North East Ohio UAS Coordination Group

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – HB 251 FINAL HEARING

HB 251 will have a 4th hearing for ALL TESTIMONY before the Senate Armed Services, Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, June 3rd at 2:30 PM.

This is expected to be the final opportunity for public safety agencies, organizations, and stakeholders to provide testimony and submit letters of opposition regarding the amended UAS language contained in HB 251.

While changes have been made to the amendment, significant concerns remain.

The current proposal still includes:
• A prohibition on future purchases of affected UAS platforms by public entities
• Restrictions that go beyond current federal guidance
• An exemption process that has no clearly defined federal pathway
• An unfunded mandate requiring agencies to replace operational aircraft
• A 24-month compliance timeline with no funding assistance for replacement equipment

The concern is no longer whether a transition away from foreign-manufactured aircraft will eventually occur. Most public safety agencies understand that change is coming.

The concern is whether that transition can be accomplished in a realistic, affordable, and operationally responsible manner.

A 24-month transition period without a funding mechanism is not a transition plan—it is an unfunded mandate.

Public safety agencies across Ohio have invested millions of taxpayer dollars into drone programs that support search and rescue, fire response, disaster assessment, law enforcement operations, missing persons investigations, and other life-saving missions.

Many of these aircraft remain fully operational, federally authorized, and actively supporting public safety missions every day throughout Ohio.

Without funding assistance, many smaller agencies, volunteer fire departments, county emergency management agencies, and rural law enforcement organizations may lose drone capability entirely because they simply cannot afford replacement aircraft that often cost two to three times more than current systems.

We respectfully ask agencies, public officials, first responders, and stakeholders to make their voices heard.

Please consider:
• Submitting a letter of opposition
• Providing written testimony
• Attending the June 3rd hearing
• Providing in-person testimony
• Sharing real-world examples of how drone programs support your community
• Explaining the financial impact this legislation will have on your agency

This hearing may be the last opportunity for lawmakers to hear directly from the public safety professionals who will be responsible for implementing these requirements.

If your agency has benefited from a public safety drone program, now is the time to speak up..

This is your last chance as if this passes as written it will decimate your programs

Below is a sample oppostion letter and link to send in opposition as well as testify. Those that have testified need new faces to support them. Thank you all in advance.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cl7b_XESpXdfdsU_Qx0XrOn0jO-Ofmw8/view?usp=drivesdk

https://ohiosenate.gov/committees/armed-services-veterans-affairs-and-public-safety/meetings/cmte_s_armed_services_1_2026-06-03-0230_1340

SB 251 Opposition 4th hearing.pdf

https://dspalliance.org/dji-audit-is-in-and-d-c-et-al-is-wrong/

DJI Audit is in. And D.C. (et al.) is WRONG! - Drone Service Providers Alliance Let’s get to the good part first: Independent Security Assessment Finds No Evidence of Hidden Backdoors or Foreign Data Transmission in DJI Drone Platforms! ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Let’s be honest — there’s been a lot of no...

OHCON 2026

Registration is open for the Second Annual Ohio Public Safety UAS Conference (OHCON 2026) in coordination with DRONERESPONDERS. New year new opportunities. Pre Conference workshop on Sept 28th - Public Safety UAS Program Manager Course. Full conference the 29th and 30th! including 4 "Flight Ops" Hands on training clinics. Tactical Operations, Advanced Search and Rescue, Crime and Fire Scene Mapping, NIST Open and Confined Lanes Certifications. Full panel of presentations , including DFR, Counter UAS, Thermography, Mapping, Legal issues and UAS and so much more. Network with teams from all over the State! Hosted at the Ohio Fire Academy Columbus Ohio. Open to Public Safety Agencies, and Government agencies. Sorry not open to General Public or Vendors not presenting or sponsoring. Supported by Ohio Public Safety UAS Coordination Group (OHGRU)Ohio Homeland Security, Ohio EMA, ODNR, Ohio Fire Academy, Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy. CPT and Con Ed will be available for specific topics. Check it out and register :

https://www.ohgru.org/

Just a reminder our first event is this Friday. There is still time to sign up. We will be running a NIST Level 1 lane if anyone coming wants to go through the course to earn a LEDA certificate. Look forward to seeing everyone there!

Just a reminder that the DRONERESPONDERS NIST Proctor Course is coming up next week June 3-5 in Springdale OH. Don’t miss out of this opportunity to get some great training. See the attached flyer for details.

DJI has announced end of life on these drones. It’s pretty much all the “3” series of drones. There is a slight chance they may do one more production run of the 30Ts, but it’s not guaranteed.

Today, testimony was provided in opposition to House Bill 317, which would ban all Chinese-manufactured drones, including DJI aircraft currently used by public safety agencies, within two years of the bill’s passage.

Thank you to everyone who took a moment to submit opposition letters. They truly do matter, and they are reviewed and considered by legislators and staff.

Thank you as well to Ryan Gillmor LEDA Ohio Chapter President for providing testimony alongside me on this important issue.

Tomorrow, House Bill 251 will be heard in the Senate at 2:30 PM. We do have a representative, Joshua Pickens with Bellevue PD
who will testify in that hearing as well. As of this writing, the bill still contains language that would prohibit the purchase of non-NDAA compliant drones and require the removal of many currently deployed public safety aircraft within two years.

Public safety agencies are not asking to ignore the issue. We are simply asking for reasonable time to transition and for state funding support if a ban is implemented.

Our hope is that, by working together, we can continue educating lawmakers and responsibly manage the changes that may be coming. The goal is to protect the public safety drone programs that make a difference every single day across Ohio.

A link to today’s testimony is included below. There were good questions asked during the hearing, and now we wait to see what comes next.

If you know a Senator or Representative, it never hurts to respectfully reach out and let them know where you stand.

Respectfully,

Asst Chief (Ret) Scott Mlakar
Lake County Unmanned Response Team
Director NEO-PSURT
Director Ohio Public Safety UAS Coordination Group (OHGRU)

Ohio House Technology and Innovation Committee - 5-19-2026 | Ohio House of Representatives

Congrats to Lorain PD

Lorain police gifted new Mobile Drone Command Vehicle from Norfolk Southern The Lorain Police Department received a $15,000 grant from Norfolk Southern to acquire and outfit a Mobile Drone Command Vehicle. The vehicle, also called a side-by-side, will support the Police Department’s Real-Time Crime Center with i…

ALL OHIO AGENCIES

More bad legislative news. Please submit opposition letter for HB 251 which is in the Senate for review. They added language to the bill that now sets complete ban 24 months from now with NO funding to replace any of your fleets. This start at line 241. I have also attached a link to send in opposition for this hearing which is Wed for this so has to be in before Tuesday at 10:00 AM. Both 317 (Tuesday) and 251 (Wed) are being pushed to ban your aircraft. I suggest speaking up, or in 2 years or less you will lose your fleets! THERE IS NO FUNDING T0 REPLACE WHAT YOU LOSE. And yes we will be there Tuesday for HB 317, but my guess is it will be pushed the same way with 2 year limit.

If you do wish to submit testimony on HB 251, here is a link https://ohiosenate.gov/committees/armed-services-veterans-affairs-and-public-safety/meetings/cmte_s_armed_services_1_2026-05-13-0230_1248/upload-testimony

Opposition letter sent you can also send,

https://docs.google.com/document/d/109uzwbyhEtJAIaXh46ZVqVlP0gvJzjwQ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114211937489852180578&rtpof=true&sd=true

Bill here

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xv-ZSA-2zEdzo4Xscl2U9mVNkj08_veN/view?usp=sharing

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