I hope everyone has had an enjoyable holiday season. As we begin this new year, the MRA membership will have an opportunity to determine how they can be more engaged in the business of the organization. Previously, each member team had one vote on matters before the board. The Officers Committee dealt with any matters between the Winter and Spring board meetings. Under our new bylaw structure, a twelve-member board elected by the membership is responsible for managing the affairs of the MRA. At the winter Business Meeting in February the Saturday afternoon agenda is reserved for a discussion of ways in which the membership can become more engaged in the business of the MRA. In that regard, I ask all of you to begin thinking of ideas to bring forward during that time. Prior to the discussion there will be a Membership meeting to vote on new team membership applications. Proxy voting is allowed for Membership meetings.
The OSHA Emergency Response Team shared an update on December 6, 2024. Public Hearings ended December 4th and the OSHA Team is finalizing the daily hearing transcripts. Once they are finalized, reviewed and approved by the Chief Administrative Law Judge they will be uploaded to Regulations.gov.
In the meantime, the docket is open for submission of post-hearing comments at Regulations.gov. OSHA welcomes and encourages any additional comments, information and data from hearing participants and members of the public, which can be submitted until docket closure on January 17, 2025.
Some good news for those teams using DJI/Autel drones for SAR. According to the Drone Advocacy Alliance, the House Rules Committee released the text of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act and it did not contain any language from the Countering CCP Drones Act in the final version of the bill. The bill will go to the Senate next before the House and then on to the President. A cautionary note though, the language did state “Within one year of the NDAA passing, an ‘Appropriate National Security Agency’ must investigate to determine if DJI and/or Autel drones pose a risk to the United States. At the end of the one-year period or if it’s determined that DJI/Autel do pose a risk, the drones will be added to the FCC’s Covered List.” It will be interesting to see which agency will perform the investigation and whether they get it done within one year.
I hope to see many of you at the meeting in Salt Lake City in February.
Mark Miraglia
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