STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2366

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3053

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 3053 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS TEST SITES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Establish the Hawaii unmanned aerial systems test site Chief Operating Officer position, who will manage the operations of the Hawaii unmanned aerial systems test sites and serve on the Pan-Pacific Unmanned Aerial Systems Test Range Complex management team;

     (2)  Establish an advisory board to oversee and manage unmanned aerial systems test site operations; and

     (3)  Appropriate $470,000 to the University of Hawaii to staff and operate Hawaii's unmanned aerial systems test site activities.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Hawaii Aerospace Advisory Committee; University of Hawaii; Niihau Ranch; and eight individuals.

     Your Committees find that there is a need to safely integrate unmanned aerial systems into national air space and Hawaii offers many unique qualities to support these operations.  Your Committees further find that the Federal Aviation Administration, at the direction of the United States Congress, designated Hawaii, in partnership with Alaska and Oregon, as one of six national unmanned aerial test sites to research and develop unmanned aerial systems operating standards and regulations.  Accordingly, this measure will fund the staffing and operating costs of Hawaii unmanned aerial systems test site activities and establish leadership positions to oversee and manage operations, thereby securing a prominent role for the State in this pioneering technology.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3053, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3053, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Higher Education,

____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair