Drone Integration and Zoning Act Would Let Local Govts Regulate Flights Below 200 Feet

For the fourth time since 2017, Congress is reviewing a bill that could completely reshape low-level drone flight in the US. The Drone Integration and Zoning Act would allow all 90,000 of the nation’s local governments to regulate drones below 200 feet as they please.

The concept was first introduced under the name ‘Drone Federalism Act’ in 2017. The bill changed to its current title, ‘Drone Integration and Zoning Act,’ when Senator Mike Lee brought it back to Congress in 2019, 2023, and now in 2025 as S.1249.

Despite the name change, the act maintained its purpose: to give state, local, and tribal authorities, as well as private property owners, the right to regulate drone activity in the ‘immediate reaches of airspace’ above.

“The FAA cannot feasibly or efficiently oversee millions of drones in every locality throughout the country,” Sen. Lee stated in 2019. “The best way to ensure public safety and allow this innovative industry to thrive is to empower the people closest to the ground to make local decisions in real time and that is exactly what the Drone Integration and Zoning Act does.”

The latest reboot of the bill, same as the others, would define the term “immediate reaches of airspace” as the area up to 200 feet above ground level. The jurisdiction to regulate this space would be handed to local governments. If they all chose to act on it, according to recent Census records, there could be as many as 90,837 new restrictions for low-level drone operations.

This airspace is currently regulated by the FAA. Since the act wouldn’t lower the current FAA-mandated drone ceiling of 400 feet, remote pilots would follow local regulations up to 200 feet and federal ones for the next 200 feet. Rulemakers could also choose to issue no-fly zones or prevent activity near certain infrastructure, adding even more pieces to the puzzle.

FMI: www.congress.gov