The link below will take you to a brief article by The Huffington Post on the current status of the House Transportation Bill, and it sites several political reasons for the delay in the floor vote. It now appears Republicans will muster enough votes to bring the bill to the floor in late February. The article is particularly interesting if you like the financial details behind how amendments get offered and included in bills.
House Transportation Bill: Lobbying And Lawsuits Behind Move To Strip Worker Protections
Larry Innis
MRAA Legislative Affairs
BI: Grow Boating reveals additions to Discover Boating efforts
MIAMI – As part of the GE Capital & NMMA Industry Leadership Conference, Grow Boating’s Carl Blackwell discussed recent and future additions to Discover Boating’s online boating awareness campaign Welcome to the Water.
In 2012, Discover Boating will work to… Read more.
Maryland considers hiking boat registration fees
The following is an article from the Annapolis Capital newspaper about a proposal to raise boat registration fees in the state of Maryland. Registration would be for two years, and you can see the level of payment by size of boat.
State proposes hiking boat fees
Larry Innis
MRAA Legislative Affairs
RPC: White House admits Obamacare failure
The following includes a brief report from the Republican Policy Committee on the implementation of the new health care law, which is commonly being called Obamacare. It is political, but I thought you would find it a good read. As the statement says, small businesses, including many marine retailers, want the law repealed.
White House Admits Obamacare Failure
Larry Innis
MRAA Legislative Affairs
Minority Whip’s Feb. 15th schedule includes H.B. 7
As you will see from the Minority Whip’s Schedule, The House will begin debate tomorrow on H.R. 7, the Transportation Bill. As a reminder the House Bill contains important language unfreezing the funds from the Harbor Maintenance Fund needed for dredging and re-authorization of the old Wallop-Breaux.
Larry Innis
MRAA Legislative Affairs
MRAA Legislative Affairs
BI: MRAA announces exclusive partnership
The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced a new partnership today with TSYS Merchant Solutions, which will provide MRAA members with preferred pricing on credit card processing, check guarantee and conversion, mobile payment solutions and gift card processing.
TSYS Merchant Solutions has been in its industry for 55 years and … Read more.
TSYS Merchant Solutions Named Exclusive Payment Processing Partner of the MRAA
Boca Grande, Fla. — The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced today a new affinity partnership with TSYS Merchant Solutions designed to provide MRAA members with preferred pricing on credit card processing, check guarantee and conversion, mobile payment solutions and gift card processing. TSYS Merchant Solutions is ranked as the 10th largest merchant acquirer in the U.S. by dollar volume in 2010 by The Nilson Report.
“The ability to easily and securely accept any type of payment has become a fundamental element in maintaining dealership customer satisfaction, and is a critical component to any marine retailer’s business,” said Matt Gruhn, President of the MRAA. “TSYS Merchant Solutions offers a secure, low-cost solution to this problem, allowing our members to focus on what they do best — running their businesses.”
TSYS Merchant Solutions is a top-10 payment processor with more than 55 years of experience in the payment acceptance industry. By partnering with TSYS Merchant Solutions, MRAA members will have access to competitive pricing, a wide array of hardware and software solutions for payment processing, and unparalleled 24/7 customer and technical support to meet their unique needs. As an added bonus, TSYS Merchant Solutions will also offer to pay members up to $500* if they can’t meet or beat their current processing costs.
“We are honored MRAA has chosen to trust us with its members’ processing needs and look forward to a long relationship,” said Chris McNulty, senior director of business development and sales for TSYS Merchant Solutions. “Our team of industry experts is standing by and ready to begin work with dealers to deliver solutions that are tailored to their individual needs.”
With the addition of TSYS Merchant Solutions, MRAA introduces another world-class provider to its MRAA Rewards Program. MRAA reaches hundreds of companies serving the marine retailing industry and selects only those who provide the highest value and quality products, sales, and service to participate in the MRAA Rewards Program.
About Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2012, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is the only North American association dedicated to furthering the interests of boat and engine dealers and other marine-related retailers throughout North America. Under the umbrella of MRAA Rewards, the MRAA offers a host of cost-saving, revenue-generating, business-improvement, and professional-development benefits exclusively for its members. For more information, visit www.MRAA.com.
About TSYS
TSYS (NYSE: TSS) is reshaping a new era in digital commerce, connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses and governments. Through unmatched customer service and industry insight, TSYS creates a better experience for buyers and sellers, supporting cross-border payments in more than 85 countries. Offering merchant payment-acceptance solutions as well as services in credit, debit, prepaid, mobile, chip, healthcare, installments, money transfer and more, TSYS makes it possible for those in the global marketplace to conduct safe and secure electronic transactions with trust and convenience.
TSYS’ headquarters are located in Columbus, Georgia, with local offices spread across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. TSYS provides services to more than half of the top 20 international banks. For more information, please visit us at www.tsys.com.
H.R. 7’s budget impact report
Since we have been working hard on the passage of H.R. 7, I thought you may want to read the very brief budget impact, as prepared by the Congressional Budget Office.
This budget impact report is a necessary effort prior to a bill going to the House floor for a vote. We are now expecting a floor vote next week. H.R. 7 contains two important provisions, the unfreezing of the Harbor Maintenance Fund, which would allow dredging and re-authorization of the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund.
In addition, the Senate is also planning a floor vote next week on its version. It is expected that the Sport Fish fund, which is not in the committee bill, will be offered as an amendment on the Senate floor.
Click here to download the budget impact report.
Larry Innis
MRAA Legislative Affairs
BI: MRAA, Spader expand relationship
MRAA Rewards members will have access to additional benefits through an expanded partnership between the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas and Spader Business Management.
The new relationship between the two groups will provide MRAA Rewards members with discounted pricing on two of Spader Business Management’s new products: Profit Production Tools & Resources and its TRUE* Online Dashboards.
The Profit Production Tools & Resources provide dealers with an analysis of their financial statements, assistance building a stronger chart of accounts and … Read more.
Update on Sport Fish Restoration & Boating Trust Fund
Just a brief update on the re-authorization of the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. As you may recall, I have sent several messages and MRAA sent a Dealer Alert on efforts to re-authorize the Highway Trust Fund in the House of Representatives. It appears the floor vote will come up next week. In addition, it has been confirmed the House version of H.R. 7 does include re-authorization of the Sport Fish Restoration Fund.
However, the Senate version that was marked up in committee does NOT contain the Sport Fish Reauthorization. Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has stated the Sport Fish language will be offered on the Senate floor. It is looking good that the Senate will also consider its Transportation bill on the floor next week.
There is a major problem between the House and Senate versions of the same bill. It does not look positive for the two versions to be reconciled in conference. The difference lies in the amount of money being authorized for highway projects with the Senate authorizing about 250 billion more than the House and both having dug in.
A more likely solution will be short term re-authorizations at previous funding levels for all transportation funds.
That’s the update for now.
Larry Innis
Legislative Affairs
MRAA
