The Department of Commerce (the Department) is the lead state agency charged with enhancing and promoting sustainable community and economic vitality in Washington.  The Department is responsible for promoting community and economic development statewide by assisting communities to improve the quality of citizens' lives and supporting the state's businesses to increase economic vitality and competitiveness while maintaining a healthy environment.  

The Department's community and economic development efforts include efforts to increase economic opportunity, local planning to manage growth, providing public infrastructure, facilitating technology development and transfer, and public safety efforts.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is required to conduct a study regarding the use of aerial imaging technology for state, local, special purpose district, and tribal government purposes.

The study must, at a minimum, include the following:

• an assessment of the ways in which state agencies, local governments, special purpose districts, and tribal governments currently use aerial imaging technology and benefit from having access to aerial imaging technology;
• an assessment of the types of imagery currently used or needed and the frequency of use;
• a determination of the minimum resolution level of aerial imaging that would best serve the majority of users statewide;
• an estimate of the current expenditures by local governments for aerial image acquisition and organization and of the cost of procuring, once per biennium, and administering a high-quality aerial imagery program on a statewide basis;
• an estimate of the economies of scale between individual flights procured by individual jurisdictions and the cost of procuring a single flight to obtain aerial imaging of the entire state;
• a determination of the best available mechanism for cost sharing between jurisdictions for the acquisition and management of aerial imagery;
• an evaluation of the organization that would be the most effective to act as a central repository for shared imagery; and
• recommendations about current sources that provide imaging data, further steps to improve the collection of aerial imaging data, and the steps necessary to implement a statewide aerial imaging collection and distribution system.

                                                                                                                                                              The Department may complete the study directly or contract the study to a third party.  The final delivered product must be reported by the Department of Commerce to the Legislature by June 1, 2023.