{"id":915,"date":"2017-05-23T20:26:39","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T20:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/"},"modified":"2017-05-23T20:26:39","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T20:26:39","slug":"new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/","title":{"rendered":"New Georgia Drone Law and the Aftermath of Taylor v. Huerta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Signed by Governor Deal May 9, 2017, and effective July 1, 2017, a new state law in Georgia attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws and ordinances concerning unmanned aircraft systems (\u201cUAS\u201d) or drones. \u00a0The 2017 law is the verbatim repackaging of two sections of 2016 UAS legislation that was passed last year but not signed by the Governor.<\/p>\n<p>The short law will be codified in Georgia Code 6-1-4 as part of general aviation statutes and has three sections.<\/p>\n<p>Section (a) defines \u201cunmanned aircraft system\u201d to be a \u201cpowered, aerial vehicle\u201d (other than a satellite) that meets certain criteria:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does not carry a human operator and is operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft;<\/li>\n<li>Uses aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift;<\/li>\n<li>Can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely; and<\/li>\n<li>Can be expendable or recoverable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Subsection (b) provides that after April 1, 2017, only the State may enact laws related to the \u201ctesting or operation\u201d of unmanned aircraft systems, subject to several exceptions. First, ordinances adopted before April 1, 2017, are not rendered null and void by the statute. Second, cities and counties can continue to pass ordinances that \u201cenforce Federal Aviation Administration (\u201cFAA\u201d) restrictions.\u201d Third, cities and counties can prohibit the launch or intentional landing of UAS from or on that entity\u2019s public property unless the UAS is being operated for \u201ccommercial purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Subsection (c) of the new law allows the State or any agent or department of the State to prohibit the launch or intentional landing of any UAS from or on its property.<\/p>\n<p>Trying to understand how the new law will be applied does generate some head-scratching. For example, standard rules of statutory interpretation require courts to assume that no part of the statute is superfluous, but it is difficult at first blush to understand what sections (a)(B), (a)(C), and (a)(D) add to the definition provided in (a)(A)-which is modeled on the FAA\u2019s definition of unmanned aircraft. According to NASA, \u201cAnything that moves through air reacts to aerodynamics\u201d whether rockets or kites, so if something flies, whether a drone or a volleyball, aerodynamic forces have provided enough lift to overcome weight and drag, whether for a short or long time. If an aircraft is operated without human involvement on or within the aircraft as under (a)(A), then it must necessarily be remotely piloted, even if that pilot has pre-programmed a flight plan or if the drone launches in response to pre-programmed stimuli. Perhaps the law is attempting to cover both radio controlled operations when the pilot actually works the \u201csticks and rudder\u201d and small UAS operated by gaming-type controls with built in adjustments related to stability, etc. Why the criteria in (a)(D) are needed is unclear.\u00a0 An expendable aircraft would be one that the owner considers of little significance to an overall mission or purpose and that the owner will willingly abandon. Recoverable simply means capable of being recovered.\u00a0 Expendable and recoverable are not mutually exclusive and would appear to be mission specific.\u00a0 A drone may well be both expendable and recoverable, or neither, depending on who is flying it and why. Many more questions remain to be sorted out.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, subsection (b) seems designed to pre-empt local regulation of \u201ctesting and operation\u201d of drones by allowing only the State to enact laws on those topics.\u00a0 The statute, however, apparently permits local governments to enact laws \u201cenforcing FAA restrictions,\u201d whatever that may mean.<\/p>\n<p>It is too soon to determine if parts of the newly minted Georgia law or any category of contemplated local laws may be preempted by federal laws or regulations.\u00a0 The FAA has specifically encouraged states to consult with it about proposed legislation to avoid trespassing on the FAA\u2019s exclusive rights to regulate operational aspects of flight such as \u201cflight altitude, flight paths; operational bans; any regulation of the navigable airspace.\u201d \u00a0FAA Office of General Counsel\u2019s \u201c<em>State and Local Regulation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Fact Sheet<\/em>\u201d issued on December 17, 2015.\u00a0 Whether the Georgia law is intended to actually regulate the \u201coperation\u201d of UAS in the navigable airspace, <em>i.e<\/em>. flying, is not clear.<\/p>\n<p>The one group, however, that the State may be able to regulate without fear of preemption is hobbyists. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that the FAA cannot require owners of small unmanned aircraft operated for recreational purposes, also referred to as modelers, to register with the FAA, and in fact can make no law concerning recreational users. <em>Taylor v. Huerta, <\/em>Case No. 15-495 (D.C. Cir. May 19, 2017). The State may be able to step into this gap, establish a database, and require registration and licensing of recreational users. Whether the next FAA funding and authorization bill, due out in late summer\/early fall 2017 will authorize the FAA to regulate recreational users remains to be seen. \u00a0In the meantime, operators will need to be vigilant in staying up to date on the local laws in the cities and counties where they fly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Signed by Governor Deal May 9, 2017, and effective July 1, 2017, a new state law in Georgia attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws and ordinances concerning unmanned aircraft systems (\u201cUAS\u201d) or drones. \u00a0The 2017 law is the verbatim repackaging of two sections of 2016 UAS legislation that was passed last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A New Drone Law is Coming to Georgia July 2017<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new drone law in GA, effective July 1, 2017, attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws concerning unmanned aircraft systems or drones.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Drone Law is Coming to Georgia July 2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new drone law in GA, effective July 1, 2017, attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws concerning unmanned aircraft systems or drones.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-23T20:26:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Berman Fink Van Horn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Berman Fink Van Horn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/\",\"name\":\"A New Drone Law is Coming to Georgia July 2017\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-23T20:26:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-23T20:26:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0d284d556606ade11404fcbd125efdb9\"},\"description\":\"A new drone law in GA, effective July 1, 2017, attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws concerning unmanned aircraft systems or drones.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Georgia Drone Law and the Aftermath of Taylor v. Huerta\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/\",\"name\":\"Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.\",\"description\":\"A Business Law Firm In Atlanta\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0d284d556606ade11404fcbd125efdb9\",\"name\":\"Berman Fink Van Horn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/deb7805c35c49d2de3c1f64d329a518a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/deb7805c35c49d2de3c1f64d329a518a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Berman Fink Van Horn\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/author\/bfv\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A New Drone Law is Coming to Georgia July 2017","description":"A new drone law in GA, effective July 1, 2017, attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws concerning unmanned aircraft systems or drones.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A New Drone Law is Coming to Georgia July 2017","og_description":"A new drone law in GA, effective July 1, 2017, attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws concerning unmanned aircraft systems or drones.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/","og_site_name":"Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.","article_published_time":"2017-05-23T20:26:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":280,"url":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Berman Fink Van Horn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Berman Fink Van Horn","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/","name":"A New Drone Law is Coming to Georgia July 2017","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg","datePublished":"2017-05-23T20:26:39+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-23T20:26:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0d284d556606ade11404fcbd125efdb9"},"description":"A new drone law in GA, effective July 1, 2017, attempts to set boundaries on local governments to enact laws concerning unmanned aircraft systems or drones.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/gavel_crushing_drone_with_images_by_stockmonkeys.com___copy.jpg","width":500,"height":280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/new-georgia-drone-law-and-the-aftermath-of-taylor-v-huerta\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Georgia Drone Law and the Aftermath of Taylor v. Huerta"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/","name":"Berman Fink Van Horn P.C.","description":"A Business Law Firm In Atlanta","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0d284d556606ade11404fcbd125efdb9","name":"Berman Fink Van Horn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/deb7805c35c49d2de3c1f64d329a518a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/deb7805c35c49d2de3c1f64d329a518a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Berman Fink Van Horn"},"url":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/author\/bfv\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}