In the past few years, many states have proposed or passed laws regulating the usage of drones. These laws generally fall into two distinct categories: those that regulate the government’s use of drones and those that regulate civilian uses for drones. A majority of states, such as Florida, passed laws that prohibited state law enforcement from conducting surveillance using drones unless pursuant to a warrant. These laws are very common across the nation. Many southern states, such as Louisiana, banned the civilian use of drones to take any picture or video of private property. An additional concern addressed by many state legislatures is the equipment of drones with weapons and explosive payloads, which is prohibited in Massachusetts among other states. State legislatures will continue to write and debate legislation on drones until the federal government releases overarching laws or guidelines concerning this new technology.

The following table gives a brief overview of each drone law, as well as information if you wish to follow up on the information.

This was a report compiled and researched by Jackson Hannon, Zeke Peterson, David Auberg, and Robert Prestgard-Duke.