1. National Boating Safety Advisory Council
28 May 2015
Arlington, VA
USCG, Office of Auxiliary &
Boating Safety (CG-BSX)

2. Legislative, Regulatory & Project Updates
Program Updates
Resolution Updates
Legislative, Regulatory & Project Updates
Challenges

3. Program Updates

4. USCG CG-BSX-2 Staff Level
4 prior staff vacancies – all now filled
RBS Specialist (Jeff Decker), Fiscal Officer (Greg Stearns), Outreach Coordinator (Tom Dardis), and Administrative Asst. (Theo Bennett)
It’s a great crew, and we’re moving forward well!

5. 2014 Boating Statistics: Recreational boats & boaters:
11,804,002 registered boats
Continuing decrease, particularly in motorboats
Highest year in 2005 – 12,942,414
9+ Million* more unregistered boats (canoes/kayaks/paddleboards/…)
74+ Million* recreational boaters (all ages)
* Data from the 2012 National Recreational Boating Survey

6. 2014 Safety Statistics: Successes and concerns
Deaths: (Second lowest on record! 3 years of lower deaths = trend!)
Injuries: (Second lowest on record!)
Good news on the deaths and injuries. BZ!
Early release of Statistics – May 8, 2015!
Earliest release in 34 years!

8. 2014 RBS Strategic Plan Results
Strategic Plan Goals
5 year Average – Actual #s FY
Deaths
Injuries
Casualties
2014
665
3,132
3,797
655
2,909
3,564
SUCCESS with deaths, injuries and casualties!
Goal achieved!

9. Performance Report Part II
Incredible activity by the states in 2014:
4,110,676 law enforcement/SAR hours
1,406,470 compliance inspections
10,126 SAR cases
81,218 citations and 244,643 warnings
485,723 Education Certificates issued
It’s making a difference!

10. 2014 ODW – Growing & Impressive
585 agencies/offices involved
Final report:
6,961 officers participated
318 OUI arrests
146,711 boaters contacted
Thousands of media contacts
Drunk boating fatalities were a larger percentage in 2014 (21% as compared to 16% in 2013)
The problem persists, but progress is being made.

11. Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund
Authorization expires 5/31/2015.
H.R passed by Congress on 5/23/2015. Bill awaits signature by the President.
Extends the authorization 2 more months to the end of July Short-term fix.

12. Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund
Multiple attempts to achieve a long-term reauthorization.
Administration legislative change proposal (LCP) provided to Congress. Provides long-term authorization, takes costs off of the top, similar to USFWS, and increases funding to state RBS programs by $60-$70M over the term.
Increases time period and retains monies for non-profit organization grant funding – … .

13. Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund
S. 834 introduced and marked up. Awaiting full Senate floor action.
Extends authorization through 2023, provides funding for boating survey, provides USCG administration cost off the top, and other amendments.
No House bill introduced yet.
Continuation of the Program is essential.

14. Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund
Expectations for funding levels
Primary revenue source to Trust Fund is motorboat fuel tax.
2014’s registered motorboats determines 2016’s funding level. #’s are down.
Trend of registered motorboats continues downward.
Expect slightly decreasing funding level for FY2016.

15. Sequestration – FY 2016
A law enacted by Congress that would initiate automatic budget cuts next year if implemented.
Was implemented again this year, but FY 2014 sequestered funds were returned to the Program.
Expect the same in FY 2016.

16. Non-Profit Organization Grants FY 2015
USCG leadership ready to make decisions soon on FY 2015 grants. Have been awaiting Congressional extension of authorization to provide additional funding.
With expected extension through July 2015, 5/6 of the funding will be available $4.44M/$5.38M.

17. Non-Profit Organization Grants Public Access to Results
Updates to our website continually made to show links to grant recipient completed projects.
Upgrade to our website completed in 2015, and ongoing enhancements continuously made.
Adding a status bar to each project indicating expected completion date.

18. Resolution Updates

19. 92nd Meeting Resolutions
Resolution – Uniform Certificate of Title Act for Vessels (UCOTA-V).
The Coast Guard intends to initiate a regulatory project addressing this resolution. Action is pending, an NPRM is under development.

20. 92nd Meeting Resolutions
Resolution – Safety Equipment Carriage Requirements: Manually Propelled Vessels.
The Coast Guard appreciates the advice provided by the Council on this topic and is taking the resolution under consideration. The current regulations remain in effect at this time.
Emergency Locator Beacons - Recommends that the USCG require carriage of emergency locator beacons on recreational vessels operating outside of 3NM. Also recommends allowing an exception for carriage of DSC-enabled VHF radios between 3-20NM in lieu of emergency locator beacons.
Model Year Designation in Hull Identification Numbers - Recommends that the Coast Guard revise its definition of “Model Year” found in 33 CFR 181

21. Legislative, Regulatory & Project Updates

22. Federal Proposal for Mandatory Boat Operator Education
Since 2004, NBSAC has twice recommended to the Coast Guard to seek legislative authorization to establish a uniform federal requirement for mandatory education of select boat operators.
LCPs have been submitted to Congress for consideration, but without success. Will continue this effort.

23. Propeller Strike Avoidance
Regulatory proposal to help resolve problem:
The cut-off switch installation and use ANPRM was published Comments good, but left gaps in required information. Study initiated to gather more data. Results completed and submitted.
Awaiting DHS and OMB determination.

24. Accident Reporting System Proposal from NBSAC
15 proposals from NBSAC to consider – submitted in 2009.
A regulatory project has been initiated.

25. Titling Regulatory Project
Uniform Certificate of Title Act for Vessels adopted in July by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
Current CG vessel titling regulations not identical to the new model act.
A regulatory project is pending.

26. Emergency Locator Beacons
Coast Guard Authorization Act or 2010 enacted and included amended definition of “associated equipment” to include ELBs.
Provides authority for CG to require recreational vessels more than 3 nm off shore of coasts to carry ELBs. NBSAC resolution received and additional analysis completed. A regulatory project is pending.

27. Vessel Model Year in HIN
Concern expressed from industry with current model year definition of August 1 each year and enforcement of such.
Rulemaking process has been initiated. Congressional action has also been introduced to prompt such rulemaking.

28. 2014 JSI Life Jacket Wear Study

29. 2014 JSI Results
Overall life jacket wear rate increased to 23.9%. ( range 21.1% to 23.9%)
Adults on open motorboats wear rate increased from 4.9 % to 5.8%. ( range 4.5% to 5.8%)
Most significant increases in history of the measurement.

30. National Recreational Boating Survey – 2015-2017 Plans

31. National Survey Plans A contract approach (current law):
To assure next Survey occurs, the Coast Guard is initiating work to develop a contract.
Administration LCP:
This would provide extra $ to the NP org. grant program to cover the survey. A grant would reduce cost and save time vs. a contract approach.
S. 834:
This bill would provide $1.5M/year for 3-year periods.
Possible contract or grant approach.

32. Challenges

33. 93rd Meeting Challenge #1
Does the Council have any recommendations concerning the confusing life jacket requirements for various sail and paddle vessels? (Continued from prior NBSAC meetings.)

34. 93rd Meeting Challenge #2
The U.S. Coast Guard requests that the NBSAC continue work on the development of the recommended National Recreational Boating Safety Strategic Plan. (Continued from the 92nd NBSAC meeting.)

35. THE END