Tell your elected officials to improve HB36 and SB45

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ACT NOW: Your Voices Are Being Heard!

Keep the pressure on: your letters and calls are working!

Thank you to bill sponsors Senator Cam Ward and Representative Chip Brown for working with us to improve bills HB36 and SB45 to ensure we can continue using drones to legally gather information about pollution and other environmental law violations. Your calls and letters are making a difference and they are listening!

Even if you have already submitted your letter, please write again to let them know you appreciate their willingness to work with us and you would like to see these improvements included in the bills:

Exempt FAA-licensed drone operators – to become licensed by the FAA, drone operators have to pass a rigorous test, comply with federal laws, and receive a TSA security background check. Licensed drone pilots should be excluded from these redundant and burdensome laws.
Narrow the definition of “critical infrastructure” to include only infrastructure that is actually critical. As is, their redefinition is too broad: places like highways, cell phone towers, banks, hospitals, and "any industrial facility" cover such a broad class of sites. The bill adds such far flung facilities as “mining operations and mining infrastructure” and “any industrial plant or facility of any of the foregoing” to the definition of critical infrastructure. As is, the bill would prevent film and TV productions and shipping companies from using drones, environmental watchdogs from documenting pollution, and many other small businesses from using drones in their regular operations. The bill should protect law-abiding citizens without labeling drone operators as criminals or jeopardizing their livelihoods.

Please personalize your letter to the right. Read more about these bills on al.com.

Fill in the information below to directly contact your elected officials. Please add your own thoughts to the sample message below. We've provided talking points to the left for you to use as you want!

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TAKE ACTION

ACT NOW: Tell Your Representatives

to OPPOSE HB36 & SB45!

HB36 and SB45 could be voted on by the full legislature as early as tomorrow (Tuesday, February 25).

Please take a moment and let your State Senator and House Representative know that you oppose these dangerous bills that could infringe on our rights! They impose criminal penalties on citizens and journalists who take pictures with drones of much of Alabama.

Please personalize your letter to the right using these talking points:

THESE BILLS INFRINGE ON FREEDOMS GUARANTEED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT by limiting Alabamians' ability to document and share information.
THESE BILLS ARE UNNECESSARY.

The Federal Aviation Administration has already prohibited drone usage over certain critical infrastructure. There is no need for Alabama to do so as well.
The FAA stated that "[s]tate and local governments are not permitted to regulate any type of aircraft operations, such as flight paths or altitudes, or the navigable airspace."
These bills are illegal and would be invalidated by a federal court, as has happened in the only federal court to consider such a law

3. THESE BILLS ARE TOO VAGUE AND BROAD.

The bills criminalize those who fly "over" these facilities and take pictures of them, but do not provide relevant definitions.
Critical infrastructure includes: highways, pipelines, mass transit, railroads, ports, cell phone towers and cell networks, financing and banking systems, emergency services, gas and oil production storage, delivery systems of gas, water supply systems, chemical facilities, refineries, mining operations and infrastructures, electrical power generation or delivery systems, an electrical power generating facility “and the area surrounding the area,” and electrical transmission or distribution tower, substation, “or associated facility.”

4. THESE BILLS ARE UNDULY HARSH.

The penalty for flying a drone with a camera over one of these facilities is up to one year in jail and a $6,000 fine (a Class A Misdemeanor), and applies to those who authorize the use of the drone as well as the drone owners and operators.
Other Class A Misdemeanors in Alabama include third-degree domestic violence, a third DUI offense, and sexual misconduct.

5. THESE BILLS KEEP CITIZENS AND NONPROFIT GROUPS FROM IDENTIFYING THE SOURCES OF POLLUTION.

Your State Senator and House Representatives

Subject: Please oppose HB36 and SB45 this week!

Message:

Thank you for listening to the citizens of Alabama concerning HB36 and SB45 over the last two weeks. I am still concerned about these bills and ask that you consider these two specific points before presenting them: •	Exempt FAA certified drone operators - they have already completed a TSA background check and are already tightly governed by federal laws; they should be exempted from complying with these proposed laws. •	Narrow the definition of “critical infrastructures” to include only infrastructure that is actually critical - it is too broad, things like “any industrial facility” cover such a broad class of sites and facilities that they can hardly be considered “critical”. Critical infrastructure should be defined more clearly, so that law-abiding citizens can use drones and other data-gathering tools for beneficial reasons, such as finding the source of pollution, without being unduly punished. Thank you for your time and consideration on these matters. Improving these bills will help protect our small businesses, our drinking water, and so much more throughout Alabama.

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