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Committee amends drone law to include robots, sends bill out with recommendation
Summary
Lawmakers reconsidered House Bill 1613 and adopted legislative council’s amendment to add a definition of “robot” and insert robots into several UAS/drone statutory sections; the committee voted to recommend the bill as amended.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to reconsider and then amend House Bill 1613, a measure extending parts of the UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) chapter to cover robots.
Representative Vetter moved to reconsider the committee’s earlier action on HB 1613; the motion carried by roll call. Representatives discussed a legislative council amendment that inserts the term “robot” into specific sections of chapter 29‑209.4 rather than creating a broad standalone section. The proposed amendment also adds a definition: "robot means an artificial object or system that senses, processes…" as printed in the amendment.
After discussion, Representative Wolff moved the legislative council amendment and the committee adopted it. The committee then voted to give HB 1613 a recommendation of do pass as amended.
Nut graf: The change narrows the original language (which attempted to apply the whole chapter to robots) by adding robots into enumerated statutory sections and by providing a definition; legislative council recommended the narrower approach and the committee accepted it.
Representative Olson moved a motion for the bill to do pass as amended; the motion passed by roll call. The committee recorded the action as a do pass as amended recommendation; committee members assigned Representative Christiansen as the bill carrier for floor action.
Ending: HB 1613 advances from committee with amendments that explicitly place robots into discrete UAS provisions and establish a statutory definition. The committee’s votes were recorded on the transcript.
