Massachusetts Senator Pushes Anti-Drone Bill in State House

With U.S. drone policy recently pushed into the national spotlight by Sen. Rand Paul's marathon filibuster, a Massachusetts senator is using the momentum to call for action on his anti-drone bill. 

Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) on Thursday asked the Joint Committee on Transportation for a prompt hearing on a bill he filed in January regulating the use of drones in Massachusetts, according to a State House News Service report.

"I thought Sen. Paul’s filibuster was remarkable. It shined a bright light on the rapid erosion of privacy and civil liberties in America and hopefully energized all those who want to protect the constitution," Hedlund said, according to the news service. 

Hedlund's bill, which was drafted with the American Civil Liberties Union, would ban drones from carrying weapons, would require any drone use to be approved at a city or state level and to be reported, and would forbid the use of drones to "track, collect or maintain information about the political, religious or social views, associations or activities of any individual, group, association, organization, corporation, business or partnership or other entity unless such information relates directly to investigation of criminal activity."