BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SJR 18|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SJR 18
Author: Wolk (D), et al.
Amended: 3/8/16
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/25/15
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE FLOOR: 39-0, 9/2/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner,
Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Liu
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/9/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Small unmanned aircraft systems
SOURCE: Great California Drone Debate Project
DIGEST: This resolution urges the President of the United
States and the United States Secretary of Transportation to
allow for the operation of small unmanned aircraft systems
(sUAS) by farmers and rangeland managers pursuant to emergency
rules adopted by the administration.
Assembly Amendments add statements regarding the development of
precision agriculture applications using sUAS by several
SJR 18
Page 2
University of California (UC) and California State University
(CSU) campuses.
ANALYSIS:
Existing federal law:
1)Provides that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shall
regulate aircraft operations conducted in the national
airspace, including unmanned aircraft operations. (49 U.S.C.
Sec. 40103; 49 U.S.C. Sec. 40102(a)(6).)
2)Directs the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with
representatives of the aviation industry, federal agencies
that employ unmanned aircraft systems technology in the
national airspace system, and the unmanned aircraft systems
industry, to develop a comprehensive plan to safely accelerate
the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems into the
national airspace system. (Federal Aviation Administration
Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, H.R.658, 112th Congress
(2011-2012).)
3)Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to determine if
certain unmanned aircraft systems may operate safely in the
national airspace system before completion of the plan
required in the above provision. (Federal Aviation
Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, H.R.658,
112th Congress (2011-2012).)
This resolution makes the following statements:
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;
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The wise use, conservation, development, and management of our
water resources is critical to maintaining human life, health,
safety, and property;
The western United States is currently experiencing serious
drought conditions that are predicted to worsen;
Agricultural irrigation uses a significant amount of water,
making the agricultural sector one of the most important
sectors to examine when considering water conservation;
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
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.
This resolution makes the following additional statements:
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;
The FAA is currently in the process of adopting rules for the
usage of sUAS in agricultural management;
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;
sUAS 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
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incidents;
Several UC campuses and the CSU system are developing
precision agriculture applications with sUAS to help save
water and improve crop and environmental monitoring, including
the Mechatronics Embedded Systems and Automation Lab at UC
Merced, which has developed numerous innovations for precision
agricultural management with sUAS;
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
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.
This resolution 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.
This resolution specifies that 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:
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;
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
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they own or control under the proposed FAA rules for sUAS;
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; and
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.
Background
The development of sUAS - known variously as "unmanned aerial
vehicles," "remote piloted aircraft," or simply "drones" -
promises to transform the way Californians interact with each
other and their environment. Just a few decades ago, small
aircraft of this type were the exclusive domain of hobbyists.
Within the last decade or so, the public has become familiar
with the military's use of unmanned aircraft to accomplish
certain mission objectives, ranging from clandestine
intelligence gathering to aerial warfare. However, in December
2013 when Amazon, FedEx, and UPS announced their plans to
integrate unmanned aircraft into their logistics and delivery
services, the possibility of widespread civilian and commercial
adoption of this technology became clear.
Drone technology holds great promise to transform the way
California's farmers and ranchers manage livestock and
agricultural resources. According to a news article from last
year:
For centuries, much of farming has been legwork: walking down
rows, through patches, going plant-by-plant to check for
weeds, bugs, parched soil, any sign of distress. Modern
machinery, soil-testing, computers, and ground-based sensors
have made crop monitoring and tending more efficient, but
still lots goes unnoticed. Even with a trained eye, there
also are inevitably data that can't be detected at scale, such
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as nitrogen deficiency or diminished photosynthesis, the
chlorophyll-powered process that is crucial for a healthy
plant. And if one ailing plant is found, what is the impact
on the sometimes hundreds of thousands of plants that surround
it? Farmers were long left to guess.
Not for much longer: Agriculture drones may soon be flying
across America's farmland . . . the impact on the US farm
sector could be huge: billions of dollars in economic returns
and tens of thousands of jobs within only a few years. The
American Farm Bureau Federation estimates farmers'
return-on-investment alone could be $12 per acre for corn and
$2 to $3 per acre for soybeans and wheat.
It's the latest - and most arresting - transformation in the
burgeoning field of precision agriculture, which incorporates
geospatial data and sensors to microtarget fields for better
growth. Or, in other words, a Big Data revolution on the
farm.
. . .
Despite the pervasive idea that drones are primarily useful
for surveillance or warfare, agriculture drones are expected
to make up 80 percent of the future commercial market,
according to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
International. Yes, they will be deployed as worker bees,
spraying and treating crops, but the potential is much bigger:
Super-high resolution spectral imaging will garner data-driven
insight, allowing for more targeted fertilizing and better use
of water and labor. The need for common fertilizers, such as
nitrogen, as well as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides
that pollute local waterways could be substantially reduced.
Even for organic farmers, monitoring for disease and drought
could be made far easier. (John Wihbey, Agricultural Drones
May Change the Way We Farm, Boston Globe,
Page 7
are promulgated by the FAA.
Comments
The author writes:
Currently the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires
anyone intending to use a small unmanned aircraft system
(sUAS) for commercial purposes to file for a Section 333
exemption. Precision agriculture is one of the commercial
purposes the FAA allows Section 333 exemptions for. As of
February 2015, the FAA has issued interim rules regulating
sUAS usage for commercial purposes; final regulations are
expected in 2017.
SJR 18 requests that the FAA adopt emergency rules to allow
farmers and rangeland managers to use sUAS for agricultural
management. These rules would be limited to the region
projected to be in drought during the current growing season,
as defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Association's Seasonal Drought Outlook. Farmers would be able
to contract with sUAS flight service providers, farmers and
rangeland managers could use sUAS imagery to detect
water-depletive invasive species, and universities and
government agencies seeking to use sUAS for drought-related
research will be given expedited approval.
The severity of the current drought in California requires
every means to save water possible, especially agricultural
usage. Every tool available should be utilized to help reduce
water usage.
Related Legislation
SB 807 (Gaines, 2016) provides public entities and public
employees with immunity from civil liability for any damage to
an unmanned aircraft system if the damage was caused while the
public entity or public employee was providing, and the unmanned
aircraft system was interfering with, the operation, support, or
enabling of specified emergency services. The bill provides
similar immunity to emergency responders employed by private
entities or who are unpaid volunteers when those emergency
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responders act within the scope of authority provided by a
public entity or a public employee. The bill is awaiting
referral in the Assembly.
SB 868 (Jackson, 2016) enacts the State Remote Piloted Aircraft
Act, which creates a regulatory framework that allows for the
deployment of drone technology under specified restrictions.
The bill, among other things, limits drone use near critical
infrastructure, heliports, and airports, without permission,
limits drone use over state parks, wildlife refuges, the State
Capitol, or other designated safety areas, without a permit or
permission, prohibits the weaponization of drones, and prohibits
the reckless operation of drones and drone interference with
manned aircraft. The bill is pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2320 (Calderon, 2016) places several restrictions on the use
of unmanned aircraft systems, including using such systems to
violate protective orders, to view the scene of an emergency in
a way that impedes police officers, firefighters, emergency
medical, or other emergency personnel, or military personnel in
the performance of their emergency duties, or to stalk another
person by willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly following or
willfully and maliciously harassing another person. The bill is
pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified5/10/16)
Great California Drone Debate Project (source)
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/10/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/9/16
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Page 9
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, Eduardo Garcia
Prepared by:Tobias Halvarson / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
5/11/16 15:44:23
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