Thursday, May 30, 2013

National expert laments Texas drone bill

Though I hate to say it, if I were Governor Perry, Grits would veto HB 912 - the "drone bill" - and request in the veto message that the Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House appoint a joint, select committee to develop better legislation in the interim. Indeed, make me philosopher king and I'd hire Margot Kaminski to figure out how to reasonably govern this technology at the state level, and not just because I enjoy her company more than Lance Gooden's staff. (Kidding guys!) Grits met Margot at the Yale Law School conference I attended earlier this year and she's thought longer and more deeply about these questions than anybody I've met involved with Texas' drone bill. In a tweet lamenting the passage of HB 912 she recommended this recent paper championing "drone federalism" as an explanation for "why this kind of bill threatens free expression and is not a good idea." Like Margot, I think there's a role for state-level drone regulation. This bill, regrettably, isn't up to snuff.

RELATED: See Grits' critique, "Top Five Things Wrong With Texas' Drone Bill."

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