Input to Federal Policy—Consensus Recommendations on Incident Reporting sent to Coast Guard
Recreational Boating Incident Reporting Policy Project "Phase One": A collaboration between the U.S. Coast Guard, States, and NASBLA/ERAC that was set in motion in November 2017 resulted in comprehensive recommendations to inform the development of national reporting policies and procedures. NASBLA membership voted in July 2020 to accept the recommendations package and approve its delivery to the Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary & Boating Safety. Updates on the federal response and information on next steps in this multi-year project will be posted here and in NASBLA Connect.
----Consensus Recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard (June 2020, accepted by vote of NASBLA membership July 31, 2020). PDF package includes items incorporated into the consensus recommendations document by reference---reporting decision matrix, summary chart of recommended report data elements, and updates of five report categories' terms and definitions originally developed in the USCG/ERAC Accident Reporting Terms and Definitions Project (2012-2013).
----Resource Document (v. June 2020): Extensive detail on the policy project and the process of developing the consensus recommendations
In the Federal Register
Open for public comment until Nov. 22, 2021--Coast Guard's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Uniform Certificate of Title Act
On Sept.22, the Coast Guard published a notice proposing changes to its regulations for certifying a State's titling system for undocumented vessels to increase States' participation in the Vessel Identification System (VIS). The proposed changes would allow States that have adopted the recommendations of the model Uniform Certificate of Title Act for Vessels to certify their titling provisions with the Coast Guard. Once certified and participating in the VIS, a State is able to confer preferred mortgage status on financial instruments that apply to undocumented vessels, which benefits the owners of those vessels. The most significant proposed change would be to implement a system of “branding” (permanently marking) titles for vessels that have sustained structural damage. This would help prevent a process known as “title washing,” where severe vessel damage is concealed by transferring the title to a different State. Comments can be submitted to www.regulations.gov at USCG-2018-0160. Deadline is November 22, 2021.
See Advocacy - Policy - Federal Register for a list and descriptions of recently-closed notices and final rules related to recreational boating and RBS programs.