone.
165 c. That address the personal safety and constitutional
166 protections of the people being observed.
167 2. The head of the law enforcement agency using the drone
168 for this purpose must provide written authorization for such use
169 and must maintain a copy on file at the agency.
170 (r) By a law enforcement agency in furtherance of providing
171 and maintaining the security of an elected official pursuant to
172 s. 943.68.
173 (8) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—
174 (a) An individual who knowingly or willfully violates
175 paragraph (3)(b) commits a misdemeanor of the first degree,
176 punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
177 (b) An individual who knowingly or willfully violates
178 paragraph (3)(b) and intentionally distributes surveillance
179 obtained in violation of that paragraph commits a felony of the
180 third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083,
181 or s. 775.084.
182
183 This subsection does not apply to a state agency, a political
184 subdivision, a law enforcement agency, or its officers,
185 employees, or agents.
186 Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2025.