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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1595 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1595

 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 17, 2015

 Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Heller) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Individuals From Mass 
Aerial Surveillance Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the terms ``mobile aerial-view device'' and ``MAVD'' 
        mean any device that through flight or aerial lift obtains a 
        dynamic, aerial view of property, persons or their effects, 
        including an unmanned aircraft (as defined in section 331 of 
        the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (49 U.S.C. 40101 
        note));
            (2) the term ``law enforcement party'' means a person or 
        entity authorized by law, or funded by the Government of the 
        United States, to investigate or prosecute offenses against the 
        United States;
            (3) the term ``Federal entity'' means any person or entity 
        acting under the authority of, or funded in whole or in part 
        by, the Government of the United States, including a Federal 
        law enforcement party, but excluding State, tribal, or local 
        government agencies or departments;
            (4) the term ``non-Federal entity'' means any person or 
        entity that is not a Federal entity;
            (5) the term ``surveil'' means to photograph, record, or 
        observe using a sensing device, regardless of whether the 
        photographs, observations, or recordings are stored, and 
        excludes using a sensing device for the purposes of testing or 
        training operations of MAVDs;
            (6)(A) the term ``sensing device'' means a device capable 
        of remotely acquiring personal information from its 
        surroundings using any frequency of the electromagnetic 
        spectrum, or a sound detecting system, or a system that detects 
        chemicals in the atmosphere; and
            (B) the term ``sensing device'' does not include equipment 
        whose sole function is to provide information directly 
        necessary for safe air navigation or operation of a MAVD;
            (7) the term ``public lands'' means lands owned by the 
        Government of the United States; and
            (8) the term ``national borders'' refers to any region no 
        more than 25 miles of an external land boundary of the United 
        States.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITED USE OF MAVDS.

    A Federal entity shall not use a MAVD to surveil property, persons 
or their effects, or gather evidence or other information pertaining to 
known or suspected criminal conduct, or conduct that is in violation of 
a statute or regulation.

SEC. 4. EXCEPTIONS.

    (a) This Act does not prohibit any of the following:
            (1) Patrol of borders.--The use of a MAVD by a Federal 
        entity to surveil national borders to prevent or deter illegal 
        entry of any persons or illegal substances at the borders.
            (2) Exigent circumstances.--
                    (A) The use of a MAVD by a Federal entity when 
                exigent circumstances exist. For the purposes of this 
                paragraph, exigent circumstances exist when the Federal 
                entity possesses reasonable suspicion that under 
                particular circumstances, swift action is necessary--
                            (i) to prevent imminent danger of death or 
                        serious bodily harm to a specific individual;
                            (ii) to counter an imminent risk of a 
                        terrorist attack by a specific individual or 
                        organization;
                            (iii) to prevent imminent destruction of 
                        evidence; or
                            (iv) to counter an imminent or actual 
                        escape of a criminal or terrorist suspect.
                    (B) A Federal entity using a MAVD pursuant to 
                subparagraph (A)(i) must maintain a retrievable record 
                of the facts giving rise to the reasonable suspicion 
                that an exigent circumstance existed.
            (3) Public safety and research.--The use of a MAVD by a 
        Federal entity--
                    (A) to discover, locate, observe, gather evidence 
                in connection to, or prevent forest fires;
                    (B) to monitor environmental, geologic, or weather-
                related catastrophe or damage from such an event;
                    (C) to research or survey for wildlife management, 
                habitat preservation, or geologic, atmospheric, or 
                environmental damage or conditions;
                    (D) to survey for the assessment and evaluation of 
                environmental, geologic or weather-related damage, 
                erosion, flood, or contamination; and
                    (E) to survey public lands for illegal vegetation.
            (4) Consent.--The use of a MAVD by a Federal entity for the 
        purpose of acquiring information about an individual, or about 
        an individual's property or effects, if such individual has 
        given written consent to the use of a MAVD for such purposes.
            (5) Warrant.--A law enforcement party using a MAVD, 
        pursuant to, and in accordance with, a Rule 41 warrant, to 
        surveil specific property, persons or their effects.

SEC. 5. BAN ON IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS.

    (a) No Federal entity actor may make any intentional effort to 
identify an individual from, or associate an individual with, the 
information collected by operations authorized by paragraphs (1) 
through (3) of subsection (a), nor shall the collected information be 
disclosed to any entity except another Federal entity or State, tribal, 
or local government agency or department, or political subdivision 
thereof, that agrees to be bound by the restrictions in this Act.
    (b) The restrictions described in subsection (a) shall not apply if 
there is probable cause that the information collected is evidence of 
specific criminal activity.

SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON USE OF EVIDENCE.

    No evidence obtained or collected in violation of this Act may be 
received as evidence against an individual in any trial, hearing, or 
other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, 
officer, agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other 
authority of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision 
thereof.

SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON SOLICITATION AND PURCHASE.

    (a) A Federal entity shall not solicit to or award contracts to any 
entity for such entity to surveil by MAVD for the Federal entity, 
unless the Federal entity has existing authority to surveil the 
particular property, persons or their effects, of interest.
    (b) A Federal entity shall not purchase any information obtained 
from MAVD surveillance by a non-Federal entity if such information 
contains personal information, except pursuant to the express consent 
of all persons whose personal information is to be sold.

SEC. 8. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any State law 
regarding the use of MAVDs exclusively within the borders of that 
State.
                                 <all>
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