Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/467551
28 | Boating Industry | March 2015 [ Storming the hill ] www.BoatingIndustry.com Chairman [Bill Shuster, R-Pa.] on the House side has been wanting to do a long-term reauthoriza- tion. From what we're hearing it is the No. 1 pri- ority for both chairmen and those committees. For the boating industry, it's really important because it includes the funds for the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. Ethanol is a perennial issue for us, especially because at the very end of 2014, EPA further kicked the can down the road on the RVOs and the ethanol issue. There's definitely renewed mo- mentum and hope to get some type of reform with the [Renewable Fuel Standard]. Boating Industry: Any indication that the EPA will be addressing the issue soon? What they have announced they are going to do is do a joint 2014 and 2015 RVO. They still haven't done last year. Definitely with the mid- term elections, the political landscape made it a sensitive issue and while we disagree with them kicking it down the road, that's why we think they did it. It just confirms the focus that Congress has to fix it. The EPA might do something, but it doesn't get us the long-term fix we're hoping for. Boating Industry: How about on the Magnuson-Stevens front? We lost a great advocate in Sen. Mark Begich [D, Alaska], who has been staunchly advocating for a reauthorization. We still have Sen. Marco Rubio [R, Fla.] who is very engaged on this issue and we're hoping to reignite those efforts. It re- mains to be seen what we're going to be able to do on an MSA reauthorization, but the commu- nity of fishing and boating is working together to try to get some legislative language out there. There's definitely hope. They all say that first 100 days, that's the window of excitement, of energy, and I would say that between Sportfish, ethanol and MSA, those are our top three issues to look for. Boating Industry: What do you think is the likelihood we'll see some positive action on any of these issues? I definitely think we're going to get a transpor- tation bill. There is a lot of momentum to get something through. That will be key to keeping the stream of funding for the Sportfish Restora- tion Fund that is so critical to our states. You never guarantee something here in D.C., but there is a very good chance of a transporta- tion bill getting done before May. We will see some ethanol bills in the next month or so, particularly on the House side. It remains to be seen what we can do on the Sen- ate side in terms of getting some advocates. We just need to see what the vehicle is, and move from there on ethanol. As for Magnuson, it's just a very complicated issue. There's no easy solution. I wouldn't expect to get anything finalized in the next 100 days [on Magnuson-Stevens], but we're looking to get the bills we care about introduced and get the conversation going. Boating Industry: Any other issues people in the industry should be watching? There are a lot of new freshman members of