Drone advisory panel backs adding drones to obstruction statute, recommends state tools to counter hostile UAS

The Louisiana Advanced Aviation and Drone Advisory Committee voted at its January 2025 meeting to add proposed language to Louisiana Revised Statutes related to obstructing firefighters that would explicitly include unmanned aircraft systems and to recommend state actions to give law enforcement additional counter‑drone tools.

The change was introduced to the committee by Jim Polk of St. Charles Parish, who provided the draft language and testified about local incidents and operational gaps. "I am Jim Polk. I do work for Saint Charles Parish. My area of responsibility is homeland security," Polk said while describing repeated incursions near industrial sites and firefighting operations and urging the committee to add the language to its legislative packet.

The committee’s counter‑drone chair, George Ray Sr., described technical and threat developments driving the recommendation. "These things are quickly being adapted...a lot of the material on the explosive side...is readily available today on the web," Ray said, summarizing work by the counter‑drone subcommittee and urging the state to develop mitigation and detection capacity. Ray and other members outlined three interlocking approaches: (1) statutory changes to close enforcement gaps, (2) a multi‑state operational and data‑sharing MOU and common operating picture for sensors, and (3) a nonprofit testing/consortium vehicle to attract private investment and support standardized evaluation of counter‑UAS systems.

The committee also discussed sensor placement strategies, including pilot projects to mount sensors on cell towers so monitoring equipment benefits from emergency power, and an effort to form a multi‑state consortium (Virginia and Massachusetts were cited as early participants) to normalize disparate sensor feeds into a single operational picture for Homeland Security and FAA stakeholders. Ray said the group is drafting an MOU and that Louisiana had been asked by FAA and other partners to draft the first version.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved adding Polk’s proposed Title 14 language to LADAC’s 2025 legislative report (motion moved, seconded and adopted on roll call). The roll call recorded the following responses: Dupree (aye), Claymont (aye), Ray (aye), Broom (aye), Bawken (aye), Moore (aye), Brown (aye), Bartels (aye), Mule (aye), Representative Wiley (aye), Brent (abstain). The committee also approved inclusion of the counter‑drone subcommittee report in the 2025 annual report.

Why it matters: committee members said drones have repeatedly interrupted firefighting missions and posed risks near chemical and industrial facilities along the Mississippi River. Committee testimony cited local detections and an estimated 75% interdiction rate for incidents investigated by St. Charles Parish, but members and presenters said state authorities lack clear mitigation authority and uniformly connected detection networks.

The committee’s action was framed as a recommendation to the legislature and the DOTD secretary; it does not itself change criminal law. Members repeatedly cautioned that enforcement and mitigation remain constrained by federal aviation authority and said proposed state steps were deliberately narrow, focusing on closing gaps in existing Louisiana statutes rather than asserting state control over airspace.

The committee invited public safety agencies, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry, parish emergency managers, and federal partners to participate in drafting language and in the planned consortium and testing effort. Several members asked that the proposed Title 14 language be carried to the legislature with LADAC’s endorsement so sponsors could file bills in the coming session.

Ending: Committee members said the next steps are to finalize the recommended statutory language, circulate a draft MOU for the multi‑state consortium, and continue technical work on sensor deployments and funding paths, with the language included in LADAC’s 2025 annual legislative packet for consideration by the secretary of DOTD and transportation committee chairs.