Texas Senate, House pass drone bill

[Carlybee]

Senate, House pass drone bill
Sunday, May 26, 2013


A conference committee report for a proposal that criminalizes the use of drones for surveillance and permits Texans to document the activities of law enforcement personnel was adopted by both the Texas House and Senate late Sunday.

House Bill 912 carries more than 40 exemptions, including one that permits members of the media to use drones to photograph and record breaking news activity. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, more than 30,000 unmanned aircraft are expected to be in use in the U.S. by 2020. It now heads to the governor’s desk for approval.

One exemption will need further clarification, said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, before the Senate approved the measure 26-5: as it’s written now, one exemption states that the ban does not apply to residents who live within 25 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Our legislative intent was to have law enforcement be able to use drones,” Estes said, and he added that “we don’t want private citizens to be able to use drones at the border, either.”

He said he would work with the Texas Department of Public Safety and others to ensure the ban extends to citizens along the border, too. Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said he opposed the possibility that regular citizens, including members of the Minutemen Militia, could cite the exemption to conduct aerial surveillance.

“That definetely was not my intent,” Estes said.

Shortly after the report was adopted by the Senate, House members also passed the measure 140-4.



http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2013/05/senate-house-pass-drone-bill/?cmpid=hpfsln

[Carson]

"40 exemptions."

How about the 2nd Amendment covering citizens rights to wield bear drones?



And on a different note:

“we don’t want private citizens to be able to use drones at the border, either.”

It was a private citizen working on watching the border that invented the Unmanned Arial Vehicle (UAV) capability to fly themselves along the border. He had them set up to fly from his home and automatically follow check points using Global Positioning. The government/military thought wow and hired him to build them some and later ran off with his concept and had them built elsewhere, if I remember correctly. It seems a shame to bar him from using his own invention.

Glenn Spencer is his name. Lets see what Google finds shall we?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Spencer



American Border Patrol

In August 2002, Glenn Spencer left his wife and children and moved to Arizona and formed the American Border Patrol. The organization uses cameras, sensors, “hawkeye” spotters, and unmanned aerial vehicles to identify suspected border crossings (The organization has outfitted three model airplanes with cameras which are designed to home in on ground sensors triggered by people walking in the desert). Once identified, the suspected illegal immigrants are videotaped whenever possible and reported to the United States Border Patrol. Video of their aerial patrols of the border are also available on the organization’s website. According to Spencer, American Border Patrol differs from other civilian patrol groups operating in Arizona in that their volunteers do not carry firearms and do not attempt to detain migrants, but rather focus on documenting border intrusions. . - Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress, Civilian Patrols Along the Border: Legal and Policy Issues, April 7, 2006.

The use of 'model airplane'-type UAVs was ended in 2005 when the U.S. Border Patrol adopted the concept. Presently a manned Cessna aircraft with high-tech camera and infrared equipment is used to monitor activities along the border.

http://www.thefullwiki.org/Glenn_Spencer


Or this;

http://www.isteve.com/2003_Border_Hawk_Drone_Flies.htm


His website;

http://www.americanpatrol.com/ (http://www.americanpatrol.com/)

[Carlybee]

Basically it boils down to the only people allowed to have them will be law enforcement and certain segments of business. I pretty much can guess that if a private citizen tries to use them they will be considered an enemy combatant.

[Carson]

Basically it boils down to the only people allowed to have them will be law enforcement and certain segments of business. I pretty much can guess that if a private citizen tries to use them they will be considered an enemy combatant.

I just came back because I didn't really read the bill. I just went off on a tangent assuming since it was reported in such a way as to give the impression it was to protect the public from government intrusion that it did the exact opposite.

Imagine that.

[Carlybee]

Yeah I think it's ultimately just another back door way in for the drone bidness.

[HOLLYWOOD]

How much money did the 'Drone Lobby' donate or promise jobs to Texas politicians?

Maybe we'll hear the regurgitated "Creating Jobs" rhetoric from government officials.


There's no money in FREEDOM, but plenty in restricting/eliminating it.