Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2023

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today also in support of H.R. 290, the Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2023.

I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of this legislation, along with the chairman, and I am pleased to serve as ranking member of the committee, a new assignment for me.

It was all the way back in 1992 when Congress authorized the Secretary of Commerce to license and regulate commercial remote sensing space systems.

Commercial remote sensing is now a vibrant and growing industry. As the chairman has said, data and imagery from commercial remote sensing satellites are used widely in agriculture, disaster monitoring, energy, mapping, and national security applications. In fact, commercial remote sensing has been an important information source for fighting the devastating Western wildland fires, including those in my home State of California.

Companies from around the world are launching commercial remote sensing systems and selling the data. According to the Satellite Industries Association, globally, these services reached an estimated $2.7 billion in revenue in 2021.

Congress needs to ensure that the United States remains at the cutting edge of this industry and that is why it is important that we have the transparency and insight we need to oversee the licensing and regulation of private remote sensing systems.

In order to accomplish this, the Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act modifies the timeline for completing licenses to conform with updated regulations. It requires additional details on licensing information to be included in reports to Congress, and it extends a sunset clause for the annual report on commercial remote sensing licenses until 2030.

As the chairman has mentioned, an identical version of this bill passed this House on suspension during the 117th Congress, and I am pleased that Chairman Lucas and I can kick off our work this session by continuing the Science, Space, and Technology Committee's strong tradition of bipartisan work and our track record with this good bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that we all support this good bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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