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The American Whitewater Association said that Arizona repealed its registration requirements in 2000 due in part to high administrative costs and an inability to provide services to the public.
Source: The American Whitewater Association
If you want to comment on the idea of registering drift boats, kayaks, canoes and rafts, you can contact the governor's office at: 334-2100; by e-mail through the governor's Web site, http://gov.idaho.gov; or by mail at P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720.
The following representatives have been invited to a meeting Friday in Boise to discuss a non-motorized boating registration fee:
Bob Wells, governor's office (group moderator).
Howard Miller, Idaho Whitewater Association.
Sandra Mitchell, Western Whitewater Association (jetboaters).
Sgt. Tom Briggs, Ada County Sheriff's Office (Marine Deputy).
Mike Ferguson, financial analyst, Idaho Division of Financial Management.
Idaho Rep. Eric Anderson (R-Priest Lake).
Idaho Sen. Lee Heinrich (R-Cascade).
Idaho Rep. George Sayler (D-Coeur d'Alene).
Cathy Ford, Idaho Department of Transportation.
David Dahms, boating program manager for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
Sharon Kiefer, salmon and steelhead expert at Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
Grant Simonds, director of the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association.
Owners of non-motorized boats in Idaho could find themselves charged a registration fee like the one paid by motorized boat owners to help pay for boat ramps, restrooms and search and rescue efforts.
The governor's office assembled a non-motorized boating work group with state officials, law enforcement and representatives from boating groups who will meet Friday in Boise to look into the issue.
Currently, registration fees are required only for motorized boats of any size.
During the last legislative session, Gov. Butch Otter said boat owners who have to register their boats are being unfairly singled out to bear the state's boat-related costs. He wants to extend the burden to drift boaters, kayakers, canoeists and rafters, including those who own inflatable rafts and kayaks.
Motorized boat registrations bring in about $1.6 million annually. Another $851,000 for boating programs comes from state and federal grants.
There are 86,225 registered motor boats in the state, and officials speculate there are about 100,000 non-motorized boats.
That number of non-motorized boats is an estimate, said Dean Sangrey, division administrator of operations for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
Finding out the number of non-motorized boats, how much could be charged for non-motorized boat registration, and how much money registrations could raise is expected to be discussed by the work group, he said.
The work group meeting is not open to public. Representatives of the Western Whitewater Association, a power boating group; Idaho Department of Fish and Game; Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation; Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association; and some state lawmakers, a sheriff's deputy and other state officials are expected to be present.
A representative of the Idaho Whitewater Association, a non-motorized group, also is expected to attend.
Mike Cooper, a Boise whitewater boater, said he was told that the meeting had been scheduled to review the issue of registering non-motorized boats and decide whether legislation should be drafted.
"Reading between the lines, the establishment of this work group is just a formality to try and legitimize legislation that is already drafted," he said.
The governor's office says it's just a work group and no legislation has been drafted.
Similar legislation died following protests in 2004.
Motorized boat owners have to register their boats, and the fee has been increased for next year. It will cost $20 for boats up to 12 feet and then $2 for each additional foot. Registrations expire Dec. 31 each year.
The fee increase, approved during the last legislative session, prompted powerboaters to bring to the attention of the governor that non-motorized boaters don't pay a registration fee.
When motorboaters purchase a registration, they are asked to designate two counties where they want their funds to go. Those counties can use up to 85 percent of the registration fee only for recreational boating services and facilities.
Non-motorized boaters do pay user fees that go for boating improvements, including restrooms, boat ramps and other facilities, and search and rescue.
But, according to the governor's office, those funds go into federal coffers. The governor wants non-motorized boaters to contribute to state coffers.
Non-motorized boaters have to buy a daily ($3) or annual ($20) pass to use boat ramps and recreation sites along the Main and South forks of the Payette River and the South Fork of the Snake River. Money from these passes goes to help county rescue crews.
Non-motorized boaters also pay $4 per day per person to float the Main and Middle forks of the Salmon in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
The river fees for non-motorized boaters are managed by the federal government.
Pete Zimowsky: 377-6445
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