HCR 17-SUPPORT AVIATION INDUSTRY; USE STATE LAND  3:32:44 PM CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of HCR 17 [CSHCR 17(TRA) was before the committee]. GINGER BLAISDELL, staff to Representative Shelley Hughes, Alaska State Legislature, said this measure was brought to their attention by the Unmanned Aircraft System's Task Force, because one individual was able to secure a contract with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to test his unmanned aircraft system equipment by using state lands. The task force put this idea together and HCR 17 is the result. REPRESENTATIVE SHELLEY HUGHES, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of HCR 17, said the task force's top priority has been safety and privacy, but they are also tasked with promoting economic activities related to this industry and that is what HCR 17 does. She said Alaska has a lot of space, which is unique, and if state land can be made available, industry could use it for research testing, training, manufacturing and maintenance and operations of the systems. She said this will be a multi-billion industry and would be a good thing for the state. These are high tech jobs and young people are very interested in this kind of activity. It could open the door for some of them in the future. 3:36:27 PM CHAIR GIESSEL commented that the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) has the Poker Flats Research area where her son worked developing the initial Unmanned Aircraft Program (UAP). He counted walrus in the Aleutians with a little aircraft that could fly over them without them being concerned at all, but if a regular aircraft went over, even if it was higher, they all jumped into the water. It has multiple uses and was also tested on the TransAlaska Pipeline System (TAPS). SENATOR COSTELLO thanked the sponsor for this resolution and asked if she had run into any privacy issues or if there are any privacy guidelines to oversee this industry. REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES replied that privacy is always a topic on their agenda and Alaska has statutes that do apply. Right now they are working with law enforcement to create tools to deal with situations if they don't already exist. It's tricky, but she has a draft bill for next year. Congress is currently looking at the FAA reauthorization bill and there is talk about restricting states as to what they can do and whether they can even specify unmanned aircraft systems in their statutes. It is an evolving technology and she doesn't want to penalize this industry specifically if laws are already on the books that will work. 3:39:20 PM She said concerns about privacy were expressed on the House floor and a bill was passed a couple of years ago requiring search warrants in conjunction with the use of drones. There were attempts to put privacy language in this resolution, but this bill is about economic opportunities, and another bill would be a proper vehicle for that. CHAIR GIESSEL opened public comment. Finding none, she closed public testimony. 3:40:36 PM SENATOR COSTELLO moved to report CSHCR 17(RES), version 29- LS1327\E, from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. There were no objections and it was so ordered.