WASHINGTON – Senior officials from Amazon and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) testified before Congress last week, regarding the feasibility of using drones for commercial purposes. And there’s no question that Amazon has big plans to push ahead with its much-discussed drone deliveries – possibly within the year.

According to a report in Fast Company, Michael Whitaker, the FAA’s deputy administrator, said the agency expects to formalize regulations for commercial drones within 12 months. This is a huge change; commercial drone regulations for purposes such as delivery and filming major sports events were not expected until 2016 or 2017 at the earliest.

Amazon vice president of global public policy Paul Misener followed that timeline up by reiterating that the company would like to begin drone deliveries as soon as the FAA gives its approval.  The company plans to use drones to deliver products within 30 minutes of customers ordering them.

However, according to Fast Company, the complicating factor is that Amazon wants to make sure its drone program is regulated at the federal level by the FAA, not state or local authorities, which they see as more vulnerable to demands by local citizens. According to the news source, Amazon submitted written hearing testimony in which the company insisted on federal regulation for their drone deliveries under interstate commerce laws.