II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1249
To prescribe zoning authority with respect to commercial unmanned aircraft
systems and to preserve State, local, and Tribal authorities and private
property with respect to unmanned aircraft systems, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL2, 2025
Mr. L
EEintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To prescribe zoning authority with respect to commercial
unmanned aircraft systems and to preserve State, local,
and Tribal authorities and private property with respect
to unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Drone Integration and Zoning Act’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents of 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
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Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Federal Aviation Administration updates to navigable airspace.
Sec. 4. Preservation of State, local, and Tribal authorities with respect to civil
unmanned aircraft systems.
Sec. 5. Preservation of local zoning authority for unmanned aircraft take-off
and landing zones.
Sec. 6. Rights to operate.
Sec. 7. Updates to rules regarding the commercial carriage of property.
Sec. 8. Designation of certain complex airspace.
Sec. 9. Improvements to plan for full operational capability of unmanned air-
craft systems traffic management.
Sec. 10. Updates to rules regarding small unmanned aircraft safety standards.
Sec. 11. Rules of construction.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-3
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 4
Aviation Administration. 5
(2) C
IVIL.—The term ‘‘civil’’, with respect to an 6
unmanned aircraft system, means that the un-7
manned aircraft is not a public aircraft (as defined 8
in section 40102 of title 49, United States Code). 9
(3) C
OMMERCIAL OPERATOR .—The term ‘‘com-10
mercial operator’’ means a person who operates a 11
civil unmanned aircraft system for commercial pur-12
poses. 13
(4) I
MMEDIATE REACHES OF AIRSPACE .—The 14
term ‘‘immediate reaches of airspace’’ means, with 15
respect to the operation of a civil unmanned aircraft 16
system, any area within 200 feet above ground level. 17
(5) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 18
has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the 19
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Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 1
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 2
(6) L
OCAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘‘local 3
government’’ means the government of a subdivision 4
of a State. 5
(7) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 6
the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the ter-7
ritories and possessions of the United States. 8
(8) T
RIBAL GOVERNMENT .—The term ‘‘Tribal 9
government’’ means the governing body of an Indian 10
Tribe. 11
(9) U
NMANNED AIRCRAFT ; UNMANNED AIR -12
CRAFT SYSTEM.—The terms ‘‘unmanned aircraft’’ 13
and ‘‘unmanned aircraft system’’ have the meanings 14
given those terms in section 44801 of title 49, 15
United States Code. 16
(10) U
NMANNED AIRCRAFT TAKE -OFF AND 17
LANDING ZONE.—The term ‘‘unmanned aircraft 18
take-off and landing zone’’ means a structure, area 19
of land or water, or other designation for use or in-20
tended to be used for the take-off or landing of civil 21
unmanned aircraft systems operated by a commer-22
cial operator. 23
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SEC. 3. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION UPDATES TO 1
NAVIGABLE AIRSPACE. 2
(a) D
EFINITION.— 3
(1) I
MMEDIATE REACHES OF AIRSPACE DEFINI -4
TION.—Section 44801 of title 49, United States 5
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following 6
new paragraph: 7
‘‘(14) I
MMEDIATE REACHES OF AIRSPACE .— 8
The term ‘immediate reaches of airspace’ means, 9
with respect to the operation of a civil unmanned 10
aircraft system, any area within 200 feet above 11
ground level.’’. 12
(2) N
AVIGABLE AIRSPACE DEFINITION .—Para-13
graph (32) of section 40102 of title 49, United 14
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 15
following new sentence: ‘‘In applying such term to 16
the regulation of civil unmanned aircraft systems, 17
such term shall not include the area within the im-18
mediate reaches of airspace (as defined in section 19
44801).’’. 20
(b) R
ULEMAKING.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator shall con-22
