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[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26139-26140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-8738]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2007-27857]

Recreational Boating Safety Projects, Programs and Activities 
Funded Under Provisions of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st 
Century; Accounting of

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: For seven fiscal years starting in 1999, the Transportation 
Equity Act for the 21st Century has made $5 million available to the 
Secretary of Homeland Security for payment of Coast Guard expenses for 
personnel and activities directly related to coordinating and carrying 
out the national recreational boating safety program. In 2005, the law 
was amended and the amount was increased to $5.5 million. This notice 
is being published to satisfy a requirement of the Act that a detailed 
accounting of the projects, programs, and activities funded under the 
national recreational boating safety program provision of the Act be 
published annually in the Federal Register. In this notice we have 
specified the amount of monies the Coast Guard has committed, obligated 
or expended during fiscal year 2006, as of September 30, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Ludwig, Regulations Development 
Manager, telephone 202-372-1062, fax 202-372-1932.
    Background and Purpose: The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st 
Century became law on June 9, 1998 (Pub. L. 105-178; 112 Stat. 107). 
The Act required that of the $5 million made available to carry out the 
national recreational boating safety program each year, $2 million 
shall be available only to ensure compliance with Chapter 43 of Title 
46, U.S. Code--Recreational Vessels. On September 29, 2005, the 
Sportfishing and Recreational Boating Safety Amendments Act of 2005 was 
enacted (Pub. L. 109-74; 119 Stat. 2030). This Act increased the funds 
available to the national recreational boating safety program from $5 
million to $5.5 million annually, and stated that ``not less than'' $2 
million shall be available only to ensure compliance with Chapter 43 of 
Title 46, U.S. Code--Recreational Vessels.
    The responsibility to administer these funds was delegated to the 
Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Subsection (c) of section 
7405 of the Act directs that no funds available to the Secretary under 
this subsection may be used to replace funding traditionally provided 
through general appropriations, nor for any purposes except those 
purposes authorized; namely, for personnel and activities directly 
related to coordinating and carrying out the national recreational 
boating safety program. Amounts made available each fiscal year from 
1999 through 2006 shall remain available until expended.
    Use of these funds requires compliance with standard Federal 
contracting rules with associated lead and processing times resulting 
in a lag time between available funds and spending. The total amount of 
funding, transferred to the Coast Guard from the Sport Fish Restoration 
and Boating Trust Fund, committed, obligated, and/or expended during 
fiscal year 2006 for each activity is shown below.
    Factory Visit Program: Funding was provided to continue the 
national recreational boat factory visit program, initiated in January 
2001. The factory visit program currently allows contractor personnel, 
acting on behalf of the Coast Guard, to visit 2,000 recreational boat 
manufacturers each year to inspect for compliance with federal 
regulations, communicate with the manufacturers as to why they need to 
comply with federal regulations, and educate them, as necessary, on how 
to comply with federal regulations. ($2,105,905)
    Boat Compliance Testing: Funding was provided for expansion of the 
boat compliance testing program whereby new manually propelled and 
outboard recreational boats are purchased in the open market and tested 
for compliance with the Federal flotation standards. The expanded 
program includes inboard/sterndrive boats and used boats. ($100,000)
    Associated Equipment Compliance Testing: A contract was awarded to 
buy recreational boat ``associated equipment'' (e.g., starters, 
alternators, fuel pumps, and bilge pumps) and test this equipment for 
compliance with federal safety regulations. This new initiative 
complements the boat compliance testing program. ($150,000)
    New Recreational Boating Safety Associated Travel: Travel by 
employees of the Office of Boating Safety was performed to carry out 
additional recreational boating safety actions and to gather background 
and planning information for new recreational boating safety 
initiatives. ($17,457)
    Carbon Monoxide Research: Under a Memorandum of Agreement between 
the Office of Boating Safety and the Department of Health and Human 
Services, U.S. Public Health Service, Federal Occupational Health 
Program, funding was provided to continue investigation into 
identifying and classifying additional recreational boating carbon 
monoxide hazards. ($150,000)
    Boating Accident News Clipping Service: A contract was awarded to 
gather daily news stories of recreational boating accidents nationally 
for more real time accident information and to identify accidents that 
may involve regulatory non-compliances or safety defects. ($37,896)
    Accident Investigation Tiger Team: A contract was awarded to 
provide on-call expert accident investigative services for any boating 
accident that appeared to

