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Drone Surveillance Bill Still Alive In Colorado Statehouse

DENVER (AP) - Colorado lawmakers are scrambling to reach an agreement on limiting drone surveillance.

Several efforts to create the first legal parameters for drone usage in the state have fallen short this year. But one measure pending in the Senate may survive after being amended to address several key concerns.

The bill would allow civil penalties for drone surveillance in areas where people have an expectation of privacy. The limit wouldn't apply to law enforcement or other government employees.

"With this bill, we would be able to get there," said Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton and sponsor of the drone bill. "Our goal is that this would be a first step."

Newell also sponsored a failed drone bill that called for a limit on government surveillance. It was opposed by several government agencies as drone users warned the limit would endanger everything from search-and-rescue operations to wildlife counts.

All government agencies are exempt in the bill that is still pending.

Senators also amended the bill so that violating someone's privacy with a drone would be a civil offense, not a crime. Private investigators and the Colorado Press Association both argued that the criminal penalty could chill routine investigations and newsgathering.

"It would be a crime in Colorado to make any picture or taking a recording on anybody without their permission," said Greg Romberg of the Colorado Press Association and Colorado Broadcasters Association.

The drone bill also would have changed Colorado rules for recording phone calls. Colorado currently is a "one-party" state - meaning only one party on a phone needs to be aware the call is being recorded.

The bill would have changed Colorado to a "two-party" state, making phone recordings illegal without consent from both parties.

Private investigators opposed the change. They also warned that process servers routinely wear body cameras when serving papers, and that the bill would make those cameras illegal if papers are served at a person's home.

The revised drone bill is awaiting action by the full Senate.

But there may be more amendments and legal wrangling ahead. Some lawmakers say the bill doesn't go far enough to assure people they can't be recorded in their own backyards without a warrant.

"I don't think people want to live their lives thinking they have to be careful about everything they say and do," said Sen. Beth Martinez Huminek, R-Thornton.

LINK: House Bill 1115

- By Kristen Wyatt, AP Writer

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

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