Georgia House Judiciary Committee approves study committee on drones, citing national security

Representative Henry Clark asked the Georgia House Judiciary Committee to form a study committee to examine drones and related technologies, saying the committee should assess national security risks, data transmission vulnerabilities and rapidly evolving software and countermeasure tools. "It's definitely a technology that that's moving very, very fast," Representative Clark said.

The resolution, identified in committee as House Resolution 8 17 L C 560389, was amended on the floor to broaden the scope and to add specific drafting changes before the committee voted to adopt it. Committee members pressed for clarity on whether the study would cover aerial, maritime and ground robots; Clark said the author intended a primarily aerial focus but was open to examining other unmanned systems if time permitted.

The measure highlights concerns about reliance on foreign-manufactured systems and chipsets and includes a phrase inserting "including from foreign adversaries" into the scope language. Committee amendments added the words "and chipsets" to a clause about drones, inserted the phrase "the State of" before references to Georgia, added "and the United States federal government" in one clause, corrected a grammatical error changing "lax" to "lack," and expanded the stated purposes to include "the potential coordination of federal, state, and local governments in developing procedures to ensure that interdictions take into account the safety and protection of local communities." Ally (staff) read the consolidated block of friendly amendments to the committee before the vote.

Representative Holcomb cited recent reporting and military intrusions as part of the rationale for a state-level study, saying "the legal architecture that exists isn't ready for this," and urged that coordination procedures account for community safety if interdictions or force are ever considered. Other members asked the author to clarify the study's duration; Representative Clark said the committee would run through Dec. 1, describing it as "less than 1 year." Several members urged a broad mandate so the study committee could determine its own investigative path and witnesses.

Chairman Prince moved to pass the resolution and a member seconded. The committee adopted the package of friendly amendments as a block and then approved the amended resolution by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. The committee will convene the study group and bring in experts from across the nation and from Georgia to prepare a report for the legislature.

At the close of the meeting committee leadership invited members to an event at the GTA Innovation Lab later in the week; Stacy Williams was named as the coordinator for that event.

The committee's action establishes the study body and a defined set of topics for review but does not itself change state law. Any recommendations that emerge from the study committee would require separate legislative action.