STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2128

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2582

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2582 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the Chief of Police to implement the International Association of Chiefs of Police Aviation Committee's "Recommended Guidelines for the use of Unmanned Aircraft";

     (2)  Prohibit the installation of or the carrying of weapons aboard an unmanned aircraft system that is used for commercial purposes and is flown across or above the State;

     (3)  Authorize the granting of search warrants to conduct aerial surveillance of specified persons or their properties without their consent while limiting the use of data obtained from unmanned aircraft systems without a search warrant; and

     (4)  Establish as a violation of privacy in the second degree the intentional use of a model aircraft or unmanned aircraft system operated for commercial or business purposes to track a specific, identifiable person without the person's consent, except in the execution of a public duty or as authorized by law.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Hawaii State Department of Defense; International Ventures Associates; and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i.

     Your Committees find that the use of unmanned aircraft systems in non-military applications can be very beneficial but can also pose significant risks if their capabilities are not thoroughly understood and controlled appropriately.  This measure strikes a balance between the use of advanced technology for the general public good and protection of privacy.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2582 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair