BREAKING: Florida Senate Committee Approves Adoption of Joe Negron's Anti-Drone Bill

On Tuesday morning, the Florida Senate's Committee on Criminal Justice voted unanimously to move forward SB 92, a bill filed by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, which would limit the use of drones (unmanned aerial vehicle) by law enforcement officials.

Negron, one of the Legislature's staunchest conservative defenders of civil liberties, has made SB 92 a priority for the 2013 session. As originally filed, the bill prohibited the use of drones by law enforcement officials in the "prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of penal,traffic, regulatory, game, or controlled substance laws." The bill contained an anti-terrorism exception: "if the United States Secretary of Homeland Security determines that credible intelligence indicates that there is such a risk."

At Tuesday's committee meeting, Negron submitted two amendments to his proposed legislation. One added "local government code enforcement" to the list of activities drones could not be employed for. The second amendment added two additional exceptions to the drone ban: a) if a law enforcement agency obtains a search warrant signed by a judge, and b) an "exigent circumstances" provision, where "swift action isneeded to prevent imminent danger to life or serious damage toproperty, or to forestall the imminent escape of a suspect orthe destruction of evidence."

In order to move to the Senate floor for a vote, SB 92 must pass through three more committees: Judiciary,Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice, and Appropriations.

A companion bill has been filed in the House by Rep.Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne.

More to come ...