Ducey signs bills about drones, crime witnesses and service animals

PHOENIX — Got a drone? Planning to get one?

A new law signed Wednesday by Gov. Doug Ducey will affect where you can and cannot fly it. And it voids any attempt by cities and counties to impose their own rules.

Other bills given the governor’s approval include:

• Dividing the duties of Diane Douglas and the state Board of Education to finally end a pair of year-old lawsuits between them. The board will get to hire, fire and supervise its own employees, but Douglas will have oversight of department employees who investigate complaints about teachers.
• Requiring police to keep secret the addresses and other identifying information of witnesses to crimes. The move is designed to protect privacy but could impair the ability of reporters to track down and interview witnesses as well as lawyers for people who have not yet been formally charged with a crime.
• Giving business owners clearer power to remove “service animals” that cause problems. They cannot prohibit dogs and miniature horses that patrons need but need not tolerate bad behavior by the animals.

Ducey also vetoed legislation crafted by Rep. Justin Olson, R-Mesa, that would have required the Legislature to issue a press release if spending increases exceed growth or inflation.

The new law on drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, comes as the price of the devices has come down, making them more readily available for everything from businesses wanting to make deliveries and shoot aerial videos to hobbyists who might be more interested in having an onboard camera peer into a neighbor’s rear yard.

Much of the push for the measure came from companies such as Amazon that are hoping to use drones for delivery. But company officials said they feared that could be precluded by a patchwork of local laws.

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Those fears are not unfounded.

For example, the town of Paradise Valley voted last year to ban people from flying drones over private property without permission. The ordinance also says those who want to use a drone over public property must first obtain a special-event permit from the town.

SB 1449, which takes effect Aug. 6, invalidates any existing local laws. And it bars communities from adopting new ones.

The final measure also does not include language that would have made it a crime to videotape a “critical facility.” That includes everything from water and sewage treatment plants to power substations, railroad facilities and courts.

But it does allow cities to ban their use in parks — provided that at least one park does permit drones to be flown. That does not apply, however, if a community has only one park.

Other measures signed Wednesday by Ducey include:

• Ensuring that grandparents who care for children removed from their homes by the Department of Child Safety can get welfare payments;
• Requiring judges to allow children who are crime victims to bring a trained dog with them when they testify in court;
• Expanding the definition of “burglary” to include breaking into a gas pump or other machine that accepts credit and debit cards to install a device that records the card number and PIN so someone can steal the information;
• Allowing doctors licensed in other states to practice in Arizona for limited periods;
• Making it easier for distant relatives to adopt children who have been placed with them in foster care.