The attached file below is a summary the Transportation Bill the House may be voting on as early as Thursday.  As I mentioned in a previous email, the bill re-authorizes the important Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Safety Act and releases the Harbor Maintenance Fund from the freeze placed on it by the President. If […]

The issue of Asian Carp is big along the Great Lakes, Mississippi River, and Illinois River, with numerous efforts being made to keep the carp from entering the Great Lakes through the Chicago River. The Corps of Engineers has been building various kinds of barriers to prevent that from happening. The following is an article […]

The following link will take you to an article I saw in today’s Washington Post on the status of the Transportation Bill. As you may recall, the Transportation Bill has been one of the most important bills for recreational boating for over 30-years. It is important because the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Safety Trust […]

The following is a link to a brief Federal Register article that was just published. It provides an accounting overview of how the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Recreational Boating Safety spent $5.5 million in 2011 that was provided by the Sport Fish and Boating Safety Trust Fund. The Coast Guard reports this to comply […]

The following is a letter that the MRAA signed on to and was recently delivered to every member of Congress. The letter urges extension of the tax provisions that expired at the end of 2011. The letter is signed by more than 1,500 businesses, associations, community development organizations, and non-profit organizations. This letter was nearly […]

Membership Advisory MRAA Board Approves ACMA Resolutions Setting 2012 Legislative Agenda The Board of Directors for the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas recently approved three resolutions written by its Advisory Council of Marine Associations. ACMA met in Orlando, Fla., prior to the official opening of the Marine Dealer Conference and Expo on Nov. 7. […]

DEALER ALERT The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has been charged with the task of $1.5 trillion in federal government budget cuts. The committee must provide Congress with its recommendations by Thanksgiving. With six of the twelve Members of the committee publicly advocating for increased tax revenues, MRAA has been very concerned that it […]

Membership Advisory MRAA JOINS BUSINESS COALITION TO KEEP POLITICS OUT OF FEDERAL CONTRACT AND GRANT PROCESS MRAA is an active member of a coalition of 156 organizations spearheaded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that is urging Congress to pass the “Keep Politics Out of the Federal Contracting Act of 2011.” Several letters have already […]

MEMBERSHIP ADVISORY NBSAC Approves Mandatory Life Jacket Resolution for Boaters Meeting in Arlington, Virginia on April 1 and April 2, the Congressionally mandated advisory group to the Coast Guard on recreational boating safety called the National Boating Safety Advisory Council and approved a hard debated resolution for life jacket wear. NBSAC voted 15 in favor […]

Membership Advisory Senate Passes Wallop-Breaux Extension March 7, 2011 ~ On Thursday evening, March 3, the U.S. Senate approved legislation to extend the vital Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Safety Trust Fund for seven months or until the end of the federal fiscal year of September 30, 2011. The measure now heads to the President […]