On June 15th a number of members gathered for high-flying fun and networking at the headquarters of Green Home Solutions at the Groton New London Airport.  A big shout out to Dustin Maurice for all the hard work and effort to host our members.  The highlight of the evening outside of great food and drink, brand new vehicles courtesy of Valenti Ford was an aerial tour high into the skies of Eastern Connecticut for everyone who wished to go.  What a thrill for so many of us who see it only from land or water! 

A Few of the Night's Highlights!

About Green Home Solutions:  Green Home Solutions offers a safe, affordable, fast, and effective solution to solve mold problems. Their EPA product is plant based and kills mold and its suspected harmful effects.

The 2017 Legislative Session adjourned at midnight on June 7th without a budget.  A special session has been convened for the legislature for the purposes of enacting a budget for the next two fiscal years.  It will be during this process that our bill, SB1048 will be addressed as part of the revenue package.  For more details, please find The Kowalski Group report Here.

On Thursday, 16 CMTA members and their employees attended a lobbying day at the Capitol in Hartford urging legislators to support SB 1048 - An Act to Reduce the Sales and Use Tax on Vessels by 50%.  Standing outside the House Chambers, legislators were notified one by one that their constituent was here to meet with them to discuss this bill.  Meeting after meeting took place and each legislator was given a package explaining why this bill is so important.  A copy of that package can be found here.

The status of the Bill today, is that there are efforts being made to include SB 1048 in the revenue package that is being taken up by both the House and Senate.  What that means is that it will not be taken to a vote on its own, but rather included in the bigger package.

We still very much need members and industry professionals from the "cities" to reach out to their legislators - this includes Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Hartford and East Hartford.  In addition, if there are any members from greater Bridgeport that could be in Hartford on Tuesday, we will arrange for you to meet with your elected official.

The Legislative Session is scheduled to end at Midnight on Wednesday, June 7th.  It is difficult to determine what will happen next, but we will keep you posted.

The American Boating Congress is the premier political and legislative event effecting positive change in Washington for recreational boating.  CMTA attended the event this past week, working with colleagues from across the state and nation on important issues impacting the boating industry and boaters!

The event kicked off on Monday evening with a welcome reception at the beautiful Carnegie Library in downtown Washington.  Tuesday's breakfast session began the work of the conference with an overview of the most important issues impacting the industry, especially in this era of great political change.  Twelve breakout sessions followed the opening each focused on the legislative agenda set forth by NMMA, MRAA and the group of Co-Hosts who helped shaped the agenda, CMTA being one.

The Policy Agenda Booklet, outlining all the topics addressed may be found here.

CNN's Jake Tapper was Tuesday's Keynote speaker, highlighting politics and the media in today's environment. 

Visits to Legislators on Capitol Hill followed on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.  CMTA met with Senator Christopher Murphy's Legislative Aide Emily Smith, Senator Richard Blumenthal's Legislative Correspondent Brett Ekberg and Congressman Joseph Courtney and his Legislative Director Alexa Combelic.  While the policy agenda topics framed the conversation, specific topics related to Connecticut issues were the focus.

We are pleased to announce and applaud Senator Chris Murphy for his advocacy by joining the Boating Caucus.  The only member of CT's federal delegation to do so.  We thanked the Senator for his support.

We are encouraged by the level of knowledge and support the delegation has provided on the issue of dredging, approved open water disposal and the exploration of sound, efficient and economical alternatives.  Congressman Courtney has certainly been a leader on this topic and we spent a very productive hour discussing the challenges and working towards permanent solutions.  He is a true champion of our needs in this area.

CMTA was pleased to attend these meetings with John Swick of Safe Harbor Marinas/Brewer Yacht Yards; Jason Blackburn from Uncasville-based Faria-Beede Instruments and Freya Olsen, Senior Program Manager of Discover Boating (she will be speaking at a future CMTA Event).

CMTA was honored to receive the Co-Host Marketing Award for 2017.  We were humbled by the recognition, but more importantly it resulted because of our commitment to keep our members informed and engaged in the important work of the Association and industry as a whole.  We continue to encourage members to attend ABC next year.    It is an incredible experience to share the common goals of our industry meeting and working with our elected officials.

It is a common response, that the event exceeds the expectations of its attendees. 

For More Information on future ABC Events, Policies and results, please don't hesitate to email me.

Kathleen Burns

Pictured (L-R) Kathleen Burns, Executive Director, CMTA; John Swick, Safe Harbor Marinas/Brewer Yacht Yards; Congressman Joseph Courtney; Freya Olsen, NMMA and Jason Blackburn, Faria Beede Instruments, Inc.

New Haven - CT -- On Monday May 8th, CMTA joined with members representing commercial assist and tow companies, harbormasters, law enforcement, DEEP Boating Division and more at USCG Sector Long Island Sound HQ in New Haven to prepare for the upcoming boating season.  The agenda focused on response, communications and coordination in regards to marine SAR search and rescue.  This is one of two meetings held each year to bring all parties together for better communication and ultimately safer results for the boating community.

Since the last SAR Meeting in October, the USCG LIS reported that there had been 147 SAR Cases, 27 Lives saved, 169 Lives assisted.  Sadly during the same period, from Maine to New Jersey there had been 29 fatalities, the majority coming from paddlecraft incidents. 

One important effort is encouraging all paddlecraft users to have proper safety equipment (PFD's) on board and posting an IF FOUND sticker on these types of crafts to assist in any search and rescue operation.   10,000 stickers have been ordered by DEEP and we hope to help distribute these through our paddlecraft vendors.  The waterproof sticker is used to alert those if the paddleboard, canoe, kayak or other paddle vessel if found abandoned.  It can help facilitate search and rescue personnel determining whether it is as simple as a vessel that got away, or that something more serious is occurring.  It could save time and lives.  Operation Wild Water will focus on this area throughout the boating season.  For more information please contact us here
Another event being coordinated to promote safe boating.  Operation Dry Water will run from June 30th to July 2nd in which enforcement will be stepped up to prevent BUI's.