republic-os/legislation/us/states/fl/2021/sb-44.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Use of Drones by Government Agencies"
description: "Use of Drones by Government Agencies; Expanding the authorized uses of drones by law enforcement agencies and other specified entities for specified purposes; requiring the Department of Management Services, in consultation with a specified officer, to publish a list of approved drone manufacturers meeting specified security standards; requiring governmental agencies to discontinue the use of specified drones by a certain date; requiring the department to establish minimum security standards for governmental agency drone use, etc."
jurisdiction: "us/states/fl"
legislature: "Florida Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 44"
citation: "Florida SB 44 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["aviation"]
status: "enacted"
chapter_law: "2021-165"
primary_sponsors: ["Wright"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 43
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-12-28"
last_action: "2021-07-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b6330427-8d61-42f1-9a66-e63a060b6c53"
source_url: "https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/44/ByCategory"
source_hash: "543c8f0773cc3f2e71e5efe4f67a35cfa6b80e11971610c50a6d88a3964f1773"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-fl"]
---

# Florida SB 44 (2021) — Use of Drones by Government Agencies

Use of Drones by Government Agencies; Expanding the authorized uses of drones by law enforcement agencies and other specified entities for specified purposes; requiring the Department of Management Services, in consultation with a specified officer, to publish a list of approved drone manufacturers meeting specified security standards; requiring governmental agencies to discontinue the use of specified drones by a certain date; requiring the department to establish minimum security standards for governmental agency drone use, etc.

**Enacted** — Laws of Florida, Chapter 2021-165.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **S 44 Filed** (filed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/44/BillText/Filed/HTML)
2. **S 44 c1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/44/BillText/c1/HTML)
3. **S 44 c2** (committee substitute) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/44/BillText/c2/HTML)
4. **S 44 e1** (engrossed) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/44/BillText/e1/HTML)
5. **S 44 er** (enrolled) — [source](https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/44/BillText/er/HTML)

## Votes

- Passage, Third Reading — **88–24** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Returning Messages — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Favorable with Committee Substitute — **16–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wright — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-12-28** Filed `filing`
- **2021-01-11** Referred to Criminal Justice; Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security; Rules `referral-committee`
- **2021-01-15** On Committee agenda-- Criminal Justice, 01/26/21, 9:00 am, 110 Senate Building
- **2021-01-26** CS by Criminal Justice; YEAS 8 NAYS 0
- **2021-01-26** Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2021-01-28** Now in Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security
- **2021-02-08** On Committee agenda-- Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security, 02/16/21, 12:30 pm, 37 Senate Building
- **2021-02-16** Favorable by Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and Domestic Security; YEAS 7 NAYS 0 `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-02-17** Now in Rules
- **2021-03-01** On Committee agenda-- Rules, 03/04/21, 9:00 am, 412 Knott Building
- **2021-03-02** Introduced `introduction`
- **2021-03-02** CS by Criminal Justice read 1st time
- **2021-03-04** CS/CS by- Rules; YEAS 16 NAYS 0
- **2021-03-05** Pending reference review -under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
- **2021-03-05** Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading
- **2021-03-10** CS/CS by Rules read 1st time
- **2021-03-15** Placed on Special Order Calendar, 03/18/21
- **2021-03-18** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-18** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-03-18** CS passed; YEAS 39 NAYS 0 -SJ 261, 262 `passage`
- **2021-03-18** Immediately certified
- **2021-03-18** In Messages
- **2021-04-20** Bill referred to House Calendar
- **2021-04-20** Bill added to Special Order Calendar (4/23/2021)
- **2021-04-20** 1st Reading (Committee Substitute 2)
- **2021-04-21** Amendment 892017 filed
- **2021-04-21** Amendment 090057 filed
- **2021-04-23** Substituted for CS/CS/HB 1049
- **2021-04-23** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2021-04-23** Amendment 090057 withdrawn
- **2021-04-23** Amendment 892017 adopted
- **2021-04-23** Placed on 3rd reading
- **2021-04-23** Added to Third Reading Calendar
- **2021-04-26** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-04-26** CS passed as amended; YEAS 88, NAYS 24 `passage`
- **2021-04-26** In returning messages
- **2021-04-26** Message sent to senate
- **2021-04-28** Concurred in 1 amendment(s) (892017)
- **2021-04-28** CS passed as amended; YEAS 40 NAYS 0 `passage`
- **2021-04-28** Ordered engrossed, then enrolled
- **2021-06-28** Signed by Officers and presented to Governor
- **2021-06-29** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-06** Chapter No. 2021-165

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b6330427-8d61-42f1-9a66-e63a060b6c53`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Florida legislature records).