Oregon Senate Bill 71: Protect the RC Hobby, Aerial Photography, and FPV communities.

We are a community of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operators made up of both professionals and hobbyists united in opposition to Senate Bill 71 which would impose restrictions on use of drones by private parties and public entities. UAS technology is growing rapidly and new applications present themselves daily. This technology is used by law enforcement, fire, search and rescue, forestry services, environmental agencies, film makers and many other organizations to create new opportunities and enhance their current capabilities. Denying all of these groups access to this technology does nothing to improve homeland security and stifles the technological progress that is taking place around the globe. This technology, among other things, has the potential to save lives, help protect the environment, enhance the scientific community and save tax payers millions of dollars.

We strongly feel that the language in this bill is both vague and ambiguous. There is a very clear distinction between the military weaponized "drones", which are not commercially available, and the types of vehicles being operated for scientific, commercial, and artistic applications.
This bill does not do enough to make this distinction and for this we strongly advise against it, as it currently stands.