Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5315) to direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish in the Department of Transportation a drone infrastructure inspection grant program and a drone education and training grant program, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5315, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5315, the Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act, legislation sponsored by Mr. Stanton of Arizona and Mr. Graves from Louisiana.

In recent years, small unmanned systems, also known as drones, have been valuable assets in the inspection, maintenance, and repair of the Nation's critical infrastructure. Drones have many uses, from surveying transmission lines and inspecting bridges, to assessing damage from natural disasters. As this aviation technology continues to evolve, State and local governments should have the opportunity to leverage these systems to help identify and address the growing infrastructure needs across the country.

H.R. 5315 establishes a drone infrastructure inspection grant program and a drone education and workforce training grant program at the U.S. Department of Transportation to help increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve worker safety, and reduce carbon emissions related to critical infrastructure projects.

Specifically, the bill authorizes competitive Department of Transportation grants for State, Tribal, and local governments to purchase, lease, contract for services, or support the operational management of small drones to perform certain infrastructure projects. H.R. 5315 ensures that these Federal funds can only be used for small drone technology manufactured or assembled by a U.S. company, includes safeguards for related labor agreements, and prioritizes projects conducted in historically disadvantaged communities.

In order to help equip the future U.S. transportation workforce with the skills necessary to capitalize on drone technology and compete globally, H.R. 5315 also invests Federal funding in drone workforce training and education programs at universities and community colleges. This program will be particularly beneficial as the U.S. aviation sector works to achieve a workforce that better reflects the diversity of the country as a whole.

H.R. 5315 has the support of cosponsors from both sides of the aisle and the endorsement of several key organizations representing the U.S. aviation and aerospace sector, and State, Tribal, and local governments.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter of support from these organizations.

September 8, 2022.

Hon. Nancy Pelosi,

Speaker of the House, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Steny Hoyer,

Majority Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Kevin McCarthy,

Minority Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Steve Scalise,

Minority Whip, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Minority Leader

McCarthy and Minority Whip Scalise: We write in strong

support of H.R. 5315, the bipartisan Drone Infrastructure

Inspection Grant (DIIG) Act, and respectfully request that

the bill be added to the House floor schedule. The DIIG Act

addresses the urgent critical infrastructure inspection

backlog our nation faces today, while also investing in the

drone workforce of tomorrow.

The bill's purpose is twofold. First, it would authorize

the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to provide

competitive grants to state, tribal, and local governments to

use secure small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to perform

critical infrastructure inspections. Drones provide states

with a safe and cost effective way to identify and repair

critical infrastructure problems in early stages, saving

money, time, and preventing needless consumer and worker

injuries and death.

Second, the bill would invest in our nation's future

workforce by authorizing USDOT competitive grants for

workforce training and education at institutions of higher

education, including community colleges. This would position

current and future workers to capitalize on the fast-growing

drone economy, and help to cultivate a diverse workforce. To

date, over 90 institutions have been approved by the Federal

Aviation Administration as VAS-Collegiate Training Initiative

Schools. This bill would nurture a dynamic workforce--ready

to adapt to the technological advancements of the future.

The DIIG Act passed out of the House Transportation and

Infrastructure Committee by a bipartisan vote of 54-4 on

April 28th. We hope you join us in supporting the DIIG Act by

adding it to the House floor schedule as soon as possible.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

National League of Cities (NLC), National Conference of

State Legislatures (NCSL), National Association of Counties

(NACo), National Association of State Aviation Officials

(NASAO), American Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials, Association of Uncrewed Vehicle

Systems International (AUVSI), Commercial Drone Alliance

(CDA).

NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors

Association, Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research

Alliance, Inc (NUAIR), Alaska Department of Transportation &

Public Facilities, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Kansas UAS

Joint Task Force, Texas Association of Counties, San

Bernardino County.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stanton).

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this commonsense, bipartisan legislation, and I thank Chairman DeFazio and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves) for working with me on it.

Our country must do a better job inspecting infrastructure. There is a nationwide backlog, and it is because traditional methods of inspecting critical infrastructure are often time-consuming, dangerous, and expensive. Inspections are essential, though, and we have seen tragic results around the country when structural flaws go unnoticed.

