Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025

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

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague and chair, Mr. Babin, and rise in support of the Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025, H.R. 1325. We are very pleased to see this legislation being reintroduced this Congress, and certainly it is coming from the leadership of our former chair of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Mr. Frank Lucas, and our ranking member, Ms. Zoe Lofgren. It is another bipartisan bill.

Commercial remote sensing is a vibrant and growing industry. Data and imagery from commercial remote sensing satellites are used widely in energy, agriculture, disaster monitoring, mapping, and national security applications such as maritime surveillance.

Commercial space-based images provide vital scientific information on the health of our Great Lakes informing policy in my beloved home State of Michigan and across the basin. These images also provide visibility and insight into life-threatening events, such as the before and after observations of the devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires in southern California.

In 1992, Congress, led by the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, authorized the Secretary of Commerce to license and regulate private-sector parties to operate commercial remote sensing space systems. Since that time, the commercial remote sensing industry has changed quite dramatically.

Today, companies from across the world are launching commercial remote sensing systems and selling the data. We must ensure that the United States remains at the forefront of this industry, especially as the Chinese Communist Party is advancing in the remote sensing sector.

As a 2024 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies plainly put it: ``Should any one country dominate the commercial remote sensing market, not only could it gain economic advantages, but it would also control the information narrative about the entire planet, from the environment to natural resources to human conflict.''

So this bill provides Congress the transparency and insight we need to oversee the licensing and regulation of private remote sensing systems. It modifies the timeline for completing licenses to conform with updated regulations. It also requires information to provide Congress with details on licensing related to regulatory changes. Further, it extends the requirement for an annual report on commercial remote sensing licenses through 2030.

I am very enthusiastic about this important bipartisan commercial space legislation. It is always a good day in the Chamber when Chair Babin is talking about commercial space legislation, and it is always a good day when we are doing bipartisan things on behalf of American competitiveness.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1325, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time to speak on this bill, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is always a good thing when we have a Lucas bill, and particularly when it is a bipartisan bill, and usually it is. You just heard his remarks in this debate. He has really nailed this one.

H.R. 1325 remains an important and necessary piece of legislation that I am proud to support and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1325) to provide for transparent licensing of commercial remote sensing systems, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 1325, the bill now under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1325, the Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025.

This bill updates reporting requirements for NOAA's Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, giving Congress the ability to monitor how regulations are affecting the expansion and development of the commercial and remote sensing industry.

Remote sensing uses data collected from satellites to produce images of Earth and has become a crucial tool in fields like agriculture, finance, trade, energy, and national security. Commercial remote sensing also provides us with vital information for many important applications. The technology behind it is constantly evolving, and the industry is seeing tremendous growth.

To effectively support and manage remote sensing activities, it is imperative that Congress receives timely and comprehensive reports in order to evaluate the state of the industry and how regulations are affecting this growth.

The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 established a reporting requirement for the Department of Commerce on the status of commercial remote sensing licensing and regulation. That requirement expired in 2020. H.R. 1325 will reinstate this 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 no-nonsense, bipartisan bill that will ensure the U.S. remains at the helm of this important field.

I thank the former chairman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Mr. Lucas, for introducing this bill and his leadership on this important topic. This bill passed the House by a voice vote in the last two Congresses, and I look forward to working with the Senate to see it finally cross the finish line.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas), who is our former chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as I said previously, commercial remote sensing provides us with critical information related to a number of fields important to U.S. competitiveness.

H.R. 1325 will ensure that Congress receives the updates necessary to monitor industry regulations. Updating these reporting requirements will ensure the U.S. remains the global leader in this crucial sector.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1325, the ``Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025.''

I would like to thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, Congressman Frank Lucas, who was former Chair of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology where I serve as Ranking Member, for reintroducing this legislation. I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of this bill and continue working with Congressman Lucas with whom I collaborated on our Committee's bipartisan work.

H.R. 1325 is a no-nonsense, good government bill that amends existing statute to conform with updated regulatory guidelines. This legislation also directs reporting to Congress on commercial remote sensing licensing, which is carried out under statutory authority granted to the Department of Commerce. H.R. 1325 provides Congress with the necessary transparency to carry out ongoing oversight of the Department's implementation of its authority and regulatory responsibilities.

Ensuring that our U.S. commercial space-based remote sensing industry leads the world is not only important for our economy, it is essential for securing the power that space-based information has for our Nation--from natural disaster assessments and responses to precision agriculture and applied uses for national security. For example, commercial remote sensing images provide an important means of shining a light on the world's actions in a way that satellites designated for national security, or the intelligence community cannot. Commercial imagery of the advancement of Russia into Ukraine is but one example.

It is not surprising that several commercial remote sensing companies are in the Bay area of Northern California where my District is located. California is an incubator of space technology, and the Bay area and Silicon Valley are drivers of information technology innovation. Coupling commercial space-based remote sensing data with analytical tools and information technology is a force multiplier that augments and enables essential decision-support products.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the House to vote ``YEA'' on H.R. 1325, the ``Commercial Remote Sensing Amendment Act of 2025.''