Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I have to acknowledge this: I can't think of a better set of hands to have the chairmanship of this critically important committee of Science, Space, and Technology in than Chairman Babin and Ranking Member Lofgren and my good friend, the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Stevens) over there. The committee that the chairman presides over represents the future of this great country. I always tell people that the Science, Space, and Technology Committee is not just about yesterday or tomorrow, but it is 5 years, it is 50 years, it is 250 years into the future, and that is just an amazing thing.

Today, I rise in support of H.R. 1325, the Commercial Remote Sensing Act. I have introduced this bipartisan legislation in the past two Congresses, and on both occasions, the measures passed the House by voice vote. I reintroduced the bill this Congress along with my colleague and friend, the ranking member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Ms. Lofgren.

It updates the reporting requirements for NOAA's Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs so that Congress can monitor how regulations are impacting the growth and improvement of the commercial remote sensing industry.

Congress first authorized the licensing and regulation of commercial remote sensing space systems in 1992. Since then, the industry has become a crucial resource in a number of industries including agriculture, finance, trade, and energy.

Remote sensing uses data collected from satellites to produce images of Earth. This imagery and data has a number of important applications. It can allow farmers to improve crop production by more efficiently applying water and fertilizer. It can inform the future commodity prices by actively monitoring weather and crop health.

It can also improve our ability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters by instructing flood plain mapping, tornado tracking, and drought monitoring, topics that are all front-of-mind for all Americans, but especially those in my home State of Oklahoma.

Commercial remote sensing can also be helpful in humanitarian relief efforts and monitoring treaty compliance, among other national security and foreign affairs applications.

This technology provides us with critical information for a number of fields. As the industry is constantly evolving and growing, we must make sure that Congress is receiving timely and comprehensive reports to accurately evaluate how regulations are affecting the state of the industry.

The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 established a reporting requirement from the Department of Commerce on the status of commercial remote sensing licensing and regulation. That requirement expired in 2020.

H.R. 1325 will reinstate the reporting requirement and keep Congress informed of agency actions, their impact on licensees, and the state of the commercial remote sensing industry.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1325 is a simple, bipartisan bill that will help ensure that the United States remains the global leader in the commercial remote sensing industry.

I thank Ranking Member Lofgren for joining me in advancing this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

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