STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2129

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2608

       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 Transportation and International Affairs and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2608 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to make it unlawful for any law enforcement agency, state or local public agency, person, or entity to use an unmanned aircraft to gather information, including but not limited to images, photographs, or recordings, except under specified circumstances.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, The Nature Conservancy, Filipino Law Students Association, and Hawai‘i Farm Bureau.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the State Department of Defense; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Department of Land and Natural Resources; and International Ventures Associates.

     Your Committees find that unmanned aircraft technology is rapidly developing.  Public Law 112-95 (2012) requires the Federal Aviation Administration to "accelerate the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system".  While unmanned aircraft technology offers more efficient and cost saving methods to gather information, this new and innovative technology may also provide opportunities for abuse.  While recognizing the progressive opportunities that unmanned aircrafts provide, your Committees also recognize the duty to protect Hawaii residents from threats to their constitutional right to privacy. 

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

     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. 2608, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2608, S.D. 1, 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