Two California lawmakers have introduced two separate bills this week that would further regulate drones in America’s most populous state.

If passed, one of the new state laws would require "tiny physical or electronic license plates" and inexpensive insurance, among other requirements. A second bill would compel drone pilots who are involved in incidents that damage property or injure people to leave their contact information—similar to what drivers must do following auto accidents.

The proposed laws are in response to a series of unfortunate mishaps involving drones across the Golden State in 2015: there were some unmanned aerial vehicles that got in the way of firefighting efforts, while another crashed into power lines in Hollywood, and yet another hit a baby in Pasadena.

The first bill, which was authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale), would require drone pilots to hold "inexpensive ($1, or so) insurance policies sold at the point-of-sale"—a press release compared it to automobile insurance.

Gatto’s bill, which has yet to be formally introduced with actual legislative text in the state assembly, would also require that all GPS-enabled drones "of a certain size" have an "automatic shut-off technology that would activate if approaching an airport."

"I think 2015 showed us that in the era of democratized aviation, certain types of incidents will be fairly common," he told Ars. "More and more people are buying these and that’s great. This is just like the 1920s when more and more people were buying cars, but I just think that we need some basic rules going forward."

He expects the bill to be introduced next week.

The second bill, written by Assemblyman Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park), aims to counter "hit and run" drone accidents by ordering drone pilots to leave their identifying information in a conspicuous place at the scene of the accident.

"Unfortunately, as the number of drones in the air will only increase in the coming years, we are going to see more and more accidents," Chau said in a statement. "And even with world-class safety features and training, accidents are still going to happen, just like on our roadways. If a drone breaks down, runs out of power or crashes into something, the operator needs to do the responsible thing and come forward and identify himself to the victim and to the police. This bill will make that responsibility the law."

Golden State of Mind

Amanda Essex, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures , told Ars that Chau’s drone bill was unique amongst similar state laws.

"A few states have considered legislation related to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) registration or insurance requirements, both of which are included in Assemblymember Gatto’s legislation," she told Ars by e-mail. "Legislation has not yet been enacted in any state that I am aware of requiring registration or insurance for non-commercial UAS. Geo-fencing, another provision of Assemblymember Gatto’s bill, has also been introduced in other states, including New Jersey."

The drone industry has yet to respond to these new bills.

"We’re still reviewing this legislation in California and other bills across the rest of the country that were recently introduced with the start of the state legislative sessions," Tom McMahon, a vice president of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a drone trade group, told Ars. "We currently don’t have positions on these bills."

Brendan Schulman, lawyer for drone maker DJI, did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

Gatto was confident that California’s regulations could have an outsized influence on drones sold nationwide.

"California has a long history of leading the way with sensible requirements for certain products sold in the state of California," he said. "In 1971, California was the only jurisdiction in the country that cars had smog control devices—now, all 50 states require catalytic converters."

The bills would have to pass both the state assembly and the state senate, and they would need to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who vetoed a bill in September 2015 that would have banned drone flights over private property at 350 feet or below.