duct a rulemaking proceeding to update the defini-23
tion of ‘‘navigable airspace’’. 24
(2) C
ONSULTATION.—In conducting the rule-25
making proceeding under paragraph (1), the Admin-26
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istrator shall consult with appropriate State, local, 1
or Tribal government officials. 2
(c) D
ESIGNATIONREQUIREMENT.—In conducting 3
the rulemaking proceeding under subsection (b), the Ad-4
ministrator shall designate the area between 200 feet and 5
400 feet above ground level— 6
(1) for use of civil unmanned aircraft systems 7
under the exclusive authority of the Administrator; 8
and 9
(2) for use by both commercial operators or 10
hobbyists and recreational unmanned aircraft sys-11
tems, under rules established by the Administrator. 12
(d) F
INALRULE.—Not later than 1 year after the 13
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 14
issue a final rule pursuant to the rulemaking conducted 15
under subsection (b). 16
(e) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-17
tion may be construed to— 18
(1) prohibit the Administrator from promul-19
gating regulations related to the operation of un-20
manned aircraft systems at more than 400 feet 21
above ground level; or 22
(2) diminish or expand the preemptive effect of 23
the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration 24
with respect to manned aviation. 25
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SEC. 4. PRESERVATION OF STATE, LOCAL, AND TRIBAL AU-1
THORITIES WITH RESPECT TO CIVIL UN-2
MANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS. 3
(a) F
INDINGS; SENSE OFCONGRESS.— 4
(1) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 5
(A) Using its constitutional authority to 6
regulate commerce among the States, Congress 7
granted the Federal Government authority over 8
all of the navigable airspace in the United 9
States in order to foster air commerce. 10
(B) While the regulation of the navigable 11
airspace is within the Federal Government’s do-12
main, the Supreme Court recognized in United 13
States v. Causby, 328 U.S. 256 (1946), that 14
the Federal Government’s regulatory authority 15
is limited by the property rights possessed by 16
landowners over the exclusive control of the im-17
mediate reaches of their airspace. 18
(C) As a sovereign government, a State 19
possesses police powers, which include the 20
power to protect the property rights of its citi-21
zens. 22
(D) The proliferation of low-altitude oper-23
ations of unmanned aircraft systems has cre-24
ated a conflict between the responsibility of the 25
Federal Government to regulate the navigable 26
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airspace and the inherent sovereign police 1
power possessed by the States to protect the 2
property rights of their citizens. 3
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 4
Congress that— 5
(A) in order for landowners to have full en-6
joyment and use of their land, they must have 7
exclusive control of the immediate reaches of 8
airspace over their property; 9
(B) the States possess sovereign police 10
powers, which include the power to regulate 11
land use, protect property rights, and exercise 12
zoning authority; and 13
(C) the Federal Government lacks the au-14
thority to intrude upon a State’s sovereign right 15
to issue reasonable time, manner, and place re-16
strictions on the operation of unmanned air-17
craft systems operating within the immediate 18
reaches of airspace. 19
(b) R
EQUIREMENTSRELATED TOREGULATIONS AND 20
S
TANDARDS.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In prescribing regulations or 22
standards related to civil unmanned aircraft sys-23
tems, the following shall apply: 24
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(A) The Administrator shall not authorize 1
the operation of a civil unmanned aircraft in 2
the immediate reaches of airspace above prop-3
erty without permission of the property owner. 4
(B) Subject to paragraph (2), in the case 5
of a structure that exceeds 200 feet above 6
ground level, the Administrator shall not au-7
thorize the operation of a civil unmanned air-8
craft— 9
(i) within 50 feet of the top of such 10
structure; or 11
(ii) within 200 feet laterally of such 12
structure or inside the property line of 13
such structure’s owner, whichever is closer 14
to such structure. 15
(C) The Administrator shall not authorize 16
the physical contact of a civil unmanned air-17
