HR96-119

Introduced

To prevent agencies from using unmanned aerial vehicles to conduct surveillance of United States citizens, and for other purposes.

119th Congress Introduced Jan 3, 2025

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

The bill prohibits federal law enforcement agencies from using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to conduct surveillance, gather evidence, or record U.S. It relies on compliance mandates and exemptions. The main policy areas are Privacy, Criminal Justice, and Defense.

Who Benefits and How

U.S. citizens subject to government surveillance could face reduced risk and Civil liberties and privacy advocacy organizations could gain revenue opportunities.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federal law enforcement agencies using drone surveillance (FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, Border Patrol, Secret Service) would take on compliance duties, Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers serving law enforcement market could lose revenue opportunities, and Department of Homeland Security and Secretary would take on compliance duties.

Key Provisions

  • Prohibits federal law enforcement agencies from using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to conduct surveillance, gather evidence, or record U.S.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

The bill prohibits federal law enforcement agencies from using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to conduct surveillance, gather evidence, or record U.S.

Key Policy Areas

Privacy, Criminal Justice, Defense

Primary Purpose

The bill prohibits federal law enforcement agencies from using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to conduct surveillance, gather evidence, or record U.S.

Policy Domains

Privacy Criminal Justice Defense

Section 1 - Short Title

Identified Gains
  • U.S. citizens subject to government surveillance
  • Civil liberties and privacy advocacy organizations
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
U.S. citizens subject to government surveillance:
Civil liberties and privacy advocacy organizations:
Identified Costs
  • Federal law enforcement agencies using drone surveillance (FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, Border Patrol, Secret Service)
  • Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers serving law enforcement market
  • Department of Homeland Security and Secretary
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: ih
Department of Homeland Security and Secretary:
Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers serving law enforcement market:
Federal law enforcement agencies using drone surveillance (FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, Border Patrol, Secret Service):

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Jan 3, 2025

Mr. Biggs of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Law Enforcement
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Federal law enforcement agencies using drone surveillance (FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, Border Patrol, Secret Service)

General Public
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

U.S. citizens subject to government surveillance

Advocacy Groups
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Civil liberties and privacy advocacy organizations

Defense
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers serving law enforcement market

Government
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Department of Homeland Security and Secretary

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Privacy Criminal Justice Defense
Domains
Privacy Law Enforcement National Security
Actor Mappings
"the_president"
→ President of the United States
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Homeland Security
"federal_law_enforcement_agency"
→ Any federal agency with law enforcement powers (e.g., FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE)

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

3 terms
"surveillance" §implicit_surveillance

Intentionally gathering evidence, collecting information, or photographically/electronically recording a specifically targeted U.S. citizen or their private property

"United States citizen" §implicit_united_states_citizen

Person holding U.S. citizenship (not explicitly defined, relies on standard legal definition)

"unmanned aerial vehicle" §implicit_unmanned_aerial_vehicle

Drone or remotely piloted aircraft used for surveillance purposes (not explicitly defined but commonly understood)

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology