Representative presents bill to bar drones from flying over jails, citing contraband deliveries

Representative Jones presented House Bill 12 30 to the Senate Rules subcommittee, framing the measure as aimed at stopping contraband deliveries to correctional facilities.

"It prohibits the operation of drones over places of incarceration, jails, prisons, for the purposes of moving contraband into the jails or the prison," Representative Jones said, describing a second provision that would bar operation on adjacent lands. "What we're trying to do is kill the entire supply chain, kill the cartel, kill the operator, and then also kill the actual act of going over the place of incarceration," he told the committee. When the chair asked whether "kill" was literal, Jones replied, "Figuratively."

The bill sponsor framed the measure as a public-safety and corrections-focused remedy to an operational problem: contraband deliveries by unmanned aircraft. The presentation received no recorded opposition during the rules hearing; the subcommittee did not take a final vote on the bill during this meeting.

Next steps: The bill remains under committee consideration and may be scheduled for further debate or a vote in a later sitting.