The hearing before the environmental matters committee will be on Feb 8th at 1 PM.  You need to be there (Room 251, House Office Building) before 1 PM and sign in to testify.  If you have written testimony it must be in to the committee clerk before noon so they can make copies for all the committee members.  I will be there and will have spoken and written testimony ready.  The Maryland Marine Trades, Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen Association, and CBYCA will also be there.

 

Best way to get there is to park at the Stadium and take the trolley.  The trolly will drop you off near the House building and there will be plenty of people around that can help you find your way.  Just like in court and at the airport, you will have to go through security screening - so allow time for that.

 

Any citizen can come and be heard.  You can also come and speak for your yacht club, if so authorized.  With the large number of people that I expect to be there in opposition, the testimony will probably be by panel (the Chair will bring up 3-5 people at a time to the testifiers table and give each about a minute to help pile on).  Your written testimony can be whatever you need to tell them.  You do not read your written testimony (takes too long and bores the committee).  Instead, you make your points in your own words.

 

Nothing about Demoncracy is easy.  Testimony means a sacrifice of your time on a workday.  If you can't be there, contact members of the House Environmental Matters Committee right away!

 

Don't end up sweating in your life preserver on a hot sunny July day thinking how you could have helped avoid such a fate.  IF HB140 were to pass, MD would be the only state to have such a law.

 

Some additional thoughts/talking points:

Per the Coast Guard, in 2004 there were 431 lives nationally that could have been saved if boaters had worn their lifejackets.  There are about 12.8 Million recreational vessels in the United States.  431/12.8M is .003%.  So 99.997% of all boaters in the United States were able to avoid drowning in 2004 without laws forcing them to wear PFDs.

 

Over the last five years, there averaged only about 10-11 recreational boat drownings a year in all of Maryland.  Alcohol is a factor in may of them.  The other drownings are usually due to foolish operation of PWC's and small open motorboats.  Drowning fatalities for boats greater than 26' is extremely rare.  In 2004, of 484 people that drowned nationally from recreational vessels, 8 were on boats 26-40 ft, 2 on boats 40-65 ft, 1 on boats > 65 ft.

 

Foolish operation and knowing when and where to don a PFD are better solved by bringing those that don't know up to the level of the 99% of recreational boaters who do know how to be safe. 

 

The Coast Guard has always been for all PFD's all the time.  This is an oversimplistic and lazy way to deal with boating risk.  The Coast Guard implies by their position that recreational boaters are all fools and drunks when in fact only a tiny fraction are.  Why impose an unecessary precaution on the responsible majority, for the irresponsible decisions of a handful of people? 

 

Essentially all recreational boat drownings are caused by bad decisions such as drinking, speeding, operating an overloaded boat in rough weather, and not putting on a PFD when the situation calls for it.  People should be accountable for their actions.  HB 140 assumes our fellow citizens have no burden of responsibilty.  Apparently, the bill sponsors believe that whenever people get injured or die in accidents it is because there aren't enough laws! 

 

We boaters believe a good balance already exists in Maryland between an individual's right to make decisions for themselves and the states desire to take away that right and try to protect people from themselves.  Reasonable risk exists in recreational boating, as borne out by the low drowning rate over millions of hours on the water each year by over 200, 000 recreational vessels in Maryland.  Should we all work together to bring the drownings to zero?  Absolutely, but all PFD's all the time is not the answer! "