Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation Wednesday designed to say where people can and cannot fly their drones.
A key provision of the measure precludes cities from enacting their own restrictions. Sen. John Kavanagh said companies like Amazon want to use drones for delivery. But he said that could be thwarted by a patchwork of local laws, like one in Paradise Valley that prohibits drones from flying over private property.
This new law sets out rules for where drones can be used, like city parks. But Rep. Eddie Farnsworth got the House to remove a provision Kavanagh wanted that would have made it illegal to take pictures of someone else in a backyard. Farnsworth said the fact is that people have no legal expectation of privacy in their yard.
"Take for example the neighborhood that most of us live in now. If I'm in my second-story home and I look outside my window and my neighbor who's next door, whatever they're doing, I can see them, I can watch, I can stand up on a ladder and look over the fence as long as I don't go over it," he said.
But Farnsworth said that does not give drone operators carte blanche to buzz into someone's rear yard. He said there are plenty of existing laws about causing a nuisance.
"If we have a drone that comes in and hovers 10 feet over your head, well, obviously, they're not allowing you to have the quiet enjoyment of your property," he said.
The new law takes effect in August.