Amended in Assembly March 8, 2016

Amended in Senate September 1, 2015

Senate Joint Resolution No. 18

Introduced by Senator Wolk

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Dodd)

July 16, 2015

Senate Joint Resolution No. 18—Relative to small unmanned aircraft systems.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 18, as amended, Wolk. Small unmanned aircraft systems.

This measure would request the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Transportation to allow for the operation of small unmanned aircraft systems by farmers and rangeland managers pursuant to emergency rules adopted by the administration, as specified.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, In the western United States, water is a vital and
scarce resource, the availability of which has and continues to
circumscribe growth, development, economic well-being, and
environmental quality of life; and

WHEREAS, The wise use, conservation, development, and
management of our water resources is critical to maintaining human
life, health, safety, and property; and

WHEREAS, The western United States is currently experiencing
serious drought conditions that are predicted to worsen; and

WHEREAS, Agricultural irrigation uses a significant amount
of water, making the agricultural sector one of the most important
sectors to examine when considering water conservation; and

WHEREAS, Even modest improvements in agricultural water
use can result in significant amounts of water not being depleted
regionwide, which can then be utilized elsewhere; and

WHEREAS, Precision agricultural management studies have
shown that farmers can reduce the amount of water, fertilizer, and
pesticide needed by their fields by utilizing high-resolution,
high-quality remotely sensed imagery to guide their application
efforts of water, fertilizer, and pesticide; and

WHEREAS, Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have the
capability to quickly provide expansive, high-resolution, and
high-quality remotely sensed imagery that can measure specific
bands in the solar spectrum, such as the thermal infrared band,
which allows farmers to better understand and manage their water
use; and

WHEREAS, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is
currently in the process of adopting rules for the usage of sUAS
in agricultural management; and

WHEREAS, Flights of sUAS, for the purposes of precision
agricultural management, could occur safely at low altitudes, in
rural areas removed from other air traffic and human populations,
and in accordance with the FAA’s proposed guidelines; and

WHEREAS, Small unmanned aircraft systems have been used
in precision agricultural management in Japan for a decade,
successfully optimizing and monitoring the management of 2.5
million acres of farmland, 40 percent of which are rice fields,
without any significant reported incidents; and

begin insert

WHEREAS, Several University of California campuses and the
California State University system are developing precision
agriculture applications with sUAS to help save water and improve
crop and environmental monitoring. For example, the
Mechatronics Embedded Systems and Automation Lab at the
University of California, Merced, has developed numerous
innovations for precision agricultural management with sUAS;
and

end insert

WHEREAS, Flights of sUAS also have the capacity for detecting
invasive plant species that deplete high amounts of water such as
yellow star thistle, arundo, tamarisk, and cheatgrass, which serve
no agricultural purpose and removal of which would help in water
conservation efforts; and

WHEREAS, The use of sUAS is an emerging technology and
has great promise for the development of models that forecast and
predict economic impacts of droughts and meteorological
phenomena; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That, due to the severity of the drought gripping
the western United States, the California Legislature respectfully
requests the President of the United States and the United States
Secretary of Transportation, more specifically the FAA, to allow
for the operation of sUAS by farmers and rangeland managers
pursuant to emergency rules adopted by the administration before
the FAA rules for sUAS are finalized. The emergency rules should
be based on the proposed FAA rules for sUAS that were released
in February 2015 and that incorporate all of the following:

(a) That the emergency FAA rules for sUAS operation be
applicable to counties located in the western portion of the United
States that are projected to be in drought during the current growing
season, as defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Association’s Seasonal Drought Outlook.

(b) That the emergency FAA rules for sUAS operation allow
farmers to contract with sUAS flight service providers to execute
missions on their behalf in the airspace overlying lands that they
own or control under the proposed FAA rules for sUAS.

(c) That the emergency FAA rules for sUAS operations that
allow universities and government agencies seeking to operate or
procure providers for sUAS missions for drought-related research
or precision management applications be given expedited approval.

(d) That the emergency FAA rules for sUAS operation also
allow farmers and rangeland managers to use sUAS imagery to
detect highly water-depletive invasive species on their land or
public lands that they manage; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority
Leader of the Senate, each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States, and the Federal
Aviation Administration.