LOCAL

Drone regulations considered for Tompkins

Andrew Casler
acasler@ithacajournal.com | @AndrewCasler

Surveillance drones could soon be targeted by a new set of Tompkins County laws.

Legislators on the county’s Government Operations Committee instructed County Attorney Jonathan Wood to draft regulations on drone use with a 3-1 vote Tuesday.

Legislator David McKenna, R-Enfield, voted against. Glenn Morey, R-Groton, was absent.

Dooley Kiefer, D-Cayuga Heights, proposed Tompkins drone laws after learning that Rockland County had regulated drone use.

Kiefer said the Rockland County law piqued her interest, and then she found a lack of regulations for aircraft that fly below 400 feet on the state and federal level.

She added that she hasn’t heard complaints from Tompkins County residents about local drone users invading privacy.

“It’s a real privacy annoyance, and it could be a serious problem,” Kiefer said.

Legislators raised concerns about drones being used to photograph private property, spy on people inside their homes and drop illicit materials into secure facilities such as the county jail.

McKenna said the federal government is working on drone laws. “I think, currently, we ought to just stand by and wait for a while until we see the result of that whole effort,” he said.

Wood said he was confident that the Rockland County law is unconstitutional.

“Drone laws raise very serious First Amendment issues, with free speech and freedom of the press issues,” Wood said. “To be frank, if this law went before the Supreme Court, I can’t imagine it getting one vote saying it was constitutional.”

To develop Tompkins County’s drone law, Wood said he plans to weed out the parts of the Rockland County law that he believes are impermissible under the Constitution.

“You can’t start with a general prohibition and then start making exceptions, because that’s never going to work,” he said.

Follow Andrew Casler on Twitter @AndrewCasler.