Modern technology has given us a great tool that we can use for inspections: Drones. Using a drone to inspect infrastructure in hard- to-reach places, such as underneath bridges, can speed up the inspection process so that we

can get through the backlog more quickly, and it can help save money, as well.

In fact, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimate that utilizing drones reduces the cost of infrastructure inspections by 74 percent and the time needed to conduct the inspection by 88 percent.

Not only that, but drone inspections are much safer for the workers than having a human hang under a tall bridge. It is an easy way to improve job safety.

In my home State, the Arizona Department of Transportation has been using drones for several years to inspect hard-to-reach areas on bridges, and survey near highways where falling rocks or ground movements are potential hazards.

What this bill does is simple: It gives more States, Tribes, and local governments the opportunity to use drones. It creates competitive grants to purchase, contract for services, or develop program capability for American-made, small, unmanned aircraft systems to perform critical infrastructure inspection, maintenance, operation, or repair projects. And it provides resources to train the next generation and upskill our existing workforce.

This bill has broad support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Association of State Aviation Officials, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, and many, many others.

I urge my colleagues to support this important bipartisan bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5315 is bipartisan legislation that addresses problems we have seen in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, we had a bridge collapse in Minnesota; we had a bridge collapse in Georgia; and, more recently, right on the Tennessee- Arkansas line on the interstate, we saw a bridge collapse.

All of these accidents that resulted in deaths and injuries and incredible impacts to traffic, they could have been prevented. They could have been prevented by lowering the threshold by doing safety inspections to critical infrastructure, like bridges; and this legislation helps to facilitate that.

Mr. Speaker, over 90 percent of the drones that were flown in the United States used to be foreign-made, in fact, from China. This legislation not only helps to facilitate the incorporation of drone inspection, which is cheaper, it is more thorough, it is more easily accessible, and it lowers the threshold to safety inspections. It doesn't put workers at risk. But it also ensures that we continue making progress on this domestic drone industry and no longer cede this leadership role to China.

This bill ensures that this is a domestic industry, U.S. technology, American jobs. And as the gentlewoman just said, this legislation also ensures that we have the workforce able to do this.

This bill is for 2 years. It is not designed to be in perpetuity. It is 2 years. It is helping to seed this industry; helping to incorporate this technology into our State DOTs, into our programs related to utilities and transmission lines, and even in the aftermath of disasters which, unfortunately, in my home State of Louisiana, we often experience.

I thank my friend for working with us on a bipartisan basis on this legislation, the gentleman from Arizona, the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 422.

Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress

Baird (Bucshon)

Bass (Correa)

Bush (Garcia (IL))

Cardenas (Correa)

Carter (LA) (Jeffries)

Castro (TX) (Correa)

Conway (Valadao)

DeSaulnier (Beyer)

Diaz-Balart (Salazar)

Fallon (Nehls)

Gaetz (Cawthorn)

Grijalva (Garcia (IL))

Jacobs (NY) (Tenney)

Johnson (TX) (Jeffries)

Jones (Garcia (IL))

Kirkpatrick (Pallone)

Lawson (FL) (Evans)

McEachin (Beyer)

Meng (Kuster)

Moolenaar (Bergman)

Moore (UT) (Hartzler)

Moore (WI) (Beyer)

Newman (Garcia (IL))

Pingree (Kuster)

Rice (NY) (Deutch)

Ryan (OH) (Correa)

Schrader (Correa)

Scott (VA) (Beyer)

Scott, Austin (Cammack)

Stansbury (Pallone)

Tlaib (Garcia (IL))

Wexton (Beyer)

Wilson (FL) (Deutch)

Madam Speaker, on September 13, 2022, I was participating in a Presidential Delegation to the Republic of Kenya and absent during the time of votes. Had I been present, I would have voted:

YEA on Roll Call No. 421, S. 4785, a bill to extend by 19 days the authorization for the special assessment for the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund;

YEA on Roll Call No. 422, H.R. 5315, the Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act; and

YEA on Roll Call No. 423, H.R. 1066, the Wildfire Recovery Act.