Blogging the BLA Workshop - Day One

Representatives from 40 states and territories, along with members of the U.S. Coast Guard, BoatU.S., National Safe Boating Council and other boating safety-minded organizations, met Wednesday for the first day of the annual Boating Law Administrator Workshop. The two-day symposium is being hosted by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators in Lexington, Ky.

The day’s presentations began with a report from the U.S. Coast Guard. Barry Nobles reviewed the history of the National Recreational Boating Safety Strategic Plan and discussed some of the products that are meeting the plan’s strategies, such as NASBLA’s Boating Under the Influence Detection and Enforcement training and California’s Wear It! campaign. Nobles also briefed the group on some legislative changes that the Coast Guard is working on with regards to mandatory boater education and discussed the upcoming reauthorization of the Sport Fish and Boating Trust Fund.

Next, Vann Burgess discussed the RBS State Grant Program. The major purposes of this program are:

• Encourage greater state participation and uniformity in boating safety efforts; and
• Permit states to assume a greater share of boating safety education assistance and enforcement activities.

To help BLAs better prepare their grant requests and met federal fiduciary requirements, Burgess got into the meat of the grant program, explaining eligibility requirements, the distribution of funds, applying for grants, classification of costs, and reporting requirements.

Burgess then discussed Performance Report Part II. This data gathered with this report help quantify all the work that’s occurring on our nation’s waterways, such as on-water RBS hours, boardings and officer training. The data are also used to compare various items, including monies spent to persons earning an education certificate, most common violations for trends analysis, accident data to violations for cause and effect analysis, and so on.

During lunch, Karl Gebhardt and Kerry Moher with BoaterExam.com discussed online courses and some of the recent technological advances. Moher remarked upon the fact that boaters, particularly the younger ones, are very technically savvy. Most prefer to have access to information at their convenience. This makes Internet-based courses an appealing choice for boating safety education. Moher explained how his company has updated its online course to incorporate hundreds of graphics both to capture the users’ attention as well as to supplement and help explain the course material.

Following lunch, Bill Engfer, with the Wisconsin Bureau of Law Enforcement, discussed ways to work effectively with state legislature. He stressed the importance of being honest and resourceful in building relationships with legislators. He also explained that taking legislators on ride-alongs to show them firsthand what happens on the water will go a long way toward opening doors for a boating law administrator. Engfer emphasized the need to have statistics to back up your position before approaching legislators. Setting a media plan in motion is also crucial to promoting potential legislation.

Charlie Sledd, with the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, echoed Engfer’s sentiments. He added three keys to dealing with legislators:

•    Relationships – with legislators, as well as with your agency’s leadership and legislative services;
•    Constituent Support – this is important because legislators pass bills for the people who vote; and 
•    Timing.

Ed Carter, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, discussed the history of the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. Three major areas that benefit from the trust fund are boating, fishing and wetlands. NASBLA’s policy position on the upcoming trust fund reauthorization includes changing the federal/state matching share from 50/50 to 75/25; implementing a maintenance of effort clause requiring states to maintain same state spending level; changing the distribution of boating safety set-aside monies to be taken off the top of the fund; and supporting an increase in the amount of direct funding for USCG Boating Safety Division programs.

Matt Long, NASBLA’s government affairs director, reported on recent meetings NASBLA has had with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. He termed the meetings as “good” and explained that there was a high level of communication. He also discussed the EPA’s permit proposal. This is a daunting prospect, considering that if passed, 18 million recreational boaters will be required to acquire the permit. Additionally, it would fall to state agencies to issue those permits. Long discussed his hope to establish a grassroots effort within NASBLA to keep the lines of communication open between NASBLA and the states.

The day finished with Virgil Chambers, executive director of the National Safe Boating Council, talking about Safe Boating Week, which is May 17-23, this year. This annual event is used to spread the message of safe and responsible boating. This year the campaign will focus on educating the boaters about life jacket wear and the options that are available when it comes to comfortable and lightweight jackets. Chambers also reviewed the success of California’s recent Wear It! campaign. The objectives of the campaign were to raise boaters’ awareness of inflatable life jackets and to increase the wear rate. Wear It! made use of the power of one voice, which makes a message more consistent and effective. The campaign employed an experiential approach – by offering boaters a positive hands-on experience, it becomes part of a lifestyle.