States gain power to charge boaters for safety and rescue
S. 3985 — State Boating Act · Filed by Mike Crapo (R-ID) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 4, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal boating law to explicitly allow states to charge additional fees for boating-related activities—such as search and rescue, boating safety, and invasive species control—when issuing vessel numbers. States can collect these fees alongside existing vessel registration fees, and the money must be spent on boating safety, access, and environmental protection.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward grant of authority to states to impose and collect additional fees for boating-related services. It is a federalism measure that expands state taxing power within a defined sector, not a deregulation, subsidy, or immunity grant.
What the text implies
- States may use this authority to impose fees that effectively increase the cost of recreational boating, potentially affecting lower-income boaters disproportionately if fee levels are not carefully calibrated.
- The bill does not specify fee caps or approval processes, leaving states free to set fees at any level so long as revenue is used for permitted purposes—creating potential for revenue-maximizing behavior.
- Fees collected under this authority are restricted to boating-related uses, but 'improving recreational boating' and 'boater access' are broad categories that could fund infrastructure or programs benefiting commercial or tourism interests alongside recreational boaters.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Boaters face new or higher fees when registering vessels, which is a direct cost. However, the revenue is legally restricted to boating safety, rescue operations, invasive species control, and boater access—public goods that benefit recreational boaters and protect waterways. The trade-off between higher registration costs and improved safety/environmental services is genuine and depends on state implementation.
Who stands to gain
- state boating agencies and departments
- search and rescue organizations
- aquatic invasive species management programs
Named in the bill
46 U.S.C. § 12307, state vessel numbering authorities, recreational boaters, search and rescue operations, aquatic invasive species programs
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Mar 4, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 4, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 7 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Crapo, the sponsor, reported $552,275 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,270 characters) on Aug 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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