Senate File 491 - Enrolled Senate File 491 AN ACT PROHIBITING THE USE OF REMOTELY PILOTED AIRCRAFT FLYING OVER FARM PROPERTY, AND MAKING PENALTIES APPLICABLE. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: Section 1. Section 715E.1, subsections 1, 2, and 8, Code 2025, are amended by striking the subsections. Sec. 2. Section 715E.1, Code 2025, is amended by adding the following new subsections:

Senate File 491, p. 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 3A. “Farm animal” means an animal belonging to the bovine, caprine, ovine, or porcine species; farm deer as defined in section 170.1; ostriches, rheas, or emus; turkeys, geese, chickens, or other domestic poultry; or a horse, pony, mule, jenny, donkey, or hinny. NEW SUBSECTION . 3B. “Farm commodity” means a farm animal, farm crop, or honey. NEW SUBSECTION . 3C. a. “Farm crop” means a plant used for food, animal feed, fiber, or oil, including a forage or cereal plant. b. “Farm crop” includes but is not limited to alfalfa, barley, buckwheat, corn, flax, forage, millet, oats, popcorn, rye, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, wheat, and grasses used for forage or silage. NEW SUBSECTION . 3D. a. “Farm equipment” means a device or an attachment to a device designed and manufactured to be principally used for farming, including the production, care, or harvesting of a farm commodity. b. “Farm equipment” includes but is not limited to tractors; trailers; combines; tillage, planting, and cultivating implements; balers; irrigation implements; injection and application devices; manure haulers and spreaders; and all-terrain vehicles. NEW SUBSECTION . 3E. a. “Farm structure” means a building or other structure used in farming, including the production of farm commodities. b. “Farm structure” includes but is not limited to the principal residence of a farmer, a formed or unformed structure that is part of an animal feeding operation as defined in section 459.102 and related pipes and manure stockpiles, a barn, a stable, a storage crib, a structure used to store seeds or grain, an outbuilding, and a shed. NEW SUBSECTION . 3F. “Farmer” means the person who is actively engaged in farming as defined in section 9H.1. NEW SUBSECTION . 3G. a. “Farmstead” means real property to which all of the following apply: (1) The real property is owned or leased by a farmer. (2) The real property is used by the farmer for farming, including the production of a farm commodity.

Senate File 491, p. 3 (3) At least fifteen thousand dollars was generated from the sale of farm commodities produced on the real property in the last calendar year. b. “Farmstead” includes but is not limited to a crop field or pastureland. c. “Farmstead” does not include any real property located within the corporate limits of a city. Sec. 3. Section 715E.1, subsection 9, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 9. “Surveillance device” means a camera or electronic equipment that transmits or records images an image , sounds sound , or data if the transmission or recording is capable of reasonably identifying any of the following: a. The identity, physical appearance, conduct, or voice of an individual. b. The species of an agricultural a farm animal. c. The type or use of farm equipment. d. The type or use of a farm structure. c. e. The unique physical characteristics of land or an improvement to land. Sec. 4. Section 715E.3, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: b. Controls the flight of remotely piloted aircraft over a secure farmstead area , if the secure farmstead area is not owned or leased by the person, and the remotely piloted aircraft remains over the secure farmstead area within a secured area of four hundred feet surrounding a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm structure located on the farmstead . However, the secured area shall not include any space that is in the corporate limits of a city. Sec. 5. Section 715E.4, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: b. Controls the flight of a remotely piloted aircraft equipped with a surveillance device over a secure farmstead area , if the secure farmstead area is not owned or leased by the person, and the remotely piloted aircraft remains over the secure farmstead area within a secured area of four hundred feet surrounding a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm structure located on the farmstead . However, the secured area

Senate File 491, p. 4 shall not include any space that is in the corporate limits of a city. Sec. 6. Section 715E.5, subsection 1, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: 1. A person who is the owner or lessee of a homestead or secure farmstead area may petition the district court to obtain an order for a temporary injunction to prevent the respondent from using any remotely piloted aircraft equipped with a surveillance device, if a preponderance of evidence indicates that the respondent is harassing the petitioner by controlling the flight of the remotely piloted aircraft over the person’s homestead or secure farmstead area in violation of section 715E.3 or 715E.4 . The court shall grant the temporary injunction for not more than two years. The court may continue the injunction upon a petition filed by the petitioner with the court prior to the order’s expiration. Sec. 7. Section 715E.5, subsection 3, paragraph b, subparagraph (1), subparagraph division (b), Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: (b) The person is an the owner of an agricultural animal a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm structure that may be identified in the recording. Sec. 8. Section 715E.5, subsection 3, paragraph b, subparagraph (2), Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: (2) A person cannot claim an ownership interest in a retrievable image, sound, or data that includes an image, sound, or data that may identify another individual, an agricultural animal a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm structure owned by another person, or land or an improvement owned by another person, unless that other individual or person consents. Sec. 9. Section 715E.6, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows: Sections 715E.3 and 715E.4 do not prohibit a person from controlling a remotely piloted aircraft flying over a person’s homestead or secure farmstead area if the person controlling the remotely piloted aircraft is any of the following: Sec. 10. Section 715E.6, subsections 1 and 9, Code 2025, are amended to read as follows:

Senate File 491, p. 5 1. A person who acts with the consent of the owner of the homestead or secure farmstead area . 9. The owner or lessee of the homestead or secure farmstead area . ______________________________ AMY SINCLAIR President of the Senate ______________________________ PAT GRASSLEY Speaker of the House I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and is known as Senate File 491, Ninety-first General Assembly. ______________________________ W. CHARLES SMITHSON Secretary of the Senate Approved _______________, 2025 ______________________________ KIM REYNOLDS Governor