FL INFORMAL 2018-08-14

Is a Florida county property appraiser a 'public entity' that can operate a drone as a 'public aircraft' under federal law?

Short answer: Yes. The Florida AG confirmed in 2018 that the Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser, as a constitutional county officer, is a public entity, and a drone the office uses for non-commercial purposes (such as beach-erosion assessment) qualifies as a public aircraft under 49 U.S.C. § 40125.

Disclaimer: This is an official Florida Attorney General opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Florida attorney for advice on your specific situation.

Plain-English summary

This is a status-certification letter, the second in a small set of similar 2018 letters confirming Florida government entities' eligibility to operate drones as "public aircraft" under federal law. The Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser asked the Florida AG to confirm public-entity status so that the office could complete an FAA application. The drone in question was being used for beach-erosion assessment, with no commercial use, no transport of persons or property for compensation, and no carriage of non-crewmember passengers.

AG Pam Bondi confirmed that the Property Appraiser qualifies. Santa Rosa County is a political subdivision of the State of Florida under Article VIII, section 1 of the Florida Constitution. The Property Appraiser is a county officer authorized by Article VIII, section 1(d), and the office's duties are prescribed by general law. The Florida Supreme Court in Beard v. Hambrick held that constitutional county officers are part of the county and therefore part of a political subdivision. The same reading dates back to Payne v. Washington Cty. (1889) and was applied in Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 064-174 (1964) to mosquito control district commissioners as county officers.

The letter relies on the Property Appraiser's representations that the drone use was non-commercial, that the aircraft was for geological resource management (beach erosion assessment) under 49 U.S.C. § 40125(a)(2), and that no persons would be carried as passengers. Combined with state-political-subdivision status, those representations met the federal "public aircraft" definition.

The letter is narrowly scoped and does not extend to use by other agencies or to other forms of operation.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2018. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

Federal law treats government-owned and government-operated aircraft differently from commercial aircraft. Under 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41) and § 40125, a "public aircraft" must be owned and operated by a federal, state, or local government, must serve a governmental function, and must not be used for commercial purposes. Section 40125(a)(2) lists "geological resource management" among the qualifying governmental functions.

Florida county officers (the constitutional officers under Article VIII, section 1(d): sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, supervisor of elections, clerk of the circuit court) act in their official capacity as part of the county, which is itself a political subdivision of the state. Beard v. Hambrick (Fla. 1981) is the leading authority. The 1889 Payne v. Washington Cty. decision makes the same point for the county tax collector.

The "non-commercial" representation is critical to the public-aircraft analysis. Under 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41)(C) and § 40125(b), a government-owned aircraft loses public-aircraft status if it is used to transport persons or property for compensation. The Property Appraiser certified non-commercial use, and the AG accepted the representation.

Section 40125(a)(2)'s "geological resource management" category was a good fit for beach-erosion mapping. Other governmental categories that public aircraft may serve include law enforcement, search and rescue, biological resource management, fish and wildlife management, ground support and instruction, and emergency response.

Common questions

Q: What does this letter confirm specifically?
A: Two things. First, that the Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser is a "public entity" because the office is a constitutional county officer in a state political subdivision. Second, that the drone, given the Property Appraiser's representations about its non-commercial use, would meet the federal "public aircraft" definition under 49 U.S.C. § 40125.

Q: What if the Property Appraiser later started using the drone for something else?
A: The letter is limited to the represented use (beach-erosion assessment) and to non-commercial operation. A change in use that introduced commercial purposes (for example, leasing the drone to a private entity for a fee) could remove the public-aircraft status, regardless of what this letter says. The AG noted that the certification "does not extend to" different uses.

Q: Could other county property appraisers cite this letter?
A: Yes, as a template. The legal analysis (constitutional county officer = part of a political subdivision) applies to every Florida property appraiser. But each FAA application typically requires its own certification, so a property appraiser in a different county would normally request its own letter or use this one as a model.

