[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3669 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3669

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a criminal penalty 
   for operating drones in certain locations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 2015

 Mr. Garamendi (for himself, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Sherman, 
 Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Farr, Ms. Roybal-Allard, 
 Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Meeks, and Ms. Norton) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a criminal penalty 
   for operating drones in certain locations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safety for Airports and Firefighters 
by Ensuring Drones Refrain from Obstructing Necessary Equipment Act of 
2015'' or the ``SAFE DRONE Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR OPERATING DRONES IN CERTAIN LOCATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 2 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 40A. Operating drones in certain locations
    ``(a) Offense.--Whoever knowingly operates a drone in a restricted 
area shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one 
year, or both.
    ``(b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to operations 
conducted for purposes of firefighting or emergency response by a 
Federal, State, or local unit of government (including any individual 
conducting such operations pursuant to a contract or other agreement 
entered into with the unit).
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `drone' means an unmanned aircraft, as that 
        term is defined in section 331 of the FAA Modernization and 
        Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note);
            ``(2) the term `restricted area' means--
                    ``(A) within a 2-mile radius of a small hub 
                airport, medium hub airport, or large hub airport;
                    ``(B) within 2 miles of the outermost perimeter of 
                an ongoing firefighting operation involving the 
                Department of Agriculture or the Department of the 
                Interior; or
                    ``(C) in an area that is subject to a temporary 
                flight restriction issued by the Administrator of the 
                Federal Aviation Administration; and
            ``(3) the terms `small hub airport', `medium hub airport', 
        and `large hub airport' have the meanings given those terms in 
        section 47102 of title 49.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 2 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new item:

``40A. Operating drones in certain locations.''.
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