House to consider RMEA passage
WASHINGTON – The Recreational Marine Employment Act (H.R. 940) was favorably reported out of committee earlier this week with the recommendation that the bill be considered by the entire House of Representatives, an action that the National Marine Manufacturers Association hailed as a positive step forward in a recent release.
RMEA would amend the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act in an effort to honor the act’s original intent of exempting the recreational marine industry from its onerous provisions, NMMA said.
“Today’s markup shows that there is growing support and momentum for this commonsense bill,” said Monita Fontaine, NMMA vice president of government relations. “[Congressman Ric Keller (R-Fla,) who introduced H.R. 940] deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his work in pursuit of our mutual goal of exempting the recreational marine industry from the strictures of LHWCA.”
NMMA said the coverage mandated by LHWCA is very expensive and unnecessary because the industry is already covered under state worker’s compensation plans.
“The practical impact of these additional insurance requirements is a significant loss of American jobs because U.S. employers are put at a competitive disadvantage to overseas competition,” said Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH). “Mr. Keller’s bill changes that and promotes family-wage jobs here in the U.S.”
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