SSB 1191 (LSB 2916XC (2) 91)

SENATE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION BILL BY CHAIRPERSON ZUMBACH)

A BILL FOR

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:
   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 consisting of forty or more contiguous acres, if 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.
   (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 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:
   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.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   BACKGROUND —— GENERAL. 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1131, prohibited the use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) flying over certain areas, including a homestead or that part of a farmstead where agricultural animals are confined and maintained (Code chapter 715E). An RPA is a self-propelled vehicle used for navigation and flight, is controlled by the use of an electronic system, and is not designed to carry a human. A surveillance device that is part of an RPA refers to a camera or electronic equipment that transmits or records images, sounds, or data from a distance. The location that is part of the farmstead confining and maintaining agricultural animals is referred to as an animal feeding operation. A secure farmstead area includes an animal feeding operation and an additional 400 feet of surrounding real property if both are owned or leased by the same person (Code section 715E.1).
   BACKGROUND —— CRIMINAL OFFENSES. Code chapter 715E created two related criminal offenses. The first offense, referred to as intrusion, is committed when a person knowingly controls the flight of an RPA over either of the two protected locations (Code section 715E.3). The second offense, referred to as surveillance, is committed when a person knowingly controls the flight of an RPA equipped with a surveillance device over either of those same locations (Code section 715E.4). In each case, the applicable criminal penalty is enhanced if a person has been previously convicted of either offense. For a person committing intrusion, the penalty is a simple misdemeanor subject to an enhanced penalty of a serious misdemeanor, and for a person committing surveillance, the penalty is a serious misdemeanor subject to an enhanced penalty of an aggravated misdemeanor. A simple misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than 30 days and a fine of at least $105 but not more than $855. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $430 but not more than $2,560. An aggravated misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine of at least $855 but not more than $8,540.
   BACKGROUND —— INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. A person who owns or leases a homestead or secure farmstead area may petition the district court to obtain an order for a temporary injunction to prevent a party from using an RPA equipped with a surveillance device (Code section 715E.5).
   BACKGROUND —— EXCEPTIONS. Code chapter 715E prohibitions do not apply in a number of circumstances based on consent by the location’s owner, operation of an RPA in compliance with federal aviation administration regulations, government actions in compliance with an interstate compact, the use of public utilities and railroads, an RPA’s high-altitude flight, the use of an RPA to collect scientific information, and a government’s exercise of a public road right-of-way.
   BILL’S PROVISIONS —— TERMINOLOGY CHANGE. This bill replaces the term “secure farmstead area”, which is defined to include an animal feeding operation, with the term “farmstead”. The bill redefines the term “farmstead” to mean at least 40 contiguous acres of real property used for farming, subject to certain conditions: (1) the real property is owned or leased by a farmer, defined as a person actively engaged in farming, (2) the real property is used for farming, including the production of a farm commodity, and (3) at least $15,000 was generated from the sale of farm commodities produced on the real property in the last calendar year. The bill establishes a secured area of 400 feet from certain types of property located on the farmstead, which includes a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm structure. However, the secured area cannot include any space within the corporate limits of a city. An RPA is prohibited from entering into this space, subject to the exceptions that apply to a homestead.
   BILL’S PROVISIONS —— INJUNCTIVE RELIEF. The same right to petition a district court to obtain an order for injunctive relief that applies under current law to the owner or lessee of a homestead or a secure farmstead area applies under the bill to the owner or lessee of a homestead or farmstead. 
   PENALTIES. The same criminal offenses and penalties that protect a homestead and secure farmstead area under current law protect a homestead and a secure farmstead, including a secure animal feeding operation, under the bill, including for intrusion and surveillance.