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Congress returns to Washington, D.C. this week, where they will begin finalizing outstanding legislation before the end of the year. A handful of the recreational boating industry’s key priorities will be considered during this time period – commonly referred to as the lame-duck session – which NMMA and their coalition partners are working to get across the finish line.

In the coming weeks, NMMA is urging Congress to address four important issues: U.S. Coast Guard reauthorization, the Modern Fish Act, the “Lands Package,” and Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account (ORSA) funding. Details of the industry’s priorities in each legislative proposal are listed below.

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2017

• Approves the use of alternative distress signals, such as LED lights, emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs), and personal locator beacons (PLBs). These alternatives give vessels safer, longer lasting, and more environmentally friendly options to signal for help, while also reducing risks associated with traditional pyrotechnic devices like flares.
• Delivers commonsense reform to Certificates of Documentation (i.e. boat registration) for recreational boats by changing the renewal date to every five years, instead of every year.
• Provides training for 911 dispatchers to better distinguish situations that require a U.S. Coast Guard response from those that should be directed to a local or third-party entity. This provision ensures that the U.S. Coast Guard will only receive appropriate emergency calls, which will allow them to more effectively carry out its maritime search and rescue mission.

Modern Fish Act

• Provides critical fisheries management and data changes needed for recreational anglers. 
• The Magnuson-Stevens Act needs updating, and the Modern Fish Act would provide necessary modernizations that properly distinguish recreational and commercial fishing.
• Maintains catch limits for recreational anglers and helps ensure the amount of fish caught is measured in a more scientific and accurate way.

Lands Package 

• Contains several bills that have bipartisan support and progressed in one or both chambers. These vital pieces of legislation also share support among the broader recreation community. 
• Restore our Parks Act – Addresses the growing deferred maintenance challenges in our National Parks.
• Recreation Not Red-Tape Act – Offers sensible, non-controversial proposals for identifying and appropriately managing outdoor recreation areas across the country. 

Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account (ORSA) funding

• ORSA is critical to the outdoor industry as it demonstrates in an official capacity the impact of outdoor recreation on the U.S. economy.
• In September, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis announced the final, first-ever ORSA report, showing boating and fishing as the leading outdoor segment with nearly $37 billion in U.S. gross output.
• Congress should set aside $1.5 million over the next fiscal year for the BEA to continue ORSA and develop a state-by-state analysis of outdoor recreation’s economic impact.

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