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Committee narrows drone bill to bar use of robots for offensive conduct without legitimate purpose
Summary
An amended version of House Bill 1429, addressing the use of drones and other robotic devices near people, livestock and wildlife, was approved by the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee after members replaced broad 'intimidation' language with a provision focused on use of robotic devices to engage in offensive conduct with no legitimate,
The Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee approved an amended version of House Bill 1429 Wednesday that narrows how state law covers the use of drones and other robotic devices near people, livestock and wildlife.
Sponsor supporters and opponents had confronted a broad original draft that used terms such as “intimidating wildlife” or animals; committee members said those phrases would be difficult to interpret and enforce in court. Senator Meerdal offered an amendment that focuses on using a robotic device to engage in offensive conduct with no legitimate purpose, language the sponsor approved as capturing the bill’s intent while avoiding vague criminal standards.
“Some testimony raised questions about whether language like ‘intimidate’ or ‘dominate’ animals would be too ambiguous for enforcement,” the senator said during debate; the amended language instead creates a harassment-based approach tied to existing state stalking and harassment statutes with a narrow “robot” definition.
Under the amendment, the statutory harassment provisions would be extended to cover a person’s use of an artificial object (defined in the bill to include drones or robots) to commit offensive conduct when there is no legitimate purpose. Committee counsel adjusted drafting to remove redundant references to causing “mental anguish” because the harassment statute already addresses that element in other subsections.
Committee action: members adopted the revised amendment, then voted to advance HB 1429 as amended to the full Senate. Senator Lam agreed to carry the bill.
Why it matters: the revision aims to balance property owners’ and livestock producers’ concerns about harassment and animal disturbance with legal clarity so courts can apply existing harassment standards to modern devices such as drones.
Next steps: HB 1429 will be reported out of committee and proceed to the Senate floor for further debate and possible amendment.
(Reporting note: testimony and quoted material in this article come from the committee hearing transcript of March 21, 2025.)
