[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 129 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 129

 To amend the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to establish a 
  prohibition to prevent the use of an unmanned aircraft system as a 
 weapon while operating in the national airspace system, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2017

 Mr. Burgess introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
             Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 to establish a 
  prohibition to prevent the use of an unmanned aircraft system as a 
 weapon while operating in the national airspace system, 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 ``No Armed Drones Act of 2017'' or the 
``NADA Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle B of title III of the FAA Modernization 
and Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note; 126 Stat. 72) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 337. PROHIBITION TO PREVENT USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS AS 
              WEAPONS WHILE OPERATING IN NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM.

    ``(a) Prohibition.--The Secretary of Transportation may not 
authorize a person to operate an unmanned aircraft system in the 
national airspace system for the purpose, in whole or in part, of using 
the unmanned aircraft system as a weapon or to deliver a weapon against 
a person or property.
    ``(b) General Exceptions.--The Secretary may establish exceptions 
to the prohibition in subsection (a) for operations of unmanned 
aircraft systems related to--
            ``(1) recreational hunting;
            ``(2) animal control; and
            ``(3) such other purposes as the Secretary determines 
        appropriate.
    ``(c) Exceptions for Operations of Public Unmanned Aircraft 
Systems.--The Secretary may establish exceptions to the prohibition in 
subsection (a) for operations of public unmanned aircraft systems 
related to--
            ``(1) operations conducted by U.S. Customs and Border 
        Protection;
            ``(2) operations conducted by the Department of Defense, 
        including establishing areas of airspace for such operations 
        under section 40103(b)(3) of title 49, United States Code; and
            ``(3) operations conducted by a governmental entity 
        described in the definition of `public aircraft' in section 
        40102(a) of such title for national defense purposes or in 
        response to a terrorist event.
    ``(d) Procedures To Protect Public Safety.--In authorizing 
operations pursuant to subsections (b) and (c), the Secretary shall 
implement procedures to ensure that reasonable precautions are taken to 
protect public safety.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions 
apply:
            ``(1) Person.--The term `person', in addition to its 
        meaning under section 1 of title 1, United States Code, 
        includes a governmental authority and a trustee, receiver, 
        assignee, and other similar representative.
            ``(2) Weapon.--The term `weapon' includes lethal and 
        nonlethal weapons.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents contained in section 
1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 336 the following:

``Sec. 337. Prohibition to prevent use of unmanned aircraft systems as 
                            weapons while operating in national 
                            airspace system.''.
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