[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60486-60488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23807]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2014-0911]


Recreational Boating Safety Grants for Nonprofit Organizations

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard proposes several possible ``areas of 
interest'' for which fiscal year (FY) 2015 national nonprofit 
organization grants could be awarded, and requests public comments on 
which areas the Coast Guard should select.

DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov, or reach the Docket Management Facility, on or 
before October 28, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments using one of the listed methods, and see 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for more information on public comments.
     Online--http://www.regulations.gov following Web site 
instructions.
     Fax--202-372-1932.
     Mail or hand deliver--Docket Management Facility (CG-BSX-
24), U.S. Coast Guard, Room 4M24-14, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. 
SE., Washington, DC 20593-7501. Hours for hand delivery are 9 a.m. to 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays (telephone 202-
372-1060). To be sure someone is there to help you, please call before 
coming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this document 
call or

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email Carlin Hertz, Nonprofit Grants Coordinator; 202-372-1060, 
[email protected]. For information about viewing or submitting 
material to the docket, call Cheryl Collins, Program Manager, Docket 
Operations, telephone 202-366-9826, toll free 1-800-647-5527.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Comments

    We encourage you to comment or submit relevant material in response 
to this notice. Submissions will be shared with members of the National 
Boating Safety Advisory Committee (NBSAC), a group that consists of 
members of the public who advise the Coast Guard on boating safety, and 
who operate in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The 
next NBSAC meeting will occur on November 6, 2014. NBSAC may recommend 
the areas of interest that should be the focus of Coast Guard boating 
safety grants to nonprofit organizations in FY 2015. Minutes of the 
November meeting will be posted on NBSAC's Web site, http://homeport.uscg.mil/NBSAC.
    Mark your submission with docket number USCG-2014-0911 and explain 
your reasons for any suggestion or recommendation. Provide personal 
contact information so that we can contact you if we have questions 
regarding your comments; but note that all comments will be posted to 
the online docket without change and that any personal information you 
include can be searchable online (see the Federal Register Privacy Act 
notice regarding our public dockets, 73 FR 3316, Jan. 17, 2008).
    Mailed or hand-delivered comments should be in an unbound 8\1/2\ x 
11 inch format suitable for reproduction. The Docket Management 
Facility will acknowledge receipt of mailed comments if you enclose a 
stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope with your submission.
    Documents mentioned in this notice and all public comments, are in 
our online docket at http://www.regulations.gov and can be viewed by 
following the Web site's instructions. You can also view the docket at 
the Docket Management Facility (see the mailing address under 
ADDRESSES) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

Discussion

    This notice is issued under the authority of, but is not required 
by, 46 U.S.C. 13102. It concerns the annual recreational boating safety 
grants that the Coast Guard issues to nonprofit organizations. We have 
not issued such a notice in previous years, and, depending on the 
public response to this year's notice, we may or may not issue similar 
notices in future years.
    The Coast Guard's national recreational boating safety program aims 
to reduce accidents, injuries and deaths on America's waterways and to 
facilitate safe enjoyable boating. It promotes greater uniformity among 
States and localities in boating safety laws, enforcement, and 
administration. The program also encourages boating safety activity by 
nonprofit organizations, and each year makes grants to such 
organizations. This notice discusses eight possible areas of interest 
for which grants might be awarded in FY 2015. We invite public comments 
on these eight areas or others that the public feels we should address. 
Comments can discuss environmental or other concerns you have about a 
possible area of interest, and can include or cite relevant information 
or data.
    The following possible areas of interest for FY 2015 are intended 
to support boating safety outreach strategies and goals that we have 
developed in consultation with NBSAC. For each possible area, grantees 
would need to develop performance metrics to demonstrate their success, 
and report to the Coast Guard on their accomplishments. For each area, 
we may award grants to multiple applicants. We invite your comments on 
each of these, and to suggest other possible areas of interest we 
should consider.
    1. Year-Round Safe Boating Campaign. The campaign would function 
nationally, throughout the year, be coordinated with other safety 
initiatives and media events, and would--
     Align with the National Recreational Boating Safety 
Strategic Plan, particularly Objective 2: Boating Safety Outreach
     Target specific boating safety topics and specific boater 
market segments;
     Reach boaters at the local level;
     Promote the RBS Program's ``Boat Responsibly'' brand;
     Educate boaters about the consequences of drinking 
alcohol, taking drugs, or other irresponsible behavior on the water;
     Educate boaters about reporting boating accidents;
     Stress the importance of wearing life jackets and getting 
boater safety training; and
     Emphasize that boat operators are responsible for their 
own safety and that of their passengers.
    2. Outreach and Awareness Conference. This possible area of 
interest would use a conference instead of a year-round campaign to 
focus on the topics discussed under the first possible area of 
interest, in support of the National Recreational Boating Safety 
Strategic Plan's Objective 2--Boating Safety Outreach. Conference 
organizers must focus on professional development opportunities for 
conference participants. The conference must include a session for 
grant recipients to give brief reports on completed grant projects and 
on plans for using new Coast Guard grants. Three to six months after 
the conference, the organizers must survey participants on the long 
term impacts of the conference and include survey results in their 
final report.
    3. Standardize Statutes and Regulations. In this possible area of 
interest, the grantee would develop programs to achieve measurable 
standardization and reciprocity among State boating safety statutes and 
regulations and how they are administered and enforced, especially with 
respect to accident reporting, boater education, and life jacket wear 
requirements. This standardization should be compatible with other 
State boating safety efforts and promote RBS program effectiveness, the 
use of Coast Guard-approved boater education programs, and improved 
administration of Coast Guard-approved vessel numbering and accident 
reporting systems. The grantee's final report must include an updated 
comprehensive guide to State recreational boating safety laws and 
regulations.
    4. Accident Investigation Seminars. In this possible area of 
interest, the grantee would develop a Coast Guard-approved curriculum 
and materials for seminars for Federal and State recreational boating 
accident investigators in support of the National Recreational Boating 
Safety Strategic Plan's Objective 9--Boating Accident Reporting. The 
curriculum must cover the requirements of 46 U.S.C. 6102 and 33 CFR 
parts 173 subpart C, part 174 subparts C & D (in particular the 
accident-reporting system administration requirements of 33 CFR 
174.103), and part 179. Between four and eight 60-student regional 
seminars would be required, as well as between two and four advanced 
courses at the National Transportation Safety Board Training Facility 
in Ashburn, Virginia, or some other appropriate location. Three 20-
student regional train-the-trainer seminars would also be required. 
Seminar locations must be approved by the Coast Guard. Each seminar 
would reserve at least four places for Coast Guard marine investigators 
to be

