Ohio committee hears competing views on bill to restrict drones from ‘covered foreign adversaries’

The Ohio Senate Transportation Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 180 on the bill’s third hearing, with proponents urging tighter controls on drones they said pose national-security risks and opponents saying the measure would harm public-safety work and small businesses.

Mason Sisk, director of government affairs for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), told the committee the bill would transition state and local agencies away from operating small unmanned aircraft manufactured or assembled by "covered foreign adversaries." He said federal action already signals concern: "In the past two years alone, we've seen Congress enact the American Security Drone Act in 2023 and the countering CCP drones act of 2024," and he recommended aligning the bill’s definitions with those…