Press Release Sample One
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Scott Croft, 703-461-2864, SCroft@BoatUS.com
May 23, 2005
BOATU.S. TESTIFIES IN SUPPORT OF CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION
TO EASE CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION PROCESS IN FLORIDA
Congressional legislation allowing recreational boaters
returning from outside the U.S. to report in using a videophone
at a number of Florida marinas and public docks rather
then being forced to travel to out-of-the-way federal customs
and immigration offices was strongly supported by BoatU.S.
in testimony before Congress last week.
Testifying before a House Homeland Security subcommittee
in favor of H.R. 1509, the Recreational Boater Streamlined
Inspection Act, introduced by Florida Congressmen Mark
Foley (R-FL) and Clay Shaw (R-FL), BoatU.S. President Jim
Ellis said, “This legislation offers a practical
way for recreational boaters to report back to customs
officials after visiting the Bahamas, as well as other
Caribbean islands.” Upon returning to the U.S., boaters
are currently required to find transportation and potentially
travel many miles to report to a government office in person.
These federal offices are often located in difficult to
find out-of-the way places or not open on Sundays when
many boaters return.
Ellis detailed his own personal experience in attempting
to check back in to the U.S. on a recent trip to the Bahamas. “The
current method of enforcing these regulations is inconvenient,
inadequate and inefficient. Law abiding American citizens
are turned into scofflaws by a system that has not changed
to meet the needs of the times.” He suggested that
the use of modern technology could readily meet the needs
of the government’s customs and immigration services.
Presently, videophones are used extensively in the Great
Lakes for boaters returning from Canada.
BoatU.S. – Boat Owners Association of The United
States – is the nation’s leading advocate for
recreational boaters providing its 590,000 members with
a wide array of consumer services including a group-rate
marine insurance program that insures over 240,000 vessels;
the largest fleet of more than 500 towing assistance vessels;
discounts on fuel, slips, and repairs at over 800 Cooperating
Marinas; boat financing; and a subscription to BoatU.S.
Magazine, the most widely read boating publication in the
U.S.
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