STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5251 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 7, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. KIM, SIMON, TAYLOR, JACKSON, MAMDANI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to imposing limita- tions on the use of drones for law enforcement purposes The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "protect 2 our privacy (POP) act". 3 § 2. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 52-e to 4 read as follows: 5 § 52-e. Limitations on the use of drones; law enforcement purposes. 1. 6 The use of drones by a law enforcement agency, or employee thereof, or 7 for law enforcement purposes, is prohibited, and no warrant may be 8 sought or issued authorizing such use of drones. It is also prohibited 9 for law enforcement to enter into an agreement with a private entity or 10 individual, whether paid or otherwise, to obtain information from 11 drones. 12 2. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, law enforcement 13 agencies may use drones for the following purposes: 14 a. Search and rescue. 15 b. Examining conditions of dangerous areas after natural disasters. 16 3. Notwithstanding subdivision two of this section, a law enforcement 17 agency or employee thereof may not use a drone for documentation, 18 recording, investigation, or collection of data at concerts, protests, 19 demonstrations, or other actions protected by the first amendment to the 20 United States constitution or sections eight and nine of article one of 21 the New York state constitution, nor may a law enforcement agency or 22 employee thereof possess or use an armed drone. 23 4. Any data obtained from drones pursuant to subdivision two of this 24 section may not be used for any law enforcement purposes. Furthermore, 25 any personally identifying information collected from such drones may EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04385-02-3
A. 5251 2 1 not be shared with any federal, state, local, or private entity or indi- 2 vidual unless such entity or individual agrees to keep such information 3 confidential. Any individual whose personally identifying data is shared 4 in violation of this subdivision or in violation of a confidentiality 5 agreement pursuant to this subdivision shall have a private right of 6 action against the entity or individual who shares such data. 7 5. This section shall apply retroactively with respect to law enforce- 8 ment data collected from using drones equipped with facial recognition 9 software or using facial recognition on video or images obtained or 10 created by a drone, including videos or images obtained or created by 11 drones owned, controlled, or maintained by a private company, a private 12 individual, or other government agency, and any such data may not be 13 used in any ongoing investigations or prosecutions and shall be promptly 14 deleted. 15 6. Data or information obtained by drones and within the control of 16 any government agency or in the possession of a private company or indi- 17 vidual on behalf of any government agency shall be subject to release 18 under the freedom of information law, provided that all personal identi- 19 fying information, except for that of law enforcement personnel acting 20 within their official responsibilities or performing an official func- 21 tion, shall be redacted prior to such release. 22 7. All existing data or information obtained by the use of drones for 23 law enforcement purposes that are not part of an ongoing criminal inves- 24 tigation or proceeding shall be destroyed in one year or less, absent a 25 subpoena or court order. Existing data or information not destroyed in 26 one year or less pursuant to a subpoena or court order and that is with- 27 in the control of any government agency or in the possession of a 28 private company or individual on behalf of any government agency shall 29 be destroyed once the proceedings or investigations that the subpoena or 30 court order related to have ended. 31 8. a. Suppression. i. Upon motion from a defendant, a court shall 32 order that evidence be suppressed or excluded if the court finds that 33 such evidence was obtained in violation of this section. 34 ii. This paragraph shall apply regardless of the court which issued 35 the order and regardless of whether the issuance of the order was 36 permissible under the procedures of that court. 37 iii. This paragraph shall apply regardless of any claim that the 38 information or evidence is attenuated from an unlawful order or request, 39 would inevitably have been discovered, or was simultaneously or subse- 40 quently obtained or reobtained through other means. 41 b. Private right of action. i. Any individual whose records were 42 obtained by any government entity in violation of this section may 43 institute a civil action against such government entity for any or all 44 of the following: 45 (1) one thousand dollars per violation or actual damages, whichever is 46 greater; 47 (2) punitive damages; 48 (3) injunctive or declaratory relief; 49 (4) any other relief the court deems proper. 50 ii. In assessing the amount of punitive damages, the court shall 51 consider: 52 (1) the number of people whose rights were violated; 53 (2) whether the violation directly or indirectly targeted persons 54 engaged in the exercise of activities protected by the United States 55 constitution or the New York state constitution; and 56 (3) the persistence of violations by the particular government entity.
A. 5251 3 1 iii. In any action brought under this section, the court shall award 2 reasonable attorneys' fees, expenses and costs to a prevailing plain- 3 tiff. 4 9. As used in this section: 5 a. "Drone" means any remotely or autonomously piloted device, includ- 6 ing devices that travel by air (such as quadcopters and fixed-wing 7 aircraft), land, or water. 8 b. "Law enforcement agency" means a lawfully established state or 9 local public agency that is responsible for the prevention and detection 10 of crime, the enforcement of local government codes and the enforcement 11 of penal, traffic, regulatory, game or controlled substance laws and 12 includes an agent of the law enforcement agency. 13 c. "Law enforcement purposes" includes activities regularly conducted 14 by law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to the 15 prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences 16 or the execution of criminal penalties, including but not limited to 17 crowd control and safeguarding against and the prevention of threats to 18 public security. 19 d. "Search and rescue" means the employment, coordination, and utili- 20 zation of available resources and personnel in locating, relieving 21 distress and preserving life of, and removing survivors from the site of 22 a disaster, emergency, or hazard to a place of safety in case of lost, 23 stranded, entrapped, or injured persons. 24 e. "Armed drone" means a drone equipped with a firearm or dangerous 25 weapon as defined in section 265.00 of the penal law or any other tool 26 designed to cause death, serious bodily injury, or incapacitation. 27 10. If any provision of this section or its application to any person 28 or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other 29 provisions or applications of this section which can be given effect 30 without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the 31 provisions of this section are severable. 32 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.