Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Senate reconvened at 2 PM today,adjouned at 5:36 without accomplishing much of anything. Reconvenes tomorrow at 1:15. We have to get thru tomorrow and we might be home free,not enough days left,and there are bills more important to address,but the fat lady has not sung yet. Power Company today hired another expensive,high powered lobbyist, I think that makes 8. Our association has 1,the NMMA has 1. Power Company wants this real bad,but we do have some good senators that are boaters and cannot be swayed.The legislative process is not pretty. Keep your fingers crossed,your state could be next. :mad:

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

What else will our wonderful government try to take next????? land of the free, free to do what ever you want after paying taxes, health Ins, Car-boat Ins. Nothing left .

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Politics is a really ugly thing. www.dailyhome.com Read the lead article and then scroll down to the editorial. It passed the full house today,goes to Senate Tues where there will be a fight

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

With most products or businesses you can spend your dollars elsewhere. But it is a little difficult to boycott the power companies.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Keep Swinging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Whats the ban, I must of missed a post about this ? anyway good luck hope for the best for you guys .

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

I missed the original post also. Good luck with the fight.
Dan

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

I have a lot of customers on Lake Martin,it's the 2nd largest lake in the state. The worst part of the bill is any boat over 26' 11" long and capable of over 60 mph will be banned,and owners have until Oct 1 to get them of the lake. I have a buddy who just built a 2 million dollar house on Lake Martin,added a monster boathouse with 3 lifts for his 35' Fountain,36' Skater,and 32'Fountain fishboat with twin 250 O/B's. All 3 of his boats will be illegal and have to be off the lake by Oct 1. I believe there will be a flurry of lawsuits if it passes the Senate. My lake got a pass but Lake Martin did not. www.tradeonlytoday.com

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

It's just outrageous that a few lawmakers can sit around and pass bad legislation like this. Get your boats off the lake by October first??? :mad: :mad: :mad:

There ought to be a flurry of lawsuits. Gotta love the way blow boats have been excluded. :rolleyes:

Apparently the powerboat industry needs a stronger lobbying group with a bigger war chest.

I'm afraid this may be just the beginning.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

The NMMA kicked in 25K for a lobbyist, Alabama Power Company spent $250,000 per legislative day for the 8 lobbyists they hired. Money may not buy happiness but it damn sure buys senators and congressmen ,and not just in Alabama. Fortunately we have some Senators that cannot be bought.Cannot tip our hand yet but plan B kicks in Wed. We are going to beat this or go down in flames trying.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Where do they get the $250,000 per leg. day? So in affect we are paying to try and convince someone to not allow our lifestyle. :mad:

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Pretty simple,the power co.as a state regulated monopoly,is allowed a 15% profit by the state public service commision. So if they spend the money for lobbyists,it's an expense,and if their profit drops,they raise their rates,so all citizens of Alabama are paying for the lobbyists in their power bill. Pretty sweet deal,or pretty sickening deal,depending on your point of view.The more I get into this, the more I realize how corrupt it all is :mad: It would be easy now to say since my lake got a pass,ease off,but ethically I cannot do that. More later.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

I always just assumed we had the stupidist legislators and legislation here in California, which I believe is the birthplace of stupid legislation. I am not sure now though after this thread, Alabama may be trying to make a run at the record. Lets hope they fail and end up just a little smarter than i was pretty sure they might not be!! Keep up the fight!!
And the rest of you remember,"sleep tight, your legislators are scheming tonight." Good Luck,

Ray @ Raylar

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Finally the truth comes out. Read the front page story then scroll down to Opinions for the second story. I will be at the capital for the hearings. www.dailyhome.com

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

What a crock of $hit. Some of the reasons he says big boats should be ban just shows how stupid he is. His boat rubs the dock from wakes, get some fenders and tie it right. He is afraid to take his kids out on the water, don't swim in the main channel.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

The colonel is trained for diversion tactics,I assume......Something the OSO group may consider MANDATORY reading can be found at http://www.uscgboating.org/regulatio..._register.aspx The topic I,m concerned about is, Nationwide Automatic Identification System (NAIS).....NAIS is explained at the above web site.....Presently,there is another NAIS action being strongly,quietly proposed.That action has nothing to do with boats.However,it is intended and designed to require mandatory registration of premises containing any animal except your dog and cat...Your horse,cow,chicken,pig,goat and even the pet parakeet are all included....All but the horse is to wear a band transmitter,which up links to a satellite for positive tracking.The horse gets an implant transmitter......AND WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOURS INSERTED SIR???????All I can say is,perhaps a group of proxy lobbyists need to be hired to negotiate this matter......This is a matter of life style.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

I have my speech ready for Wed. The good colonel is most likely a nice guy,just misinformed. I am ready to debate him on every point he may raise and I guarantee that I know more about boats and boating than he does. He is passionate in his cause,but he is wrong. I am passionate in my cause,but I am right. Therein lies the difference. We will NOT let the Power Company and the wealthy land developers get a foothold in this. If we give them 3 lakes instead of 11,they will be back next year for 3 more,and then 3 more----.We will stop it Thursday or go down in flames trying :mad:

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Robert, GOOD LUCK.....Russ

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

You know this kind of stuff really bothers me.

I know the main issue is the power company tring to ram a bill through legislation, so that they can make a wad of money. It's just you always see this safety, noise, or dangerous thing brough up about LARGE boats. It always by older people.

It always seems to be that the older people complaine about things like LOUD boats, and LOAD cars. They want to have their quite spot on the lake. The thing is these are the same people who were out in LOAD cars and LOAD boats when they were younger. They seem to forget that they did the same things when they were younger.

Example for ya. An ex boss of mine used to have a 32' Powerplay. He had blow motors in it. He was the biggest partier out there. Had to have the fastest louadest boat on the water. You had to hear his stereo all the way through the marina when he had it on.

Now he has a large cruiser. He now complaines about people that do the exact same thing he did 10 years ago.

Seems to me that these older folks always want it their way, and piss on everyone else.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

You would think that people living on a lake would expect to hear some racket out on a lake or body of water. Most people use the water for a variety of water sports---and I would think noise would be expected. The way they write laws these days....and the amount they write....heck, we're all going to be outlaws soon! I can't believe this petty stuff. I love America, but it sure is quickly becoming something different than what I am used to knowing---and most of it isn't any good. Just my .02

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Latest development is NO public hearings will be allowed,the Power Co saw to that. I worked on my speech all weekend ,planned to take off and drive down, but pointless now. It is currently down to a showdown on the Senate floor between Alabama Power Company and a couple of wealthy real estate developers vs 4 State Senators that cannot be bought.Can we win this? Who knows,but we will not go down without a fight. This has become a major public relations nitemare for the power company,but they cannot back down at this point. Gonna fight the good fight Tues,Wed,and Thurs. Wish us luck.

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Politicians don't care. It's all about money, votes and more money. :( The local Politicians decided that the Hammond Marina would close for a year so they could build a Mega sized river boat in our Marina. All the decisions were made behind closed doors. The Marina boaters found out when a local news paper printed the story. 900 of us slip holders were told to get out by October 1st 2006. The Marina thinks it will be back open for the 2008 season. :mad:
Dan

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Magicfloat,
We're with you man! Kick their Asses!
Keep us posted.
Steve

Re: Alabama Boat Ban Bill
 

Good luck. I hope the Senators do the right thing.
Dan