| Greetings from Tom Dogan, your National Boating Federation
representative.
I was pleased to be able to attend the National Boating Federation annual
meeting on March 27, 2004, at the Houston Yacht Club in LaPorte, Texas.
The meeting was well-attended and extensive, with yacht clubs represented
from all regions of the United States, and even some international boating
organizations.
Following are some of the major topics currently involving the National
Boating Federation:
Legislative Issues
* Reauthorization of Wallop-Breaux: NBF members and other interested
groups have been working hard to support Senate Bill 1804, legislation
intended to reauthorize the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund, a.k.a.,
Wallop-Breaux. S. 1804 has been attached to the highway reauthorization
bill (S. 1702) and has passed the Senate. The bill has yet to be
introduced in the House and no action has been scheduled for the bill.
Reauthorization is very important to boaters as it provided funding ($500M
annually) for many boating projects. With this being election year and
more essential legislation requiring passage, it is not at all clear if
this bill will pass. In that case, a second Continuing Resolution would be
required, allowing funding at current levels.
* Fuel Tax Recovery: A bill has been introduced by Senators Breaux
and Lott to recover taxes paid by boaters on motorboat fuel and fishing
tackle and restore them to the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund. This 4.8 cent
per gallon Federal Tax is also going into the general fund. The bill, S.
2019, would amend the IRS Code and require that these funds be placed in
the W/B fund, providing an additional $110M per year for boating safety
and fish restoration projects. This bill is identical to HR 2839,
legislation introduced by Rep. Clay Shaw (R-FL) in 2003. All are urged to
contact their Senators and Representatives and urge Congress to pass both
pieces of legislation.
* Maritime Security: A number of actions are underway in the Dept. of
Homeland Security and the Coast Guard in maintaining the security of our
ports and seaways. The CG and the FBI conducted a 14 month investigation,
dubbed 'Operation Drydock', of international cargo and passenger ships. 9
crewmen were identified as possible associates of terrorist groups. In
addition to the 9, a review of the CG's roster of 200,000 credentialed
ship operators and crewmen also flagged thousands of cases of credential
fraud and about a dozen mariners who were the subjects of arrest warrants.
USCG Commandant, Collins stated "we have reduced vulnerabilities to
terrorism by preventing the fraudulent use of credentials by those who
seek to harm our nation and its citizens."
The CG released a summary of the Port Security Initiatives it has
undertaken since the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01. The list is extensive
detailing the significant changes that have been implemented for
commercial shipping and our Nation's ports. It cited that before 9-11 2%
of its assets were committed to active port security duty. 28% of its
assets are now committed to port security. In July 2004, the USCG Maritime
Security regulations come into effect.
* Loran Recapitalization and Modernization Program: The USCG is well
on its way to upgrading all Loran stations nationwide. Under the demands
of Homeland Security, the CG has seen the need for this upgrade and it
will serve as a backup to and complement for GPS. The new system is
backward compatible with current Loran receivers but will process the
signals digitally within the Loran stations. This development will assure
worst-case accuracy of only 60 feet when you arrive at a selected way
point.
Also, Si-Tex is developing a new GPS/WAAS system that will include a
state-of-the-art digital Loran receiver. The new digital loran receiver
(now called E-loran) promises greater overall performance than the earlier
Loran analog receivers. Even with all this, the DOT has not yet formally
issued a policy statement with regard to the future of the loran system
but this is expected by March 31, 2004. The good news is that the
President signed a bill in January for $22.5 M recapitalization for Loran
in FY2004.
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