The sixth, and final, month of the “traditional” state legislative session has ended, with another ten states adjourning from their regular session, for a total of 41 states out of session. Of the nine states still in, six have legislature that meet year-round.  

Of the adjourned States, Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia all have carryover – so all the measures in those states will remain eligible for consideration in 2024.  

New Trends 

2023 was an incredibly active year for air-related legislation, with close to 200 measures introduced over the past six months. While many of these dealt with issues that are consistently raised, such as flight over critical infrastructure, contraband, police use, and study committees, two new areas of interest emerged. 

Country of Origin 

Country of Origin bans emerged as a strong area of legislative focus across all states this year, with 20 different measures being introduced. These measures prohibit state and local agencies from using drones from countries of concern, such as China, because of security concerns over the data captured. First becoming a focus on the State level in 2022 when an Executive Order in Florida ordered rulemaking on the matter, we expect this to remain an area of focus going into 2024. 

Advanced Air Mobility 

AAM is an emerging sector of the advanced aviation industry that offers immense economic and workforce benefits. This year we saw States begin to grapple with this innovative technology legislatively, with 11 AAM specific bills introduced. These bills differ in subject matter, from study committees to infrastructure operations, and some are better than others. A vast increase over the number of AAM measures introduced last year (one), this issue will only become more prominent as the technology advances.  

Drone Prepared 

AUVSI launched our fifty-state educational campaign, Drone Prepared, this past December. In the first session after launch, we connected with legislators in every state on the campaign, passed the full model language in Mississippi, passed a form of the language in Rhode Island, and got the language introduced in New York and North Carolina. Both the New York and North Carolina language will remain eligible next session, and we expect to make progress in South Dakota as well. 

Additionally, Mississippi, which became Drone Prepared in March, is already seeing the benefits. This month, just two months after enactment, Hush Aerospace relocated to Mississippi with a $14 million investment. We have confirmation that this move was tied Drone Prepared and the positive regulatory landscape it created.  

Moving Forward 

While the traditional state legislative session period has ended, there is still a lot to be done. We look forward to getting involved with study committees done in the interim, continuing relationships with legislators and state agencies, working through the full-year legislators, and preparing for 2024.