House panel advances bill to allow drones to locate feral hogs on private land

Representative Rob Clifton presented House Bill 946 (LC 443279) to the committee, saying the measure "allows drones to be used in the locating of feral hogs." Clifton said the bill responds to constituent requests and current code that he said prevents the private use of unmanned aircraft systems to find hogs on private property.

Clifton told members the bill is limited to private land and would not allow drone use on Wildlife Management Areas or other state or federal property. "If you're on your land and your neighbor, I don't see any issue at all with, calling saying, hey, I was flying around, saw some hogs if you wanna go get them," he said. He added that the bill "absolutely could not be done the way it is written now" under existing code, and that the change is intended to make it easier for landowners to locate and remove feral hogs that cause crop and land damage.

Committee members asked for clarifications on trespass and permission from adjacent landowners. Representative Dunnehy noted that written permission historically has been used to avoid trespass, and members discussed that lack of written permission could constitute trespass under current law.

After discussion, a motion to move the bill out of committee was made, seconded and advanced by voice vote; the transcript records the committee as saying "move on" with no roll-call tally recorded. The bill sponsor said the intent is to limit the change to private-property use and to leave hunting on public lands governed by existing rules.

The measure now proceeds from committee; the transcript does not record additional amendments, a roll-call vote, or the next committee assignment.