Citations

Constitution and federal:

Art. VIII, §§ 1, 1(d), Fla. Const.
49 U.S.C. §§ 40102(a)(41)(C), 40125, 40125(a)(2), 40125(b)
14 C.F.R. Part 1.1

Cases:

Beard v. Hambrick, 396 So. 2d 708 (Fla. 1981)
Payne v. Washington Cty., 25 Fla. 798, 6 So. 881 (1889)
Op. Att'y Gen. Fla. 064-174 (Dec. 11, 1964)

Source

Landing page: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/ag-opinions/faa-unmanned-aircraft-property-appraiser
Original PDF: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/print/pdf/node/8021

Original opinion text

Federal Aviation Administration

Scott J. Gardner

Acting Air Traffic Manager

Unmanned Aircraft Tactical Operations (AJV-115)

490 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Suite 7105

Washington, DC 20024

Dear Mr. Gardner:

The Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser (“Property Appraiser”) has advised this office that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires the Property Appraiser to obtain a letter from the Florida Attorney General confirming that the Property Appraiser, as a county officer of Santa Rosa County, is a “public entity.” The Property Appraiser further advised us that this confirmation is required so that the Property Appraiser may meet the eligibility requirements for an Unmanned Aircraft Selection.

Pertinent to this question, the Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser has made the following representations:

The Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser’s office owns an Unmanned Aircraft and intends to operate the Unmanned Aircraft as a public aircraft as defined in 14 CFR Part 1.1 and 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41);
The Unmanned Aircraft will not be used for the transportation of persons or property for compensation or hire;
The Unmanned Aircraft will not be used to carry any persons, and therefore, will not be used to carry “individual[s] other than a crewmember or a qualified non-crewmember[;]” and
The Unmanned Aircraft will be used for geological resource management purposes under 49 U.S.C. § 40125(a)(2) to conduct aerial assessments of beach erosion in Santa Rosa County.

Pursuant to Article VIII, section 1 of the Florida Constitution, Santa Rosa County is a political subdivision of the State of Florida. The Property Appraiser is a county officer, whose office is authorized by Article VIII, section 1(d) of the Florida Constitution, and whose duties are prescribed by general law. In providing services in his official capacity, the Property Appraiser acts as a part of Santa Rosa County, and is therefore a “public entity.”[1]

Further, the Property Appraiser’s representations (described above) indicate that the Unmanned Aircraft will not be used for commercial purposes, within the meaning of 49 U.S.C. § 40102(a)(41)(C) and 49 U.S.C. § 40125(b). Based upon these representations, because a “public aircraft” is defined as an “aircraft owned and operated by…a political subdivision of one of these governments, except as provided in section 40125(b)[,]” the aircraft to be operated by the Property Appraiser would satisfy the definition of a “public aircraft.”

In sum, this letter constitutes the Florida Attorney General’s assurance that the Santa Rosa Property Appraiser is a constitutionally recognized county officer of Santa Rosa County, which is a political subdivision of the State of Florida. This letter does not constitute comment on any other issue or matter.

Sincerely,

Pam Bondi

Attorney General

PB/ttlm

cc: Gregory S. Brown

Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser

[1] Cf. Beard v. Hambrick, 396 So. 2d 708, 711 (Fla. 1981) (“In our opinion, there is no reasonable way to construe article VIII, section 1, other than to include sheriffs as well as other named county officers as part of a county and, as such, within the definition of a political subdivision….”); Payne v. Washington Cty., 25 Fla. 798, 807, 6 So. 881 (1889) (reflecting that the county tax collector acts, in his official capacity, either for the county or for the state, depending on the nature of his tax collection activities); Op. Atty. Gen. Fla. 064-174 (Dec. 11, 1964) (reflecting that “each member of the board of commissioners of the east Duval county mosquito control district is a county officer, acting [as] an agency, instrumentality or adjunct of Duval county, which functions for and serves the county in its capacity as a subdivision of Florida”).