Sen. Rick Jones announced on Wednesday that he has requested legislation that would make it illegal to fly a drone around the Michigan Capitol without a permit from the Michigan State Capitol Commission.
“We don’t need drones flying around the Capitol and possibly crashing into visiting families or students or damaging the historic building,” said Jones, R-Grand Ledge. “My main concern is the safety of the visiting public. If the Capitol Commission wants to give out permits to trained drone photographers for a wedding, that would be appropriate. But buzzing the Capitol with drones is inappropriate and potentially dangerous.”
The Capitol Commission on Monday voted unanimously to ban drones from flying over the state Capitol grounds unless given special permission from the commission. However, the members also expressed their wish to have the Legislature toughen the policy through legislation.
If enacted, Jones’ measure would put the policy into state law. Jones is working on this issue and plans to bring the legislation before the Senate in the coming weeks.
