Tag Archives: government

California State Parks’ Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW) is now accepting grant applications from organizations that teach on-the-water boating safety education to the public. A total of $1.6 million in grants is available to local public agencies, nonprofit organizations and colleges/universities operating within California for Aquatic Center Education Program grants. The deadline to apply is Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, ...

Before last month’s August recess, Congress advanced several (FY) 2024 appropriation bills—which include a number of the recreational boating industry’s funding priorities, such as addressing the proposed vessel speed restrictions.The spending bills include funding for industry priorities by the Department of Commerce, the Department of Interior, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The bills also support important programs that ...

Leading outdoor recreation organizations are fully supporting Senator Michael Bennet and Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury’s newly-introduced Rural Outdoor Investment (ROI) Act. This bill provides much-needed support for rural communities seeking to build and plan for recreation economies. If passed, the ROI Act’s funding could not come at a better time. Outdoor recreation participation sky-rocketed during the pandemic as millions of Americans ...

The NMMA and recreational boating and fishing industry leaders were in Washington, D.C. last week to express concerns over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s proposed expansion of its North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule. The proposed expansion would implement a 10 knot (11 mph) speed limit on boats 35 feet and greater across a vast area of ...

In June, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, held a hearing that reviewed the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for agencies under its purview, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) – a leading provider of public recreation opportunities. The hearing emphasized the need for proper funding to maintain USACE managed lands, ...

The nation’s largest recreational boat owners advocacy, services and safety group Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), and the nonprofit state advocacy organization Recreational Boaters of California (RBOC), are asking Golden State boat owners to speak up on a recently proposed 300% boat registration fee increase outlined in Governor Newsom’s 2024 budget. “Most citizens can understand, over time, ...

Following this week’s House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing examining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) proposed vessel speed restriction along the Atlantic seaboard, Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and John Boozman (R-AR), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus and members of the Congressional Boating Caucus, introduced the bipartisan Protecting Whales, Human Safety, and the Economy Act of 2023. The bill would ...

Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), member of the Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee, introduced recently the Lake Access Keeping Economies Strong (LAKES) Act. This bipartisan bill addresses several priority areas for the recreational boating and fishing industry and would improve outdoor recreation facilities in U.S. Army ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the agency’s Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program will provide more than $20 million in grant funding for 19 states to construct, renovate and maintain marinas and other boating facilities for outdoor recreation. Under the BIG program, more than $2.8 million will fund projects in 19 states under the BIG Tier 1 subprogram, and ...

NMMA this week participated in a Hill briefing hosted by OCEANA, which focused on NOAA’s proposed rule to address ship strikes to endangered North Atlantic right whales and educated over 50 congressional staffers on the need for major revisions to NOAA’s proposal in order to achieve the shared goal of protecting the North Atlantic right whale population. As America’s original ...