California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed AB-856 Tuesday. The bill, which closes a loophole in existing law by clarifying paparazzi are trespassing when flying a drone over private property, was authored by Democratic Assembly member Ian Calderon. “Paparazzi have used drones for years to invade the privacy and capture pictures of public persons in their most private of activities -- despite existing law,” Calderon said in a news release Tuesday. AB-856 prohibits drones from being used to fly over fences, bypass gates and travel into private sanctuaries to peer into windows, capture goings on and otherwise spy on the private lives of public persons, Calderon said.

“For America’s drone technology to actually take flight, we need a regulatory framework that embodies a risk-based approach to integrating unmanned aircraft systems [into the national airspace] to maximize safety, utility and economic benefit,” said CEA CEO Gary Shapiro in a news release Wednesday. Shapiro’s comments came as the House Aviation Subcommittee held a hearing on ensuring aviation safety in the era of unmanned aircraft systems. “The drone industry is set to take off one-million flights per day within the next 20 years given the right regulatory environment,” for uses ranging from search and rescue to package delivery to filming movies to precision agriculture, Shapiro said. “Until the Federal Aviation Administration releases clear rules authorizing drones in the national airspace, the industry and CEA will continue to educate drone enthusiasts about the safe and responsible operation of drones through the Know Before You Fly campaign.”

The Federal Aviation Administration’s goal is to integrate drones into U.S. airspace while “maintaining the highest levels of safety,” a spokeswoman told us in response to a complaint filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center against the FAA for failing to establish privacy rules for commercial drones (see 1510050053). “Safely integrating UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] into the national airspace system is one of the biggest and most exciting challenges we face,” the FAA said. “We are finalizing our final rule for small unmanned aircraft and will have that out next year,” the FAA said. “Meanwhile, we’ve granted more than 1,700 exemptions to commercial operators through the Section 333 process,” as the agency has successfully done for decades, the spokeswoman said. “These operations are approved and authorized by the FAA so we can ensure the safety of the public,” the FAA said. It didn't respond to questions surrounding EPIC's privacy concerns.

The Federal Aviation Administration wants to levy the “largest civil penalty" it has proposed against an unmanned aircraft system operator "for endangering the safety of our airspace” by operating drones in a “careless or reckless manner,” the agency said in a Tuesday announcement. The proposed $1.9 million civil penalty against SkyPan International of Chicago alleges that between March 21, 2012, and Dec. 15, 2014, SkyPan conducted 65 unauthorized operations “in some of our most congested airspace and heavily populated cities [including New York City and Chicago], violating airspace regulations and various operating rules,” the FAA said. The flights involved aerial photography, and the aircraft were “not equipped with a two-way radio, transponder, and altitude-reporting equipment,” the FAA said. SkyPan also failed to obtain a certificate of waiver or authorization for the operations, the release said. SkyPan has 30 days to respond to the FAA’s enforcement letter, it said. SkyPan didn’t have an immediate comment.

The House Aviation Subcommittee plans a hearing on ensuring aviation safety in the era of unmanned aircraft systems Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2167 Rayburn. Witnesses are Federal Aviation Administration Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker; U.S. Forest Service State and Private Forestry Deputy Chief James Hubbard; Air Line Pilots Association President Tim Canoll; Academy of Model Aeronautics Government and Regulatory Affairs Director Rich Hanson; and Stanford University aeronautics and astronautics professor Mykel Kochenderfer.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed three bills on unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, proposed by state Sen. Ted Gaines (R), citing concerns with criminalizing conduct when the state’s prison and jail populations “have exploded,” in a veto message Saturday. Gaines said SB-168 would “protect forests, property and the lives of citizens, firefighters and emergency personnel from drone interference” by increasing fines for drone use that interferes with firefighting and emergency responders, in a September 2015 news release. “The bill also seeks to grant civil immunity to any emergency responder who damages an unmanned aircraft in the course of firefighting, air ambulance, or search-and-rescue operations,” the release said. Gaines said he proposed the bill amid “alarming reports of private, unauthorized drones causing mission-critical aircraft to be grounded during firefighting and medical response operations, putting pilots, firefighters, civilians and property at unnecessary risk.” SB-170 would have made it a felony to use a drone to deliver contraband into a prison or county jail, Gaines website said. The legislation would have also made it a misdemeanor to fly a drone over a prison as well as to intentionally capture images of a prison using a drone. SB-271 would have prohibited the use of drones to fly over or capture images of school grounds, without written authorization from the school district, Gaines’ website said. Brown encouraged the legislature to “pause and reflect on how our system of criminal justice could be made more human, more just and more cost-effective,” in his veto message, saying the bills increased the complexity and particularization of criminal behavior without a clear benefit.

Residents of and visitors to Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia and surrounding communities will be in "No Drone Zones" Sept. 22-27 during Pope Francis’s visit to the U.S., a Federal Aviation Administration news release said Tuesday. "If you plan to attend any of the Papal visit events, please leave your drone at home," FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said. "Anyone flying a drone within the designated restricted areas may be subject to civil and criminal charges." Use of any unmanned aircraft, including radio-controlled model aircraft, is prohibited anywhere the pope will visit, the release said. Airspace around Washington, D.C., is more restricted than in any other part of the country, with expanded restrictions on aircraft applying to an expanded area, it said.