Read the full stored bill text
STATE OF IOWA
KIM REYNOLDS
GOVERNOR
May 6, 2025
The Honorable Paul Pate
Secretary of State of Iowa
State Capitol
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
Dear Mr. Secretary,
I hereby transmit:
Senate File 491, an Act prohibiting the use of remotely piloted aircraft flying over farm
property, and making penalties applicable.
The above Senate File is hereby approved on this date.
Sincer: ly,
0 Kim R; \ nolds
Governor of Iowa
cc: Secretary of the Senate
Clerk of the House
STATE CAPITOL DES MOINES, IOWA 50319 515.281.5211 FAX 515.725.3527 WWW.GOVERNOR.IOWA.GOV
OPP
z •_ v• •••.•
i
A
`—•,, • ✓ \ f ••, ^ I • é , - •:
.,•.,. .. r!J • •♦ • I' i \ ' • I z
_ ___ I 11-4.
IV[ iIIIIlllllll1111111 • ..• 11111111111111IIII"'•IIIIIIII • . • i •,
!
I
I!I!If➢II➢I! 1111111111111IIIII! flIIl7IIIIII IIIIII IIIIII!ID 11111➢111111111111111I II IN71II➢➢I tl 11111111111II1111111I III II Eilll!!I!111111111111IIII➢166P I!!I!I IIIIIIIIIIII II IDI DDlFII!1! 1111111116II I11NI01111!II
EI!1111171111111t1111111111 111 Il {E S1:711 tl1iE 33! lI I IN I1111 B1111111I ID➢111111i t711 III II
• IIÎIII•
1111111111111 { 111111 ! 1 1 1 1 1 1
'-• Cr1•:Nli;IZ••I•
IIIIIIIIII11111111lI[II
Senate File 491
AN ACT
PROHIBITING THE USE OF REMOTELY PILOTED AIRCRAFT FLYING OVER
FARM PROPERTY, AND MAKING PENALTIES APPLICABLE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
Section 1. Section 715E.1, subsections 1, 2, and 8, Code
2025, are amended by striking the subsections.
Sec. 2. Section 715E.1, Code 2025, is amended by adding the
following new subsections:
Senate File 491, p. 2
NEW SUBSECTION. 3A. " Farm animal - means an animal belonging
to the bovine, caprine, ovine, or porcine species; farm deer as
defined in section 170.1; ostriches, rheas, or emus; turkeys,
geese, chickens, or other domestic poultry; or a horse, pony,
mule, jenny, donkey, or hinny.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3B. - Farm commodity - means a farm animal,
farm crop, or honey.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3C. a. Farm crop - means a plant used for
food, animal feed, fiber, or oil, including a forage or cereal
plant.
b. ' Farm crop - includes but is not limited to alfalfa,
barley, buckwheat, corn, flax, forage, millet, oats, popcorn,
rye, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, wheat, and grasses used for
forage or silage.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3D. a. Farm equipment - means a device
or an attachment to a device designed and manufactured to be
principally used for farming, including the production, care,
or harvesting of a farm commodity.
b. ' Farm equipment"" includes but is not limited to tractors;
trailers; combines; tillage, planting, and cultivating
implements; balers; irrigation implements; injection and
application devices; manure haulers and spreaders; and
all- terrain vehicles.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3E. a. Farm structure" means a building
or other structure used in farming, including the production of
farm commodities.
b. ' Farm structure - includes but is not limited to the
principal residence of a farmer, a formed or unformed structure
that is part of an animal feeding operation as defined in
section 459.102 and related pipes and manure stockpiles, a
barn, a stable, a storage crib, a structure used to store seeds
or grain, an outbuilding, and a shed.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3F. -Farmer - means the person who is
actively engaged in farming as defined in section 9H.1.
NEW SUBSECTION. 3G. a. " Farmstead - means real property to
which all of the following apply:
( 1) The real property is owned or leased by a farmer.
