Tim Sheehy worked with lobbyists to kill drone privacy bills in Montana Legislature
Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy worked to kill a pair of drone privacy bills in the state legislature while he profited off developing and contracting drone technology to the federal government.
EDITOR’S NOTE (8/20): This article has been updated to include images of the referenced emails.
Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy worked to kill a pair of drone privacy bills in the state legislature while he profited off developing and contracting drone technology to the federal government.
In 2015, Sheehy publicly condemned a bill to regulate drone usage in Montana before it was voted down in the Montana House of Representatives by a vote of 48-49.
In 2017, Sheehy coordinated with a national drone lobbying group to oppose Senate Bill 170, a piece of legislation that would have implemented drone regulations for public privacy. The bill would have established a civil penalty for flying drones over private property below 500 feet and require drones to follow public roads unless otherwise given permission.
In emails obtained by Heartland Signal, Sheehy contacted multiple state senators, asking them to “drop the pursuit of the anti-drone legislation [SB 170] and support the growth of the industry in Montana.” Records show Sheehy referred to the bill as “redundant, ineffective and unconstitutional.”
According to Sheehy’s resume, he served as the president of the Big Sky Chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems (AUVSI) from 2017 to at least 2021. A Forbes article from 2014 called the AUVSI one of the drone industry’s largest advocacy and lobbying groups. In an email to the Gallatin County commissioner, Sheehy said that he was “leveraging AUVSI to support” ending the drone bill. Another email from Sheehy’s business partner Lee Dingman appeared to refer to Montana legislators as “yokels.”
“This is a complete waste of everyone’s time,” Dingman’s email reads. “They cannot ‘force’ operators to violate federal FAA altitude restrictions and the FAA’s regs trump anything the yokles cook up.”
SB 170 died in committee in April 2017. The Sheehy campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Around this time, Sheehy’s wildfire firefighting company Bridger Aerospace had been “gearing up” to introduce drone technology and unmanned aircraft to their fleet. The drones Bridger Aerospace would be using were from the Chinese tech company DJI, which admitted in 2016 that it was complying with the Chinese government to hand over data collected by its drones. Bridger Aerospace now only offers manned aircraft, according to its website.
In 2018, Sheehy’s company Bridger Aerospace was awarded a “first-of-its-kind” federal contract for unmanned aerial wildlife surveillance. Sheehy also owned a company called Ascent, which he used to develop drone technology before he sold if for $350 million in 2020.
In addition to developing and profiting from drones, Sheehy also adopted “tough on China” campaign messaging despite his business dealings with DJI.
Sheehy is looking to defeat incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D) this November, who is seeking his fourth term in office. Tester is heavily involved in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and he spearheaded the passage of the PACT Act in 2022 despite Republican opposition.
