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Fuel Tax Collected at Marinas Currently, all fuel tax collected from vessels at marinas goes to the Department of Transportation for road building. Studies indicate that at least $28 million is collected from fuel used by boats and is diverted by DOT and spent on roads. MIA believes this practice to be unfair and is working to put monies collected from boaters back in projects beneficial to boating.
Local Advisory Committee Act The Manatee Protection Act has been on the books for some time and was written at the height of environmental regulatory frenzy over predictions that the manatee population that was estimated to be 1200 at the time, was declining rapidly. The Act has not been significantly revised since 1989, notwithstanding the fact that the January 2001 aerial surveys county a population of over 3200 manatees. Boating groups will be requesting the 2002 legislature make changes to the Act to recognize the recovery of the manatee population.
Department of Environmental Protection's Performance Based Permitting The Department of Environmental Protection is proposing legislation in the 2002 Legislative Session that would allow the Department to determine whether or not to issue a permit and under what conditions based on a permittee's past compliance record. MIAF will be closely monitoring this legislation that could seriously affect the industry.
Registration of All Vessels Currently, Florida requires only motorized vessels to be registered. MIAF supports the concept of registering all vessels for the following reasons: 1. ALL vessels require the services of law enforcement officers. Officers check ALL vessels for safety equipment, respond to calls for rescue, respond to accidents and check ALL kinds of vessels used in fishing. 2. Monies collected from vessel registration fees and returned to counties, can be spent on canoe/kayak enhancements. 3. Registering ALL vessels would provide a means of tracking ALL stolen vessels. 4. Registering ALL vessels would provide additional federal funding to the state for boating improvements used by ALL vessels. 5. $1.50 collected from each vessel registration fee going to manatee protection. Registering ALL vessels would greatly enhance this program.
The Marine Industries Association of Florida provides its members with representation before the Governor and Cabinet, Department of Community Affairs, Department of Environmental Protection, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Legislature.
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Legislative News
The 2002 Legislative Session, which will begin two months early in 2002, will crank up on January 22 with budget cutting and reapportionment as the key issues. Very little substantive boater legislation is expected and, indeed, few bills have been filed to date. Regardless, the marine industries always has issues important to better boating in Florida.
Issues:
Boating Education In the mid- 90's, MIAF sought and passed legislation that requires mandatory boater education for anyone under twenty-one years of age. Currently, the Fish and Wildlife Commission has proposed legislation that would raise the age of those required to take a boating safety course one year at the time.
On-the-Water Law Enforcement Adequate law enforcement on Florida's waters is a high priority for the industry and, to that end, the Marine Industries Association was instrumental in getting funding in the state budget for twenty-five additional law enforcement officers for the Fish and Wildlife Commission to enhance boating safety. Estimates are that there will be a $1 billion budgetary shortfall and we will intensify our efforts to maintain the current level of funding for law enforcement.
Manatee Avoidance Technology MIAF strongly supported including $200,000 in the 2001 legislative budget for the development of technology that would allow boats and manatees to avoid each other. That item will again be proposed for the 2002 budget and we will work diligently to see that it is funded.
Pro Boating License Tag House Bill 03, by Representatives Mayfield and Ball, would provide Floridians the opportunity to support their favorite sport and better boating in Florida by purchasing a "Boat Florida" specialty license tag. Funds raised by this tag would be designated for boating education, boating safety and technology. This bill has been filed and should see action in the 2002 Legislature.
Development of Regional Impact MIAF has long held that the Development of Regional Impact review process is duplicative, expensive and unnecessary. For the past two sessions, MIA has sought to have marinas exempted from this process and will do so again. Environmentalists, however, are opposed to marinas being removed from the DRI process as more regulation means fewer marinas.
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