[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 24, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 53754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-26814]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 173

[USCG-1999-6094]
RIN 2115-AF87


Raising the Threshold of Property Damage for Reports of Accidents 
Involving Recreational Vessels

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is reopening the period for public comment on 
a partial suspension of rule with request for comments published on 
June 26, 2001. The chairman of a subcommittee of the National 
Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) asked that we 
reopen the comment period so his subcommittee could discuss the rule at 
their meeting in October 2001 and submit a comment to the docket. We 
are reopening the period for 30 days so the subcommittee and other 
interested persons can submit comments.

DATES: Comments must reach the docket on or before November 23, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Identify your comments and related material by the docket 
number for this rulemaking [USCG-1999-6094]. To make sure they do not 
enter the docket more than once, please submit them by only one of the 
following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By hand-delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the 
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. 
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The 
telephone number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Internet site for the Docket 
Management System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
rulemaking. Comments and material received from the public, as well as 
documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket, 
will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or 
copying at room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, at 
the address listed above between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays. You may also find this docket on the 
Internet at http://dms.dot.gov. You may obtain a copy of this partial 
suspension of final rule by calling the Infoline of the U.S. Coast 
Guard at 1-800-368-5647, or read it on the Internet, at the Web site 
for the Office of Boating Safety, at http://www.uscgboating.org or at 
http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this notice, contact 
Bruce Schmidt, Project Manager, Office of Boating Safety, U.S. Coast 
Guard, by telephone at 202-267-0955 or by e-mail at 
[email protected]. For questions on viewing or submitting 
material to the docket, call Dorothy Beard, Chief, Dockets, Department 
of Transportation, telephone 202-366-5149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory History

    The early regulatory history for this rulemaking appears in the 
preamble of the final rule entitled ``Raising the Threshold of Property 
Damage for Reports of Accidents Involving Recreational Vessels'' [66 FR 
21671 (May 1, 2001)].

Reason for Partial Suspension of Effective Date

    After we issued the final rule on May 1, 2001, a State boating-law 
administrator expressed concern about a provision in the rule requiring 
reports of all collisions involving two or more vessels resulting 
exclusively in damage to property, regardless of the amount of such 
damage.
    Currently, few States have statutory authority to require reports 
of multi-vessel accidents that result neither in personal injury nor in 
any damage to property. Further, States' legislative calendars 
precluded compliance by the published effective date, July 2, 2001. We 
note that States' legislation would be unnecessary if our provision for 
reporting collisions of two or more vessels included a threshold of 
$500, since all States do now maintain such a threshold. Because of the 
concern raised about the impact of our provision on States' 
legislation, the Coast Guard delayed implementation of that provision, 
in 33 CFR 173.55(a)(3), requiring a report whenever ``* * * a collision 
occurs involving two or more vessels, regardless of the amount of 
damage to property; * * *'', and provided a 90-day comment period on 
the provision.

Reason for Reopening the Comment Period

    In response to the notice of partial suspension of effective date, 
we received 28 comments, including a request from the Chairman of the 
Boating Accident Investigation Reporting and Analysis Committee 
(BAIRAC) of NASBLA to extend the comment period beyond the meeting of 
BAIRAC in October 2001. We are reopening the comment period until 
November 23, 2001 to let BAIRAC discuss the suspended provision at that 
meeting and submit a comment to the docket. We are also reopening it to 
anyone else who would like to submit a comment, but please do not re-
submit comments already in the docket.

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting 
your comments to the Docket Management Facility as specified in 
ADDRESSES. Please submit comments and materials related only to the 
provision in 33 CFR 173.55(a)(3), requiring a report whenever ``* * * a 
collision occurs involving two or more vessels, regardless of the 
amount of damage to property; * * *''. We will consider comments 
received during this reopened comment period and may change 33 CFR 
173.55(a)(3) in response to the comments.

    Dated: October 18, 2001.
Kenneth T. Venuto,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting Assistant Commandant for 
Operations.
[FR Doc. 01-26814 Filed 10-23-01; 8:45 am]
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