119-hr4759

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4759 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4759

To prohibit the use of certain unmanned aircraft vehicles in the United 
 States to conduct surveillance of United States persons engaged in 
 protests or civil disobedience.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 25, 2025

 Mr. Gomez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Armed 
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
 jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To prohibit the use of certain unmanned aircraft vehicles in the United 
 States to conduct surveillance of United States persons engaged in 
 protests or civil disobedience.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Ban Military Drones Spying on 
Civilians Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS TO USE CERTAIN UNMANNED 
 AIRCRAFT VEHICLES IN THE UNITED STATES TO CONDUCT 
 SURVEILLANCE OF UNITED STATES PERSONS ENGAGED IN PROTESTS 
 OR CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE.

    (a) Prohibition.--None of the funds authorized to be appropriated 
for fiscal year 2026 or any fiscal year thereafter for the Department 
of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, or any other executive 
agency may be used to operate a covered unmanned aircraft vehicle in 
the United States to conduct surveillance of United States persons 
engaged in protests or civil disobedience.

    (b) Reports.--

    (1) Requirement.--On an annual basis, the President shall 
 transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 
 on the use of covered unmanned aircraft vehicles in the United 
 States during the period covered by the report.

    (2) Elements.--Each report under paragraph

    (1) shall 
 include, with respect to the period covered by the report, the 
 following:
        (A) A list of each individual instance in which a 
 covered unmanned aircraft vehicle was used--
            (i) for a novel purpose; or
            (ii) for a purpose not authorized by 
 Congress, including with respect to a use by 
 one executive agency for an authorized purpose 
 to assist another executive agency that is not 
 authorized to carry out such purpose.
        (B) With respect to each instance of a use of a 
 covered unmanned aircraft vehicle listed under 
 subparagraph
        (A) --
            (i) the purpose of such use;
            (ii) a justification for using a covered 
 unmanned aircraft vehicle, including an 
 analysis of why such use was required rather 
 than using alternative means more traditionally 
 used in a civilian context, including 
 helicopters or smaller, lower-altitude civilian 
 unmanned aerial vehicles;
            (iii) the dates and time of such use;
            (iv) the duration of such use;
            (v) the location of such use;
            (vi) the model of covered unmanned aircraft 
 vehicle used;
            (vii) identification of--
            (I) any sensors, cameras, and other 
 monitoring equipment equipped on the 
 covered unmanned aircraft vehicle; and
            (II) any weapons equipped on the 
 covered unmanned aircraft vehicle;
            (viii) a description of the process for 
 approving such use, including both the process 
 of the executive agency and any interagency 
 process; and
            (ix) whether any United States persons were 
 surveilled for any reason, and if so--
            (I) whether the executive agency 
 identified any United States person;
            (II) the number of such United 
 States persons identified;
            (III) the purpose for identifying 
 such United States persons;
            (IV) whether the executive agency 
 disseminated such United States person 
 information to any other executive 
 agency or a non-Federal Government 
 entity; and
            (V) the period that the executive 
 agency will retain such United States 
 person information.

    (3) Form.--The reports under paragraph

    (1) may be submitted 
 in classified form or include a classified annex.
            (c) === Definitions. ===
-In this section:

    (1) The term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means 
 the following:
        (A) The Committees on Armed Services and Homeland 
 Security of the House of Representatives.
        (B) The Committees on Armed Services and Homeland 
 Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.
            (C) The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 
 of the House of Representatives and the Select 
 Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.

    (2) The term ``covered unmanned aircraft vehicle'' means 
 any of the following:
        (A) The MQ-9 Reaper, or variants thereof.
        (B) Any unmanned aircraft that--
            (i) uses an airframe initially developed 
 for use by the Armed Forces;
            (ii) is a medium-altitude, long-endurance 
 aircraft or a high-altitude, long-endurance 
 aircraft; or
            (iii) is capable of flying at an altitude 
 of 10,000 feet or higher.

    (3) The term ``executive agency'' has the meaning given 
 that term in 

section 105 of title 5, United States Code.

    (4) The term ``United States person'' has the meaning given 
 that term in 

section 1637 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. 
 ``Buck'' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
 Year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 1708).
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