On Wednesday, October 30, River Valley Companies President, John Wooden was invited by the U.S. House of Representatives to testify before the Committee on Small Business at a hearing titled “Force of Nature: The Power of Small Business in America’s Recreational Infrastructure.”  Wooden’s testimony proposed actions that included improvements to recreational infrastructure and a recommendation […]

Reducing mortality by 18 percent necessary to conserve and rebuild striped bass population The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas joined a coalition of recreational fishing and boating organizations to write to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) urging commissioners to end overfishing and begin rebuilding striped bass by implementing an 18 percent harvest […]

On October 9, The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation filed a lawsuit against the international body charged with regulating water flows between the United States and Canada, including the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes. The lawsuit argues that the International Joint Commission must compensate the state for the approximately $1 billion […]

New Hampshire joins 16 other states by launching the Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry Development to be housed in the state’s Department of Business and Economic Affairs.  Outdoor recreation is a $2.7 billion industry in New Hampshire, making up 3.3% of the state’s economy – well above the national average.  “The creation of this office […]

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced plans to direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Agriculture Department to take steps to close the demand gap faced since granting waivers to oil refineries. This move will effectively force larger refineries not currently granted waivers to increase how much ethanol they blend into […]

On September 25, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources passed the bipartisan National Fish Habitat Conservation Through Partnership Act (H.R. 1747), introduced by Reps. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Marc Veasey (D-TX), which would authorize public-private partnership programs to conserve fish habitats across the United States. Specifically, this bill would fund dam removals, […]

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) and National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) joint political action committee, BoatPAC, had its highest single-year fundraising total, raising over $252,000 from 392 unique donors. This is up from the $202,000 raised by 348 unique donors in 2018.  BoatPAC has contributed over $190,000 to pro-boating champions this election […]

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released data proving what we already knew: recreational boating is a major generator of economic activity across the nation. Outdoor recreation generates $778 billion in gross annual input, or 2.2 percent of annual U.S. GDP, while supporting 5.2 million jobs. This makes the industry larger than […]

Last week, members of the MRAA team had the chance to discuss the bill with Congressman Jim Hagedorn. Today, Congressmen Jim Hagedorn (MN-01), Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02), Ron Estes (KS-04) and Paul Mitchell (MI-10) introduced the “American Workforce Empowerment Act,” a bipartisan solution to address the growing shortage of skilled workers to fill job openings […]

The MRAA Advocacy team is hard at work for you. Newly appointed MRAA Government Relations Manager, Adam Fortier-Brown is working with members of Congress to address concerns with improving E15 labeling, and strengthening the U.S. labor force and the trades.  To do this, he met with members on both sides of the aisle in the […]