craft, including such aircraft’s take-off or land-18
ing, with a structure that exceeds 200 feet 19
above ground level without permission of the 20
structure’s owner. 21
(D) The Administrator shall ensure that 22
the authority of a State, local, or Tribal govern-23
ment to issue reasonable restrictions on the 24
time, manner, and place of operation of a civil 25
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unmanned aircraft system that is operated 1
below 200 feet above ground level is not pre-2
empted. 3
(2) E
XCEPTION.—The limitation on the oper-4
ation of a civil unmanned aircraft under paragraph 5
(1)(B) shall not apply if— 6
(A) the operator of such aircraft has the 7
permission of the structure’s owner; 8
(B) such aircraft is being operated directly 9
within or above an authorized public right of 10
way; or 11
(C) such aircraft is being operated on an 12
authorized commercial route designated under 13
subsection (c). 14
(3) R
EASONABLE RESTRICTIONS .—For pur-15
poses of paragraph (1)(D), reasonable restrictions 16
on the time, manner, and place of operation of a 17
civil unmanned aircraft system include the following: 18
(A) Specifying limitations on speed of 19
flight over specified areas. 20
(B) Prohibitions or limitations on oper-21
ations in the vicinity of schools, parks, road-22
ways, bridges, moving locations, or other public 23
or private property. 24
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(C) Restrictions on operations at certain 1
times of the day or week or on specific occa-2
sions such as parades or sporting events, in-3
cluding sporting events that do not remain in 4
one location. 5
(D) Prohibitions on careless or reckless op-6
erations, including operations while the operator 7
is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. 8
(E) Other prohibitions that protect public 9
safety, personal privacy, or property rights, or 10
that manage land use or restrict noise pollution. 11
(c) D
ESIGNATION OF AUTHORIZEDCOMMERCIAL 12
R
OUTES.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 14
(b)(2)(C), not later than 18 months after the date 15
of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall es-16
tablish a process for the designation of routes as au-17
thorized commercial routes. No area within 200 feet 18
above ground level may be included in a designated 19
authorized commercial route. 20
(2) A
PPLICATION.—Under the process estab-21
lished under paragraph (1), applicants shall submit 22
an application for such a designation in a form and 23
manner determined appropriate by the Adminis-24
trator. 25
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(3) TIMEFRAME FOR DECISION .—Under the 1
process established under paragraph (1), the Admin-2
istrator shall approve or disapprove a complete ap-3
plication for designation within 90 days of receiving 4
the application. 5
(4) C
ONSULTATION.—In reviewing an applica-6
tion for the designation of an area under this sub-7
section, the Administrator shall consult with and 8
heavily weigh the views of— 9
(A) the applicable State, local, or Tribal 10
government that has jurisdiction over the oper-11
ation of unmanned aircraft in the area below 12
the area to be designated; 13
(B) owners of structures who would be af-14
fected by the designation of a route as an au-15
thorized commercial route; and 16
(C) commercial unmanned aircraft opera-17
tors. 18
(5) D
ENIAL OF APPLICATION.—If the Adminis-19
trator denies an application for a designation under 20
this subsection, the Administrator shall provide the 21
applicant with— 22
(A) a detailed description of the reasons 23
for the denial; and 24
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(B) recommendations for changes that the 1
applicant can make to correct the deficiencies in 2
their application. 3
(6) A
PPROVAL OF APPLICATION .—If the Ad-4
ministrator approves an application for a designation 5
under this subsection, the Administrator shall clearly 6
describe the boundaries of the designated authorized 7
commercial route and any applicable limitations for 8
operations on the route. 9
(7) D
ELEGATION.—The Administrator may del-10
egate the authority to designate authorized commer-11
cial routes under this subsection to a State, local, or 12
Tribal government that has entered into an agree-13
ment with the Administrator under section 8 with 14
respect to an area designated as complex airspace. 15
(d) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.— 16
