House approves bill applying Fourth Amendment rules to police drones

Second Substitute Senate Bill 167, a bill to regulate law-enforcement use of unmanned aircraft systems, passed the Utah House by a 67-5 vote after sponsors and colleagues said the measure simply applies established Fourth Amendment warrant principles to a new technology.

Representative Roberts, the House sponsor, told members the bill does not change constitutional protections but clarifies when a warrant is required and when courts have long-recognized exceptions apply. "This bill takes basically what we do with regards to warrants and Fourth Amendment principles and applies that to this new technology," Roberts said, listing exigent circumstances, hot pursuit, plain view, search incident to arrest, vehicle search rules, consent searches, border searches and open-fields doctrines as potential warrant exceptions.

Representative Nelson, speaking in support, said sponsors had worked through the scope of exceptions and concluded it was best to leave their definition to the courts rather than enumerate them in statute. "It's probably best to leave it up to judicial discretion," Nelson said, adding he would support the bill.

Roberts noted similar laws in other states and said sponsors had negotiated language intended to preserve privacy while allowing law enforcement to use drones for tasks like search-and-rescue and accident surveying. He asked members to support intent language explaining the bill's purpose.

Voting opened and closed on the second substitute; the clerk reported 67 yes votes and 5 no votes. The measure will be signed by the Speaker and returned to the Senate for the president's signature.

What happens next: The bill goes back to the Senate for final action. Any future disputes about the application of exceptions will be resolved by judicial interpretation because the sponsors intentionally relied on existing Fourth Amendment case law rather than listing exceptions in statute.