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On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (S.3021) – which includes the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA) – by a vote of 99 to 1. The bill contains several of the recreational boating industry’s top priorities and now heads to President Trump who is expected to sign it.

Over the past several months, NMMA and their members worked with the Trump Administration and Congress to secure the industry’s objectives in the final package. Additionally, they participated in fly-ins, media interviews, and coordinated with coalition partners to advocate for the legislation and help push it across the finish line. 

In response to the bill’s passage, NMMA’s President, Thom Dammrich, stated, “Today’s overwhelming vote in the U.S. Senate reaffirms Congress’s broad, bipartisan support for protecting and preserving America’s water infrastructure, which is critical to the health and growth of the recreational boating industry – an industry that delivers $39 billion in annual sales to the U.S. economy. As partners who worked with legislators in both chambers and the administration to develop the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, NMMA is thrilled to see this legislation advance to President Trump’s desk.”

Dammrich continued, “Specifically, this bill authorizes key dredging programs, streamlines the approval process for local water infrastructure initiatives, and requires consideration of recreational boating’s economic impact when determining funding and prioritization for important projects. This legislation also delivers on pressing and potentially devastating conservation issues – including authorizing the Everglades Agricultural Area plan, developing and implementing new technologies to better detect, prevent, and manage current and future harmful algae bloom outbreaks, and bolstering efforts to eradicate aquatic invasive species like Asian carp and zebra mussels across the country. 

“We thank the U.S. House and Senate for passing this important measure and encourage President Trump to immediately sign the bill into law – the recreational boating community and millions of Americans across the country are counting on it.”

A full list of the industry’s priorities in the bill is available here: http://nmma.net/assets/cabinets/Cabinet522/181010_AWIA%202018%20Factsheet.pdf 

For more information, please contact NMMA’s Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Legal Affairs, Nicole Vasilaros at [email protected] or NMMA’s Director of Federal Government Affairs, Mike Pasko at [email protected].