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assigned by the Coast Guard. Each regional seminar must cover an 
overview of recreational boat accident investigations, witness 
interviews, collision dynamics, evidence collection and preservation, 
diagramming, and report writing with an emphasis on adherence to 
definitions and detail in the accident narrative. The advanced seminars 
must include instruction in the investigation of video-simulated 
accidents with actual recreational boats used as training aids.
    5. Life Jacket Wear. The grantee in this possible area of interest 
would provide reliable estimates of nationwide recreational boater life 
jacket wear rates. This estimate will directly address the National 
Recreational Boating Safety Strategic Plan's Strategy 4.1--Track and 
Evaluate Life Jacket Wear Rates. Estimates could be developed on an 
annual or biennial basis, using paid or volunteer observers, and must 
be based on actual observation of a representative sample of boaters on 
high-use lakes, rivers, and bays. Methods for developing estimates must 
be replicable from year to year and must be able to collect data by 
number, type, length, operation, and activity of boats and by boater 
age and gender.
    6. Voluntary Standards Development. The grantee in this possible 
area of interest would develop and carry out a program to promote the 
development of technically sound voluntary standards for building 
recreational boats. Development of these standards will address the 
National Recreational Boating Safety Strategic Plan's Strategy 7.3--
Manufacturer Outreach. The standards must help reduce accidents in 
which stability, speed, operator inattention, and navigation lights are 
factors. For example, standards could be developed for labeling 
flybridge capacity or horsepower rating, or for minimizing operator 
distraction, or for determining the effects of underwater or decorative 
lighting.
    7. Safety Training for Urban Youth. The grantee in this possible 
area of interest would build a sustainable network of training 
providers for urban youth, who in the past 10 years, according to the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have been involved in the 
most water-based fatalities. This effort must support Objectives 2 and 
3 of the National Recreational Boating Safety Program Strategic Plan--
Boating Safety Outreach and Advanced and/or On the Water, Skills Based 
Boating Education. Training should provide structured, engaging, in-
depth opportunities for learning basic boating safety and for 
practicing on-the-water boating safety skills and must promote the 
``Boat Responsibly'' brand.
    8. ``Boating Under the Influence'' (BUI) Detection and Enforcement. 
The grantee in this possible area of interest would develop and conduct 
train-the-trainer and BUI detection and enforcement training courses 
for State and local marine patrol officers, Coast Guard boarding 
officers and others. The goal of the training would be to give students 
the knowledge and skills they need to deter recreational boater alcohol 
use and alcohol-related accidents. These courses will directly address 
National Recreational Boating Safety Strategic Plan Strategy 6.2, Train 
marine law enforcement officers in Boating Under the Influence and 
Strategy 6.3, Expand nationwide use of the validated Standardized Field 
Sobriety Tests (SFST).

    Dated: October 1, 2014.
Jonathan C. Burton,
Captain, Coast Guard, Director of Inspections and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2014-23807 Filed 10-6-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-04-P