( 2) The real property is used by the farmer for farming,
including the production of a farm commodity.
Senate File 491, p. 3
( 3) At least fifteen thousand dollars was generated from the
sale of farm commodities produced on the real property in the
last calendar year.
b. " Farmstead - includes but is not limited to a crop field
or pastureland.
C. - Farmstead - does not include any real property located
within the corporate limits of a city.
Sec. 3. Section 715E.1, subsection 9, Code 2025, is amended
to read as follows:
9. - Surveillance device - means a camera or electronic
equipment that transmits or records ges an image, oound3
sound, or data if the transmission or recording is capable of
reasonably identifying any of the following:
a. The identity, physical appearance, conduct, or voice of
an individual.
b. The species of an agricultural a farm animal.
C. The type or use of farm equipment.
d. The type or use of a farm structure.
e: e. The unique physical characteristics of land or an
improvement to land.
Sec. 4. Section 715E.3, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code
2025, is amended to read as follows:
b. Controls the flight of remotely piloted aircraft over
a secure farmstead area, if the 3ccurc farmstead ar a is
not owned or leased by the person, and the remotely piloted
aircraft remains over the 3ccurc farmstead ar a within a
secured area of four hundred feet surrounding a farm animal,
farm equipment, or a farm structure located on the farmstead.
However, the secured area shall not include any space that is
in the corporate limits of a city.
Sec. 5. Section 715E.4, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code
2025, is amended to read as follows:
b. Controls the flight of a remotely piloted aircraft
equipped with a surveillance device over a occure farmstead
area, if the 3ccurc farmstead area is not owned or leased by
the person, and the remotely piloted aircraft remains over the
o-ccurc farm3t ad ar a within a secured area of four hundred
feet surrounding a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm
structure located on the farmstead. However, the secured area
Senate File 491, p. 4
shall not include any space that is in the corporate limits of
a city.
Sec. 6. Section 715E.5, subsection 1, Code 2025, is amended
to read as follows:
1. A person who is the owner or lessee of a homestead
or occurc farmstead area may petition the district court to
obtain an order for a temporary injunction to prevent the
respondent from using any remotely piloted aircraft equipped
with a surveillance device, if a preponderance of evidence
indicates that the respondent is harassing the petitioner by
controlling the flight of the remotely piloted aircraft over
the person's homestead or occurc farmstead arcs in violation of
section 715E.3 or 715E.4. The court shall grant the temporary
injunction for not more than two years. The court may continue
the injunction upon a petition filed by the petitioner with the
court prior to the order's expiration.
Sec. 7. Section 715E.5, subsection 3, paragraph b,
subparagraph ( 1), subparagraph division ( b), Code 2025, is
amended to read as follows:
( b) The person is as the owner of an agricultural animal a
farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm structure that may be
identified in the recording.
Sec. 8. Section 715E.5, subsection 3, paragraph b,
subparagraph ( 2), Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
( 2) A person cannot claim an ownership interest in a
retrievable image, sound, or data that includes an image,
sound, or data that may identify another individual, air
a farm animal, farm equipment, or a farm
structure owned by another person, or land or an improvement
owned by another person, unless that other individual or person
consents.
Sec. 9. Section 715E.6, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2025,
is amended to read as follows:
Sections 715E.3 and 715E.4 do not prohibit a person from
controlling a remotely piloted aircraft flying over a person's
homestead or occurc farmstead area if the person controlling
the remotely piloted aircraft is any of the following:
Sec. 10. Section 715E.6, subsections 1 and 9, Code 2025, are
amended to read as follows:
Senate File 491, p. 5
1. A person who acts with the consent of the owner of the
homestead or occurc farmstead area.
9. The owner or lessee of the homestead or
area.
President of the Senate
farmstead
Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
is known as Senate File 491, Ninety-first General Assembly.
Approved , 2025
W C6(isAi+M W. CHARLES SMITHSON
Secreta of t Senate
KIM RE
Governor