(1) S
AFETY HAZARD.—Nothing in this section 17
may be construed to permit a State, local, or Tribal 18
government to issue restrictions, or a combination of 19
restrictions, that would create a significant safety 20
hazard in the navigable airspace, airport operations, 21
air navigation facilities, air traffic control systems, 22
or other components of the national airspace system 23
that facilitate the safe and efficient operation of 24
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civil, commercial, or military aircraft within the 1
United States. 2
(2) C
AUSE OF ACTION.—Nothing in this section 3
may be construed to prohibit a property owner or 4
the owner of a structure with a height that exceeds 5
200 feet above ground level from pursuing any avail-6
able cause of action under State law related to un-7
manned aircraft operations above 200 feet above 8
ground level. 9
SEC. 5. PRESERVATION OF LOCAL ZONING AUTHORITY FOR 10
UNMANNED AIRCRAFT TAKE-OFF AND LAND-11
ING ZONES. 12
(a) G
ENERALAUTHORITY.—Subject to the suc-13
ceeding provisions of this section, nothing in this Act shall 14
limit or affect the authority of a State, local, or Tribal 15
government over decisions regarding the designation, 16
placement, construction, or modification of an unmanned 17
aircraft take-off and landing zone. 18
(b) N
ONDISCRIMINATION.—The regulation of the 19
designation, placement, construction, or modification of an 20
unmanned aircraft take-off and landing zone by any State, 21
local, or Tribal government may not— 22
(1) unreasonably discriminate among commer-23
cial operators of unmanned aircraft systems; or 24
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(2) prohibit, or have the effect of prohibiting, a 1
commercial operator from operating an unmanned 2
aircraft system. 3
(c) A
PPLICATIONS.— 4
(1) R
EQUIREMENT TO ACT.— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A State, local, or Trib-6
al government shall act on any complete appli-7
cation for authorization to designate, place, 8
construct, or modify an unmanned aircraft 9
take-off and landing zone within 60 days of re-10
ceiving such application. 11
(B) D
ENIAL.—If a State, local, or Tribal 12
government denies an application for the des-13
ignation, placement, construction, or modifica-14
tion of an unmanned aircraft take-off and land-15
ing zone, the State, local, or Tribal government 16
shall, not later than 30 days after denying the 17
application, submit to the commercial operator 18
a written record that details— 19
(i) the findings and substantial evi-20
dence that serves as the basis for denying 21
the application; and 22
(ii) recommendations for how the 23
commercial operator can address the rea-24
sons for the application’s denial. 25
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(2) FEES.—Notwithstanding any other provi-1
sion of law, a State, local, or Tribal government may 2
charge a fee to consider an application for the des-3
ignation, placement, construction, or modification of 4
an unmanned aircraft take-off and landing zone, or 5
to use a right-of-way or a facility in a right-of-way 6
owned or managed by the State, local, or Tribal gov-7
ernment for the designation, placement, construc-8
tion, or modification of an unmanned aircraft take- 9
off and landing zone, if the fee is— 10
(A) competitively neutral, technologically 11
neutral, and nondiscriminatory; and 12
(B) publicly disclosed. 13
(3) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in this 14
subsection may be construed to prevent any State, 15
local, or Tribal government from imposing any addi-16
tional limitation or requirement relating to consider-17
ation by the State, local, or Tribal government of an 18
application for the designation, placement, construc-19
tion, or modification of an unmanned aircraft take- 20
off and landing zone. 21
(d) J
UDICIALREVIEW.—Any person adversely af-22
fected by any final action or failure to act by a State, local, 23
or Tribal government that is inconsistent with this section 24
may, within 30 days after the action or failure to act, com-25
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mence an action in any court of competent jurisdiction, 1
which shall hear and decide the action on an expedited 2
basis. 3
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The provisions of this section 4
shall take effect on the day that is 180 days after the 5
final rule under section 3(d) is issued. 6
