NASBLA

NASBLA...sounds like Naz-Blah. However, if you are wondering about new regulations, NASBLA is a name you should become familiar with. The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators http://www.nasbla.org/. Here is small snip from their very extensive website:

Since 1992, NASBLA has had a Model Act for Charter Boat Safety that can be applied to any vessels carrying passengers for hire. This act is intended to provide for the regulation, inspection, and licensing of charter boats; protect the safety and welfare of persons using them; authorize the administering department to prescribe standards and promulgate rules; provide for the seizure and condemnation of certain vessels; and impose duties on certain insurance carriers. In 2006, the model act’s provisions were reviewed and updated and adopted by the NASBLA membership on Sept. 27, 2006. At the same time, NASBLA adoped a set of model administrative rules to accompany the Model Act for Charter Boat Safety. In October, NASBLA co-sponsored with the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard a training seminar for state officials: Passenger Vessel Safety on Sole State Waters. The technical program focused on "A Model Passenger Vessel Safety Program For State Regulators" by looking at policies and practices gained from more than 50 years of experience in regulating small passenger vessels by the U.S. Coast Guard and voluntary safety organizations, such as the Passenger Vessel Association.

This sounds like a great way for C-PORT to pursue the issue of local agency competition. Somewhere deep in the archives of C-PORT is a document called "Marine Police Standing Operating Proceedure". Lets update that document and push NASBLA to adopt it as the "Model Act" for standard operating proceedures in state and local authorities. Any volunteers to head up that battle? Guys in Southern California should be all over this idea...