I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3962 

To describe the authority under which Federal entities may use mobile aerialview devices to surveil, protect individual and collective privacy against 

warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of mobile aerialview devices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself, Mr. POE of Texas, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. BEYER, 

and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To describe the authority under which Federal entities may 

use mobile aerial-view devices to surveil, protect individual and collective privacy against warrantless governmental intrusion through the use of mobile aerial-view 

devices, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Individuals 

5 From Mass Aerial Surveillance Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 


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1 (1) MOBILE AERIAL-VIEW DEVICE, OR MAVD.— 

2 The terms ‘‘mobile aerial-view device’’ and ‘‘MAVD’’ 

3 mean any device that through flight or aerial lift ob4 tains an aerial view of property, persons or their ef5 fects, including an unmanned aircraft (as defined in 

6 section 331 of the FAA Modernization and Reform 

7 Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note)). 

8 (2) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL OR AGEN9 CY.—The term ‘‘law enforcement official or agency’’ 

10 means a person or entity authorized by law, or fund11 ed by the Government of the United States, to inves12 tigate or prosecute offenses against the United 

13 States. 

14 (3) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en15 tity’’ means any person or entity acting under the 

16 authority of, or funded in whole or in part by, the 

17 Government, including a Federal law enforcement 

18 official or agency, but excluding State, tribal, or 

19 local government agencies or departments. 

20 (4) NATIONAL BORDERS.—The term ‘‘national 

21 border’’ means an area that shares not more than 

22 5 miles of an external land boundary of the United 

23 States. 


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1 (5) NON-FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘non2 Federal entity’’ means any person or entity that is 

3 not a Federal entity. 

4 (6) SURVEIL.—The term ‘‘surveil’’ means to 

5 photograph, record, or observe using a sensing de6 vice, regardless of whether the photographs, observa7 tions, or recordings are stored, and excludes using a 

8 sensing device for the purposes of testing or training 

9 operations of MAVDs. 

10 (7) SENSING DEVICE.— 

11 (A) MEANING.—The term ‘‘sensing 

12 device’’ means a device capable of remotely 

13 acquiring personal information from its 

14 surroundings using any frequency of the 

15 electromagnetic spectrum, or a sound de16 tecting system, or a system that detects 

17 chemicals in the atmosphere. 

18 (B) SPECIFIC EQUIPMENT NOT IN19 CLUDED.—The term ‘‘sensing device’’ does 

20 not include equipment for which the sole 

21 function is to provide information directly 

22 necessary for safe air navigation or oper23 ation of a MAVD. 


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1 (8) PUBLIC LANDS.—The term ‘‘public lands’’ 

2 means lands owned by the Government of the 

3 United States. 

4 SEC. 3. PROHIBITED USE OF MAVDS. 

5 A Federal entity shall not use a MAVD to surveil 

6 property, persons or their effects, or gather evidence or 

7 other information pertaining to known or suspected crimi8 nal conduct, or conduct that is in violation of a law or 

9 regulation. 

10 SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS. 

11 This Act shall not prohibit any of the following: 

12 (1) PATROL OF BORDERS AND NATIONAL

13 WATERS.—The use of a MAVD by a Federal entity 

14 to surveil national borders or national waters of the 

15 United States to prevent or deter illegal entry of any 

16 person or illegal substance at the borders or in na17 tional waters of the United States. 

18 (2) EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES.— 

19 (A) ACTION NECESSARY.—The use of a 

20 MAVD by a Federal entity when exigent cir21 cumstances exist. For the purposes of this 

22 paragraph, exigent circumstances exist when 

23 the Federal entity possesses reasonable sus24 picion that under particular circumstances, 

25 swift action is necessary— 


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1 (i) to prevent imminent danger of 

2 death or serious bodily harm to a specific 

3 individual; 

4 (ii) to counter an imminent risk of a 

5 terrorist attack by a specific individual or 

6 organization; 

7 (iii) to prevent imminent destruction 

8 of evidence; or 

9 (iv) to counter an imminent or actual 

10 escape of a criminal or terrorist suspect. 

11 (B) RECORDS.—A Federal entity using a 

12 MAVD pursuant to subparagraph (A)(i) shall 

13 maintain a retrievable record of the facts giving 

14 rise to the reasonable suspicion that an exigent 

15 circumstance existed. 

16 (3) PUBLIC SAFETY AND RESEARCH.—The use 

17 of a MAVD by a Federal entity— 

18 (A) to discover, locate, observe, gather evi19 dence in connection to, or prevent forest fires; 

20 (B) to monitor environmental, geologic, or 

21 weather-related catastrophe or damage from 

22 such an event; 

23 (C) to research or survey for wildlife man24 agement, habitat preservation, or geologic, atVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3962.IH H3962

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1 mospheric, or environmental damage or condi2 tions; 

3 (D) to survey for the assessment and eval4 uation of environmental, geologic or weather-re5 lated damage, erosion, flood, or contamination; 

6 and 

7 (E) to survey public lands for illegal vege8 tation. 

9 (4) CONSENT.—The use of a MAVD by a Fed10 eral entity for the purpose of acquiring information 

11 about an individual, or about an individual’s prop12 erty or effects, if such individual has given written 

13 consent to the use of a MAVD for such purposes. 

14 (5) WARRANT.—Law enforcement using a 

15 MAVD, pursuant to, and in accordance with, a Rule 

16 41 warrant, to surveil specific property, persons, or 

17 their effects. 

18 SEC. 5. BAN ON IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS. 

19 (a) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—No Federal enti20 ty actor may make any intentional effort to identify an 

21 individual from, or associate an individual with, the infor22 mation collected by operations authorized by paragraphs 

23 (1) through (3) of section 4, nor shall the collected infor24 mation be disclosed to any entity except another Federal 

25 entity or State, tribal, or local government agency or deVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:46 Nov 09, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3962.IH H3962

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1 partment, or political subdivision thereof, that agrees to 

2 be bound by the restrictions in this Act. 

3 (b) PROBABLE CAUSE.—The restrictions described in 

4 subsection (a) shall not apply if there is probable cause 

5 that the information collected is evidence of specific crimi6 nal activity and a warrant is obtained. 

7 SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON USE OF EVIDENCE. 

8 No evidence obtained or collected in violation of this 

9 Act may be admissible as evidence against an individual 

10 in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any 

11 court, grand jury, department, officer, agency, regulatory 

12 body, legislative committee, or other authority of the 

13 United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof. 

14 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE. 

15 (a) EXISTING AUTHORITY.—A Federal entity shall 

16 not solicit to or award contracts to any entity for such 

17 entity to surveil by MAVD for the Federal entity, unless 

18 the Federal entity has existing authority to surveil the 

19 particular property, persons or their effects, or interest. 

20 (b) PERMISSION GRANTED.—A Federal entity shall 

21 not purchase any information obtained from MAVD sur22 veillance by a non-Federal entity if such information con23 tains personal information, except pursuant to the express 

24 consent of all persons whose personal information is to 

25 be sold. 


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1 SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any 

3 State law regarding the use of MAVDs exclusively within 

4 the borders of that State. 

Æ 


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