SEC. 6. RIGHTS TO OPERATE. 7
(a) P
ROHIBITION.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a 9
State, local, or Tribal government may not adopt, 10
maintain, or enforce any law, rule, or standard that 11
unreasonably or substantially impedes— 12
(A) the ascent or descent of an unmanned 13
aircraft system, operated by a commercial oper-14
ator, to or from the navigable airspace in the 15
furtherance of a commercial activity; or 16
(B) a civil unmanned aircraft from reach-17
ing navigable airspace where operations are per-18
mitted. 19
(2) U
NREASONABLE OR SUBSTANTIAL IMPEDI -20
MENT.—For purposes of paragraph (1), an unrea-21
sonable or substantial impediment with respect to 22
civil unmanned aircraft includes— 23
(A) a complete and total ban on overflights 24
of civil unmanned aircraft over the entirety of 25
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airspace within a State, local, or Tribal govern-1
ment’s jurisdiction; and 2
(B) a combination of prohibitions or re-3
strictions on overflights within airspace under a 4
State, local, or Tribal government’s jurisdiction 5
such that it is nearly impossible for civil un-6
manned aircraft to reach the navigable air-7
space. 8
(b) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub-9
section (a) may be construed to prohibit a State, local, 10
or Tribal government from— 11
(1) adopting, maintaining, or enforcing laws, 12
rules, or standards that regulate unmanned aircraft 13
systems below 200 feet above ground level; or 14
(2) prescribing emergency procedures for a civil 15
unmanned aircraft system descending into an area 16
200 feet above ground level. 17
SEC. 7. UPDATES TO RULES REGARDING THE COMMERCIAL 18
CARRIAGE OF PROPERTY. 19
(a) I
MPROVINGREGULATIONS.—Section 44808 of 20
title 49, United States Code, is amended— 21
(1) by redesignating subsection (b)(5) as sub-22
section (c), and indenting appropriately; 23
(2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A), (B), 24
and (C) of subsection (c), as redesignated by para-25
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graph (1), as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respec-1
tively, and indenting appropriately; 2
(3) by redesignating subsection (b)(6) as sub-3
section (d), and indenting appropriately; and 4
(4) in subsection (b), as previously amended, by 5
adding at the end the following new paragraphs: 6
‘‘(5) Ensure that the provision of section 41713 7
shall not apply to the carriage of property by opera-8
tors of small unmanned aircraft systems. 9
‘‘(6) Ensure that an operator of a small un-10
manned aircraft system is not required to comply 11
with any rules approved under this section if the op-12
erator is operating solely under a State authoriza-13
tion for the intrastate carriage of property for com-14
pensation or hire. 15
‘‘(7) Ensure that the costs necessary to receive 16
such an authorization are minimal so as to protect 17
competition between market participants. 18
‘‘(8) A streamlined application process that only 19
contains requirements minimally necessary for safe 20
operation and substantially outweigh the compliance 21
costs for an applicant.’’. 22
(b) C
LARIFICATIONREGARDINGPREEMPTION.—Sec-23
tion 41713(b) of title 49, United States Code, is amended 24
by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 25
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‘‘(5) NOTAPPLICABLE TO THE OPERATION OF A 1
C
IVILUNMANNEDAIRCRAFTSYSTEM.—Paragraphs (1) 2
and (4) shall not apply to the operation of a civil un-3
manned aircraft system.’’. 4
(c) E
XCLUSIONFROMDEFINITION OFAIRCAR-5
RIER.—Section 40102(2) of title 49, United States Code, 6
is amended by inserting ‘‘(but does not include an oper-7
ator of civil unmanned aircraft systems)’’ before the pe-8
riod at the end. 9
(d) S
TATEAUTHORIZATION FOR THE INTRASTATE 10
C
ARRIAGE OFPROPERTY.—A State may not be prohibited 11
from issuing an authorization (and the Federal Govern-12
ment may not require a Federal authorization) for the car-13
riage of property by a commercial operator of a civil un-14
manned aircraft that is operating in intrastate commerce 15
if the civil unmanned aircraft is only authorized by the 16
State to operate— 17
(1) within the immediate reaches of airspace; 18
and 19
(2) within the lateral boundaries of the State. 20
SEC. 8. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN COMPLEX AIRSPACE. 21
(a) P
ROCESS FORDESIGNATION.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 23
