Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 822
       
       
        
       By Senator Albritton
       
       
       
       
       
       26-00749A-20                                           2020822__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to drones; amending s. 934.50, F.S.;
    3         adding an exception to prohibited uses of a drone;
    4         providing an effective date.
    5          
    6  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    7  
    8         Section 1. Paragraph (k) is added to subsection (4) of
    9  section 934.50, Florida Statutes, and subsection (3) of that
   10  section is republished, to read:
   11         934.50 Searches and seizure using a drone.—
   12         (3) PROHIBITED USE OF DRONES.—
   13         (a) A law enforcement agency may not use a drone to gather
   14  evidence or other information.
   15         (b) A person, a state agency, or a political subdivision as
   16  defined in s. 11.45 may not use a drone equipped with an imaging
   17  device to record an image of privately owned real property or of
   18  the owner, tenant, occupant, invitee, or licensee of such
   19  property with the intent to conduct surveillance on the
   20  individual or property captured in the image in violation of
   21  such person’s reasonable expectation of privacy without his or
   22  her written consent. For purposes of this section, a person is
   23  presumed to have a reasonable expectation of privacy on his or
   24  her privately owned real property if he or she is not observable
   25  by persons located at ground level in a place where they have a
   26  legal right to be, regardless of whether he or she is observable
   27  from the air with the use of a drone.
   28         (4) EXCEPTIONS.—This section does not prohibit the use of a
   29  drone:
   30         (k) By a non-law enforcement employee of the Fish and
   31  Wildlife Conservation Commission or of the Florida Forest
   32  Service for the purpose of managing and eradicating invasive
   33  exotic plants or animals on public lands.
   34         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.