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Committee carries over bill increasing penalties for UAS interference with emergency response
Summary
The House Committee on Judiciary carried over Senate Bill 1125A after staff described an A2 amendment that revises criminal penalties for using unmanned aircraft systems to interfere with emergency-response efforts.
The House Committee on Judiciary carried over Senate Bill 1125A for further review after committee staff said the measure has been amended to incorporate provisions from a related House bill and to confirm penalty classifications.
The bill revises criminal penalties for interference with emergency-response efforts using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). As presented to the committee, the dash-A2 amendment would: create a class B misdemeanor for recklessly causing UAS interference with law enforcement, firefighting, search-and-rescue, or emergency-response efforts; elevate subsequent reckless offenses to a class A misdemeanor; establish a class C felony for knowingly or intentionally causing interference with those protected public-safety activities; and increase penalties for causing death or serious physical injury by interfering with an emergency response to a class A felony. The amendment also removed a separate class B felony for property damage.
Chair Kropf told members he would carry the bill over to the next work session to review a consolidated text that merges Senate language with prior House provisions. "I'm gonna carry this over tomorrow just so I can do 1 more hard read of this because we're ... trying to incorporate the bill that came out of the Senate," the chair said.
Why it matters: The measure addresses the use of drones or other UAS to interfere with firefighting and law-enforcement operations, a topic lawmakers cited as public-safety sensitive. The committee paused action to ensure the final bill language and penalty structure correctly reflect prior committee action and related legislation.
Committee process and next steps Staff described the dash-A2 amendment as incorporating provisions from House Bill 3426A and aligning penalty classifications. Committee members did not take a final vote; the chair scheduled further review and anticipated working the bill at the next meeting.
Discussion versus decision - Discussion: Committee reviewed penalty classes and asked staff to reconcile two bills' language. - Direction: Staff and the chair will review the consolidated draft; the bill was carried over for further consideration. - Formal action: No final motion or vote was taken at this work session.
