STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1104

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1478

       H.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology and Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1478, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to advocate for, promote, develop, test, and evaluate unmanned aerial system technologies through the Applied Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii and six individuals.

     Your Committees find that many Hawaii businesses may be enhanced, expanded, and made more resilient for the future by the incorporation of unmanned aerial systems into the business structure where appropriate and beneficial.  Your Committees find that state and county policies and procedures need to prepare for, embrace, and encourage incorporation of unmanned aerial systems in the full range of Hawaii's business framework and economic development and that this measure complements Hawaii's participation in the Pan-Pacific Unmanned Aerial Systems Test Range Complex, which is part of a national effort to advance the use of unmanned aerial systems in service to the economy.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1478, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Economic Development, Tourism, and Technology and Higher Education,

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair