AN ACT PROHIBITING THE WEAPONIZATION OF DRONES BASED ON A PROGRAM REVIEW AND INVESTIGATIONS COMMITTEE STUDY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective August 1, 2016) (a) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Law enforcement officer" means a special policeman appointed under section 29-18 of the general statutes or any officer, employee or agent of the Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, a special police force, established pursuant to section 10a-156b of the general statutes, or a municipal police department; and

(2) "Unmanned aerial vehicle" means any contrivance used or designed for navigation of or flight in air that is power-driven and operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the contrivance.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by law, no person shall operate an unmanned aerial vehicle that is equipped with tear gas or any like or similar deleterious agent, a deadly weapon, as defined in section 53a-3 of the general statutes, or an explosive or incendiary device, as defined in section 53-206b of the general statutes.

(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to a law enforcement officer who operates an unmanned aerial vehicle that is equipped with explosive detection, detonation or disposal equipment provided such officer is authorized by the federal or state government to detect, detonate and dispose of explosives and is engaged in such detection, detonation or disposal.

(d) Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a class C felony.

Sec. 2. Subdivision (8) of section 54-280 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective August 1, 2016):

(8) "Offense committed with a deadly weapon" or "offense" means: (A) A violation of subsection (c) of section 2-1e, subsection (e) of section 29-28, subsections (a) to (e), inclusive, or (i) of section 29-33, section 29-34, subsection (a) of section 29-35, section 29-36, 29-36k, 29-37a or 29-37e, subsection (c) of section 29-37g, section 29-37j, subsection (b), (c) or (g) of section 53-202, section 53-202b, 53-202c, 53-202j, 53-202k, 53-202l, 53-202aa or 53-206b, subsection (b) of section 53a-8, section 53a-55a, 53a-56a, 53a-60a, 53a-60c, 53a-72b, 53a-92a, 53a-94a, 53a-102a, 53a-103a, 53a-211, 53a-212, 53a-216, 53a-217, 53a-217a, 53a-217b or 53a-217c or section 1 of this act, or a second or subsequent violation of section 53-202g; or (B) a violation of any section of the general statutes which constitutes a felony, as defined in section 53a-25, provided the court makes a finding that, at the time of the offense, the offender used a deadly weapon, or was armed with and threatened the use of or displayed or represented by words or conduct that the offender possessed a deadly weapon;

Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) For the purposes of this section, (1) "unmanned aerial vehicle" means any contrivance used or designed for navigation of or flight in air that is power-driven and operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the contrivance, and (2) "municipality" has the same meaning as provided in subsection (e) of section 7-101a of the general statutes.

(b) Except as otherwise provided by any federal law or state statute, no municipality shall enact any ordinance that regulates, restricts, prohibits, licenses or affects the ownership, possession, operation, purchase or sale of an unmanned aerial vehicle.