SB 525

substitute for
Senate BILL NO. 525
A bill to amend 2016 PA 436, entitled
"Unmanned aircraft systems act,"
by amending section 7 (MCL 259.307), as added by 2018
PA 442.
the peoplE of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 7. (1) Except as otherwise provided
in subsection (6), a department, agency, board, or commission of this state or
a person under a contract with or acting at the direction or on behalf of a
department, agency, board, or commission of this state shall not use an
unmanned aircraft system to surveil, inspect, or gather evidence or collect
information about a facility that is subject to a permit, license, or order
issued by or a decree or other requirement governed by that department, agency,
board, or commission unless any of the following apply:
(a) The owner or
operator of the facility has given express consent for the use of an unmanned
aircraft system for the purposes described in this subsection in a particular
instance.
(b) The department,
agency, board, commission, or person is acting under a valid search warrant and
the use of the unmanned aircraft system is strictly limited to the subject
matter and scope of that warrant.
(c) The department,
agency, board, or commission has reason to believe that there may be an
imminent threat to public health, safety, property, or the natural resources of
the state from the facility and the use of the unmanned aircraft system is
strictly limited to the investigation of that imminent threat.
(d) The department,
agency, board, commission, or person is inspecting a
either of the following:
(i) A roadway, highway, airport, airport
approach corridor, port, or similar infrastructure.
(ii) A
telecommunications tower facility, grounds, antennae, shelter site, or similar
infrastructure.
(e) The department, agency, board, commission, or person is participating
in a recovery, assessment, or inspection effort in response to a declared state
of emergency, local state of emergency, or state of disaster under the
emergency management act, 1976 PA 390, MCL 30.401 to 30.421, and the use of the
unmanned aircraft system is strictly limited to assisting in that recovery,
assessment, or inspection effort.
(2) An unmanned
aircraft system that is used as described in subsection (1) must be clearly
marked as a state-owned or operated aircraft unless it is an unmanned aircraft
system operated in accordance with subsection (3).
(3) For any use
that is governed by subsection (1)(a), both of the following apply:
(a) Subject to
subdivision (b), the consent of the owner or operator may be conditioned on the
use of an unmanned aircraft system that is owned and operated by that owner or
operator under, and in compliance with, Federal Aviation Administration
regulations, authorizations, or exemptions. The department, agency, board,
commission, or person under contract with or acting at the direction or on
behalf of the department, agency, board, or commission shall allow, under its
direct supervision, the use of the unmanned aircraft system by the owner or
operator to conduct the surveillance, inspection, evidence gathering, or
information collecting under this section, if doing so will gather information
of a quality and nature sufficient for the intended purpose of the
surveillance, inspection, evidence gathering, or information collection.
(b) If the owner or
operator provides consent on the condition described in subdivision (a), or if
the owner or operator withholds consent, the owner or operator shall provide to
the department, agency, board, or commission a statement, in writing, that indicates
the health and safety reasons for providing consent on the condition described
in subdivision (a) or withholding consent.
(4) Any
surveillance, inspection, evidence gathering, or information collecting
conducted under subsection (1)(c) shall be under the direct supervision of the
department, agency, board, or commission.
(5) Any data,
including videos, photographic images, or geospatial data, collected by the
operation of an unmanned aircraft system concerning a facility described in
subsection (1) shall be furnished promptly to the facility's owner or operator
upon request and shall be rebuttably presumed to be not subject to disclosure
under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
(6) This section
does not apply to a law enforcement agency operating an unmanned aircraft
system as part of a law enforcement investigation.