A couple of pieces of state legislation related to commercial space have passed milestones in the last several days:
In Hawaii, the House approved unanimously Tuesday HB2259, legislation that support work to develop a commercial spaceport in the state. Specifically, the legislation appropriates an unspecified sum to the state’s Office of Aerospace Development “to conduct feasibility studies for a spaceport and to pay for consultation and other expenses incurred in applying to the Federal Aviation Administration for a commercial space transportation license.”
Meanwhile, in Virginia, Governor Tim Kaine signed into law this week SB286, a “zero-g, zero-tax” bill for commercial spaceflight operations in the state. The bill amends the state tax code so that, starting in 2009, no tax would be charged on revenue from commercial human spaceflight launch services and training, or NATS COTS resupply services, provided those launches take place from a facility in the state. The fiscal impact statement for the legislation notes that the impact of the tax exemption “is unknown, but likely minimal”, because of the lack of activity in this sector.
The summary also notes that “In addition, only two companies, neither of which appears to have nexus with Virginia, have signed contracts with the COTS division of NASA,” when in fact one company with a funded COTS award, Orbital Sciences Corporation, is based in Virginia and is considering launches from Wallops. (The summary is stated February 26, about a week after Orbital’s COTS award was announced.) Orbital’s use of Wallops is not a done deal yet, but company CEO David W. Thompson said yesterday at the Goddard Memorial Symposium that they would make a final decision in the coming months.
[…] studies for a spaceport” and to cover other expenses of investigating such a venture (hat tip Space Politics). The findings of the bill are in sec. 1: The legislature finds that outer space is the next […]
[…] Foust of SpacePolitics.com reports that both Virginia and Hawaii advanced legislation this week to encourage commercial space ventures […]
Virginia now has the Space Flight Liability and Immunity (Informed Consent) law and the so-called ‘ZeroGravity-ZeroTax’ law – two pieces of legislation sought by the NewSpace pioneers. If other states pass similar legislation (Florida, California, New Mexico and Texas), maybe, just maybe, the Federal Government will get the message.
Space advocates need to talk with state legislators as there are many more of them and one day they may just become Congressmen and Congresswomen and even presidential candidates!
The Space Shuttle’s upcoming retirement, coupled with aggressive competition from other states, has made space a high-profile topic at this year’s Legislative Session in Tallahassee. Among the space-related items before the Florida Legislature this year are the following: a $3.6M space workforce development package; an “informed consent” bill to mitigate spaceflight liability; a space contractor tax refund bill; a space research diversification bill seeking $20.2M over three years; a $45M Space Florida infrastructure, workforce, and education programs bill; a $10M Space Florida operations appropriation; a $20M reusable space vehicle prize bill; a bill and resolution to advance plans for a Governor’s School for Space Science and Technology; and a “Mile Marker 1″ bill to place a mile marker near the beginning of the highway to space at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.