STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2338

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2194

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2194 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO UNMANNED AIRCRAFT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the felony offenses of misuse of unmanned aircraft in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that the proliferation of technology has innovated aspects of daily life. However, certain technology such as unmanned aircraft, colloquially known as drones, have been utilized in the transfer of contraband into correctional facilities and interference with aircraft. As operators of unmanned aircraft operate the device from a distance, finding and identifying the individual remains a challenge for the law enforcement community. Therefore, this measure will increase public safety and security while establishing greater accountability and consequences for unmanned aircraft operators.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the term "unmanned aircraft" with "uncrewed aircraft"; and

(2) Clarifying that the offense of misuse of uncrewed aircraft in the first, second, and third degrees do not apply to any adult corrections officer or correctional worker acting within the course and scope of their duties.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2194, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2194, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

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CHRIS LEE, Chair