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-24
retary of Transportation shall establish a process 25
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under which a State, local, or Tribal government 1
may submit an application to the Administrator (in 2
a form and manner determined appropriate by the 3
Administrator) for the designation of an area as an 4
area of ‘‘complex airspace’’. Such process shall allow 5
for individual or collective designations. 6
(2) T
IMEFRAME FOR DECISION .—Under the 7
process established under paragraph (1), the Admin-8
istrator shall approve or disapprove a complete ap-9
plication for designation within 90 days of receiving 10
the application. 11
(3) R
EVIEW OF APPLICATION.—In reviewing an 12
application for a designation under this section, the 13
Administrator may deny the request if the State, 14
local, or Tribal government does not have— 15
(A) the financial resources to carry out the 16
authority to be granted under the designation; 17
or 18
(B) the technological capabilities necessary 19
to carry out the authority granted to the State 20
under the designation. 21
(4) D
ENIAL OF APPLICATION.—If the Adminis-22
trator denies an application for a designation under 23
this section, the Administrator shall provide the 24
State, local, or Tribal government with— 25
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(A) a detailed description of the reasons 1
for the denial; and 2
(B) recommendations for changes that the 3
State can make to correct the deficiencies in 4
their application. 5
(5) A
PPROVAL OF APPLICATION .—If the Ad-6
ministrator approves an application for a designation 7
under this section, the Administrator shall, upon the 8
request of the State, local, or Tribal government, 9
enter into a written agreement with the State, local, 10
or Tribal government (which may be in the form of 11
a memorandum of understanding) under which the 12
Administrator may assign, and the State, local, or 13
Tribal government may assume, one or more of the 14
responsibilities of the Administrator with respect to 15
the management of civil unmanned aircraft oper-16
ations within the area that has been so designated. 17
(b) A
GREEMENTS.— 18
(1) S
TATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL GOVERNMENT 19
RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER AGREEMENT .—If a State, 20
local, or Tribal government enters into an agreement 21
with the Administrator under subsection (a)(5), the 22
State, local, or Tribal government shall be solely re-23
sponsible, and solely liable, for carrying out the re-24
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sponsibilities assumed in the agreement until the 1
agreement is terminated. 2
(2) T
ERMINATION BY STATE , LOCAL, OR TRIB-3
AL GOVERNMENT.—A State, local, or Tribal govern-4
ment may terminate an agreement with the Admin-5
istrator under subsection (a)(5) if the State, local, or 6
Tribal government provides the Administrator 90 7
days of notice. 8
(3) T
ERMINATION BY ADMINISTRATOR .—The 9
Administrator may terminate an agreement with a 10
State, local, or Tribal government under subsection 11
(a)(5) if— 12
(A) the Administrator determines that the 13
State, local, or Tribal government is not ade-14
quately carrying out the responsibilities as-15
signed under the agreement; and 16
(B) the Administrator provides the State, 17
local, or Tribal government with— 18
(i) written notification of a determina-19
tion of noncompliance with the responsibil-20
ities assigned under the agreement; and 21
(ii) a period of not less than 180 days 22
for the State, local, or Tribal government 23
to take such corrective actions as the Ad-24
ministrator determines necessary to comply 25
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with the responsibilities assigned under the 1
agreement. 2
(c) C
OMPLEXAIRSPACEDEFINED.—In this section, 3
the term ‘‘complex airspace’’ means an area of airspace 4
that— 5
(1) is at least 200 feet above ground level; and 6
(2) includes 1 or more structures that have a 7
height that exceeds 200 feet above ground level. 8
SEC. 9. IMPROVEMENTS TO PLAN FOR FULL OPERATIONAL 9
CAPABILITY OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYS-10
TEMS TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT. 11
Section 376 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 12
(Public Law 115–254) is amended— 13
(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 14
following new paragraph: 15
‘‘(4) Permit the testing of a State, local, or 16
Tribal government’s time, place, and manner restric-17
tions within the immediate reaches of airspace (as 18
defined in section 44801).’’; 19
(2) in subsection (c)— 20
(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘industry 21
and government’’ and inserting ‘‘industry, the 22
Federal Government, and State, local, or Tribal 23
governments’’; 24
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(B) in paragraph (3)(G), by striking ‘‘and’’ 1
at the end; 2
(C) in paragraph (4)(C), by striking the 3
period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 4
and 5
(D) by adding at the end the following new 6
paragraphs: 7
‘‘(5) establish a plan for collaboration and co-8
ordination with a State, local, or Tribal govern-9
ment’s management of unmanned aircraft systems 10
within the immediate reaches of airspace (as defined 11
in section 44801); and 12
‘‘(6) establish a process for the interoperability 13
and sharing of data between Federal Government, 14
State, local, or Tribal government, and private sec-15
tor UTM services.’’; 16
(3) in subsection (d)— 17
(A) in paragraph (2)(J), by striking ‘‘and’’ 18
at the end; 19
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe-20
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 21
(C) by adding at the end the following new 22
paragraph: 23
‘‘(4) shall consult with State, local, and Tribal 24
governments.’’; and 25
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(4) in subsection (g), by inserting ‘‘and State, 1
local, and Tribal governments’’ after ‘‘Federal agen-2
cies’’. 3
SEC. 10. UPDATES TO RULES REGARDING SMALL UN-4
MANNED AIRCRAFT SAFETY STANDARDS. 5
Section 44805 of title 49, United States Code, is 6
amended— 7
(1) in subsection (a)— 8
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 9
the end; 10
(B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe-11
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12
(C) by adding at the end the following new 13
paragraph: 14
‘‘(5) ensuring that no State is prohibited from 15
requiring additional equipage for a small unmanned 16
aircraft system so long as such small unmanned air-17
craft system is solely authorized to operate in the 18
immediate reaches of airspace (as defined in section 19
44801) and the lateral boundaries of a State.’’; 20
(2) in subsection (e), in the matter preceding 21
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting 22
‘‘shall’’; 23
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-24
section: 25
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‘‘(i) REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCEPTINGRISK-BASED 1
C
ONSENSUSSAFETYSTANDARDS.— 2
‘‘(1) C
OST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS.—The Adminis-3
trator shall not accept a risk-based consensus safety 4
standard under subsection (a)(1) unless the Admin-5
istrator has first conducted a cost-benefit analysis 6
and certified that the benefit of the safety standard 7
substantially outweighs the costs to the manufac-8
turer and consumer. 9
‘‘(2) M
UST BE ESSENTIAL.—The Administrator 10
shall not accept a risk-based consensus safety stand-11
ard under subsection (a)(1) unless the Administrator 12
determines that the safety standard is essential for 13
small unmanned aircraft systems to operate safely in 14
the UTM.’’. 15
SEC. 11. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), nothing 17
in this Act may be construed to— 18
(1) diminish or expand the preemptive effect of 19
the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration 20
with respect to manned aviation; or 21
(2) affect the civil or criminal jurisdiction of— 22
(A) any Indian Tribe relative to any State 23
or local government; or 24
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(B) any State or local government relative 1
to any Indian Tribe. 2
(b) E
NFORCEMENTACTIONS.—Nothing in subsection 3
(a) may be construed to limit the authority of the Admin-4
istrator to pursue enforcement actions against persons op-5
erating civil unmanned aircraft systems who endanger the 6
safety of the navigable airspace, airport operations, air 7
navigation facilities, air traffic control systems, or other 8
components of the national airspace system that facilitate 9
the safe and efficient operation of civil, commercial, or 10
military aircraft within the United States. 11
Æ
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