Your drone papers, please: Feds preparing registry for unmanned flight

Watchdog Arena sites Marc Scribner's research on the problems with federal regulations on drones.

As the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Marc Scribner points out in a recent blog post, there are serious issues with the expedited rulemaking process. As Scribner suggests, if Foxx does indeed intend to bring the forthcoming mandate into force by December, “the [FAA] will likely be in violation of two different federal laws: the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and the Administrative Procedure Act [APA].”

“Under the [APA], agencies are generally required to solicit comments from the public and then consider relevant comments in their rulemakings,” Scribner explains. “A rulemaking can take years and those subject to the rule are usually given 60 days to comply after the final rule is published in the ‘Federal Register.'”

In short, if the FAA is intending to force a registration mandate on UAS operators, “it is not planning to follow typical rulemaking procedures.”