[[Page 26140]]

involve a regulatory non-compliance or safety defect. ($56,575)
    Web-based Document Management System: A contract was awarded to 
provide web-based document management to better enable the handling of 
thousands of recreational boating recall cases and campaign reports. 
($65,217)
    Safety Decals: Emergency Radio Call Procedures Decal used to 
promote proper emergency radio procedures for recreational vessels were 
produced and distributed. These are designed to be displayed 
immediately adjacent to the vessel's VHF-FM marine radio and assist 
vessel operators in properly making emergency radio calls. ($25,810)
    Low Power Radio Transmitter System: The project funded a low power 
travelers information radio transmitter system in the 13th Coast Guard 
District for continual transmission of Bar conditions and restrictions 
as well as boating safety information to the boating public. ($28,471)
    Recreational Boating Safety (RBS) Outreach Program: Funding was 
provided for this program which provides full marketing, media, public 
information, and program strategy support to the nation-wide RBS 
effort. The goal is to coordinate the RBS outreach initiatives and 
campaigns some of which include: National Boating Under the Influence 
Campaign (BUI), ``You're in Command. Boat Responsibly!'', PFD Wear, 
Vessel Safety Check Program (VSC), Boating Safety Education Courses, 
Propeller Strike Avoidance, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, and other 
recreational boating safety issues on an as needed basis. ($1,032,258)
    Virtual Reality Personal Watercraft (PWC): A virtual reality PWC 
was developed under contract to provide a platform to gather objective 
data on operator reactions to various scenarios. This information would 
otherwise be unobtainable or would require more costly methods and 
sources, due to the risk of injury to the operator as well as due to 
the difficulty of accurately replicating conditions for all operators. 
The virtual reality PWC is being used in various test scenarios to 
collect human factors data including the measurement of reactive 
movements and reaction time that will assist in making decisions or 
taking action to improve personal watercraft safety. The data from this 
effort will give greater insight into the human-machine interface 
related to PWC operation and will assist in the effort to attempt to 
reduce PWC accidents. ($50,000)
    Boating Accident Report Database (BARD) Web System: BARD Web System 
funding enables reporting authorities in the 50 States, five U.S. 
Territories and the District of Columbia to manage their accident 
reports electronically over a secure Internet environment. The system 
also enables the user community to generate statistical reports that 
show the frequency, nature, and severity of boating accidents. FY 06 
funds supported system maintenance, technical (hotline) support and 
formal classroom instruction for the entire user community. ($438,781)
    Personnel Support: Funding was provided for personnel to support 
the development of new regulations, to support new contracting 
activities associated with the additional funding, and to monitor and 
manage the contracts awarded. ($573,188)
    Propeller Injury Avoidance Working Group: Travel expenses were 
reimbursed for subject-matter experts to convene as a working group to 
explore ways that injuries associated with propeller strikes could be 
minimized. ($12,505)
    National Recreational Boating Safety Program Strategic Planning: 
Meetings were conducted to continue strategic planning for the national 
recreational boating safety program. Funds were expended on meeting 
space, supplies, and travel expenses for members of the strategic 
planning panel. ($95,172)
    National Recreational Boating Survey: A national recreational 
boating survey was conducted to obtain up-to-date statistical estimates 
on recreational boating. Over 25,000 surveys were completed with 
individuals who boated between September 2001 and September 2002. 
Survey findings were extrapolated to produce national, regional and 
State estimates of boat use as well as the characteristics of boat 
operators, passengers, boats, safety equipment, and the boating 
environment. ($118,056)
    A total of $26,365,949 of the $35,000,000 made available to the 
Coast Guard through annual transfers of $5 million in fiscal years 
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 has been committed, 
obligated or expended as of September 30, 2005. Of the $5.5 million 
made available to the Coast Guard in fiscal year 2006, $2,711,375 has 
been committed, obligated or expended and an additional $2,345,916 of 
prior fiscal year funds has been committed, obligated or expended, as 
of September 30, 2006. Therefore, a total of $31,423,240 of the 
$40,500,000 made available to the Coast Guard through annual transfers 
of $5 million in fiscal years 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 
and $5.5 million in 2006 has been committed, obligated or expended as 
of September 30, 2006. Of the remaining funds that have not been 
committed, obligated or expended, $8.1 million is being reserved for a 
multi-year national boating study.

    Dated: April 24, 2007.
F.J. Sturm,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting Director of Inspections and 
Compliance.
[FR Doc. E7-8738 Filed 5-7-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P
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