Bill Text: HI SCR195 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 195 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Aerospace Development

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-07 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06-07-13. [SCR195 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SCR195-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	195
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

recognizing commercial space transportation as a strategic and timely growth industry for hawaii and requesting the state administration to take proactive, coordinated, and sustained action to fully realize the significant scientific, educational, and commercial benefits that space launch operations and related aerospace enterprise can bring to hawaii.

WHEREAS, over the past half century, space launch operations have played a major role in expanding and diversifying our national economy by promoting scientific and technical discoveries, advancing national engineering and manufacturing expertise, enhancing innovations in communications and computer technologies, expanding surveillance of our planet and weather forecasting, and enabling better understanding of weather systems and climate change; and

WHEREAS, space launch operations have precipitated the growth of commercial products that have directly contributed to enhancing our qualities of life, as well as provided greater means and venues for the exploration of space and the expansion and development of related sciences and technologies; and

WHEREAS, newly-emerging commercial space launch capabilities and related operations hold great potential for enhancing the nation's leadership in aviation safety; global security; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education; renewable energy systems; cyber-defense for power control systems; and remote sensing for management of critical global resources; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's strategic mid-Pacific, near-equatorial location, as well as substantial telemetry, space surveillance, and other related infrastructure, provide a unique environment from which to launch payloads into equatorial and polar orbits, and with notably less energy requirements than similar launches from United States mainland locations; and

WHEREAS, these assets and capabilities are ideally suited to support the launch of next-generation government and commercial spacecraft that can enable the deployment of small satellites, experimental payloads, and tourists to space; monitor and manage man-made and natural disasters; test space-based power systems to capture sunlight as a renewable energy resource for interplanetary spacecraft and Earth-based applications; and facilitate diverse commercial communications applications; and

WHEREAS, there is growing global concurrence that public-private and multinational cooperation can help reduce the costs and enhance the benefits of robotic and human access to space, and that Hawaii, by virtue of its strategic geographic location, existing infrastructure, and long-standing ties with the Asia-Pacific community, is ideally suited to serve as a catalyst for such partnerships; and

WHEREAS, to diversify and expand Hawaii's economy, the State must promote strategic growth industries that can attract substantial federal and private sector investments, support high-paying and sustainable technology-based employment opportunities for local residents, develop creative means to inspire and train students in STEM-related fields, and enable pioneering research and commercial development programs at universities and businesses statewide; and

WHEREAS, aerospace research and development, and in particular commercial space launch activities and related operations, can demonstrably provide multiple opportunities to help realize all of these goals statewide; and

WHEREAS, multiple international and national aerospace companies have already expressed strong and continuing interest in supporting commercial space launch activities from Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the State, through its Office of Aerospace Development, is currently working to conduct the environmental assessment and other analytical studies required to obtain a commercial spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration to enable commercial launch activities in Hawaii; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the House of Representatives concurring, that this body recognizes commercial space transportation as a strategic and timely growth industry for Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state administration is requested to take proactive, coordinated, and sustained action to fully realize the significant scientific, educational, and commercial benefits space launch operations and related aerospace enterprise can bring to the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State should work collaboratively and proactively with federal and municipal agencies and organizations, as well as local and overseas universities and companies, to explore and promote opportunities to initiate, expand, and diversify commercial space launch capabilities and operations in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these capabilities and operations should be targeted toward developing Hawaii as an international center for commercial space launch activities that can help reduce the costs and enhance the benefits of space exploration, while generating high-paying and sustainable technology-based employment opportunities for local residents, as well as providing significant opportunities for K-12 and university-based STEM education and training that can grow Hawaii's technologically-proficient workforce; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these efforts should be undertaken in a manner that ensures adequate communications and community outreach to enable commercial space launch activities to be responsive to local economic needs, environmental concerns, community development plans, and cultural concerns; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Aerospace Development is requested to promote and help advance such activities and programs on behalf of the State, including coordination with the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory on Oahu, Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance facility on Maui, Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems on the Big Island, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, and other state-based, national, and international agencies and organizations, both public and private, as appropriate; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor; Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Director of the Office of Aerospace Development; President of the University of Hawaii System; Superintendent of Education; Adjutant General; Commander of the United States Pacific Command; Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet; Commander of the Pacific Air Forces; Commanding General of the United States Army Pacific; Commander of the United States Marine Corps Forces, Pacific; Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.