Conference committee reviews Senate funding proposal for commerce programs; senators flag resistance on drones, Grand Farm

The conference committee on Senate Bill 2018 reviewed a Senate proposal for commerce-related funding that would move and reduce several grant lines, including $5,000,000 for tourism marketing, $15,000,000 for tourism destination development grants and a $10,000,000 allocation described as "for the drones," the committee heard.

Chairman Dwyer opened the session by summarizing the proposal: "I'm gonna explain proposal from any, 1 person, but a result of a lot of discussions with, with all of you involved. And so I'll just go through it and, eventually we're gonna have to agree on, some numbers for each of these different programs." He then read through line items that included a $5,000,000 tourism marketing line; a $15,000,000 destination-development grant line; a $1,000,000 removal from a U.S. test site; a $15,000,000 reduction from 20 for the UAS item; and "10,000,000 in there for the drones." He also described a reduction of the development fund and its…