Michigan bill would create statewide drone registry to bypass FAA

A bill moving through the Michigan legislature would create a statewide drone registry, managed by the state’s Department of Transportation, designed to provide state agencies and law enforcement better access critical information and improve public safety.

Known as “S.H.I.E.L.D. Michigan,” short for Securing Homeland and Infrastructure with Emerging Laws for Drones, the bill would also direct more funding for geofencing technology for law enforcement and prohibit drones from flying near certain facilities, like power plants, correctional institutions and law enforcement buildings. (Michigan already has a law prohibiting drones from invading personal privacy.)

State Rep. William Bruck, a Republican spearheading the legislation, said that drones present a grave threat to critical infrastructure and public gatherings in the the absence of comprehensive federal regulation.

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