Federal Legislation 2001
Link to 2002 Legislation
With a new President and a close balance of power in the Senate we expect to see a lot of new legislation moving forward in 2001 that will significantly affect water quality, conservation, river recreation, and the boating community. Thus far we have not been disappointed, and there have been few outright surprises.| LEGISLATION | EFFECT ON RIVERS | CONTACTS | MORE INFO |
|---|---|---|---|
| USGS Streamgaging | In April 2001, President Bush suggested a 40% cut in USGS funding. This would be a severe blow to river recreation (fishing, kayaking, rafting, swimming, & wading), flood control, and river management. |
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Bush Budget USGS Background |
| Recreation Insurance | New proposals state that an employer cannot refuse health-care coverage to an employee based on participation in recreational activities, yet these same proposals permit health insurers to deny coverage for injuries sustained in connection with recreational activities, effectively reaching the same result. | Congressman Mark Green (R-WI, 8th) | HIPAA pdf document, see page 1399. |
| Farm Bill | The EPA estimates that 40% of the nation's waterways are too polluted to allow fishing, drinking, or swimming. Agriculture is one of the leading sources of polluted runoff. But, with sufficient incentives and support for expenses, farmers can significantly improve water quality by: changing how and when they plow and apply fertilizer, planting winter cover crops, diversifying rotations, and by restoring wetlands and streamside buffers. | Senator Mikulksi | Environmental Defense |
| Rivers Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) | RTCA yields enormous conservation benefits nationwide by building partnerships between federal and local interests to revitalize communities and improve quality of life. Last year, the committee increased NPS Natural Programs by $1,212,000, providing $212,000 to cover fixed costs, $500,000 for RTCA, and $500,000 for projects involving assistance with hydropower relicensing. Even with these increases, RTCA still receives less than 1/2 of 1% of the total funding for the Park Service. |
Chairman Joe Skeen, Ranking Member Norm Dicks |
Trout Unlimited |
| Recreation Budgets | In March 2001, American Whitewater and 12 other national conservation-oriented recreation organizations submitted our recommendations to Congress for a Recreation and Conservation Funding Budget for FY 2002. |
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ORCA |
RECREATION INSURANCE & HIPAA
American Whitewater sent the following comments on April 9, 2001. The HIPAA legislation was passed in 1996; however the government has taken 5 years drafting guidelines for insurers to follow under the legislation. The new guidelines appear to conflict directly with the anti-discrimation elements of the legislation.
Congressman Mark Green and nearly 50 other House members suggested the following modification to the proposed rule, which would address American Whitewater's concerns:
"(iii) Specific rule relating to source-of-injury exclusions - (A) If a group health plan generally provides for a type of injury, the plan may not deny benefits otherwise provided for treatment of the injuryif the injury resulted from an act of domestic violence or a medical condition (including both physical and mental) or participation in legal recreational activities such as motorcycling, snowmobiling, all-terrain vehicle riding, horseback riding, skiing, or other similar activities."
The Honorable Tommy Thompson
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
CC:M&SP:RU (REG-109707-97)
Room 5226
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 7604
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, DC 20044
U.S. Department of Labor
Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration
200 Constitution Avenue, NW
Room C-5331 - Attention: Nondiscrimination Comments
Washington, DC 20210
Health Care Financing Administration
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: HCFA-2022-IFC
P.O. Box 26688
Baltimore, MD 21207
Dear Secretary Thompson,
I am writing on behalf of American Whitewater in opposition to the non-discrimination regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) proposed by your agency in January 2001.
American Whitewater is a national non-profit organization with a membership of over 8,500 individual whitewater boating enthusiasts and more than 165 local canoe club affiliates, representing an additional 80,000 whitewater paddlers. American Whitewater was organized in 1957 to protect and enhance the recreational enjoyment of whitewater sports in America. Our mission is to conserve America's whitewater resources and enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely. Like millions of other Americans, our members enjoy outdoor activities. Our members include whitewater kayakers, canoers, and rafters, who also enjoy healthy and invigorating sports like hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and horseback riding.
It is our understanding that the new proposals state that an employer cannot refuse health-care coverage to an employee based on participation in recreational activities, yet permit health insurers to deny coverage for injuries sustained in connection with such recreational activities, effectively reaching the same result.
If recreationists are unable to purchase health insurance that protects them as they participate in legal recreational activities, it will affect participation. Reduced participation will have significant impacts on the economy and public health. It is difficult to believe that the Federal Government would consider, let alone propose, such a radically misguided regulation. In fact, this suggestion to allow insurance providers to limit coverage to recreationists is simply absurd.
These rules will affect more than just athletes. Your proposed legislation endangers the burgeoning industry of outdoor adventure programming. This industry involves millions of people as participants, program directors, leaders, trainers, and small business owners, as well as manufacturers and suppliers of clothing and equipment. For this multi-billion dollar industry to remain viable, and for the millions of participants to continue to receive safe instruction, it is necessary for instructors and participants to have medical coverage, while participating in legal recreation. The rules your agency proposes will adversely affect this entire industry.
American Whitewater supports the original Congressional intent of the bill, as described in an April 2001 letter to your offices by Assistant House Majority Whip Mike Green (R-WI, 8th). Congressman Green describes how one intent of the HIPAA legislation is to protect individuals participating in outdoor adventure sports from being discriminated against and denied health insurance coverage simply because they are participating in a legal recreational activity. The proposed regulations deny this protection and fly in the face of the legislation's authors.
American Whitewater strongly urges you to change the proposed rules in order to ensure medical coverage and benefits for injuries that may occur while engaging in legal recreational activities and exercise.
Please add American Whitewater to your mailing list for future correspondence regarding recreation and insurance protection. American Whitewater also requests a copy of the final regulations.
Sincerely,
{SIGNED April 9, 2001}
Jason Robertson
Access Director
American Whitewater
FARM BILL
Revitalize Conservation Programs and Farm Communities in the Next Farm Bill
American Whitewater signed on to this letter along with over 20 national conservation organizations on April 2, 2001.
Americans have a great deal at stake in the next Farm Bill.
No activity is as important to the nation's landscape and environment as agriculture. Private crop, pasture, and rangelands account for 50% of the land, and private forests another 20%, of the lower 48 states. Farms account for 80% of our consumptive water use. Farmers can provide not only food and fiber, but also clean water, habitat for native wildlife, and other conservation benefits. Farmers can also help reduce the threat of climate change and serve as the frontline against sprawling development.As much as $100 billion could be at stake.Widely dispersed family farms and ranches promote related businesses and provide the economic and social backbone of many rural economies. If helped to thrive, farms and ranches can help secure the health and vitality of rural communities.
Farming practices can also help improve public health. Many practices can greatly reduce human exposure to bacteria and pesticides.
The next Farm bill, scheduled for 2002, can provide the funds to help farmers achieve these goals for the environment, farm communities, and public health.
Annual direct payments to farmers have skyrocketed from less than $10 billion in the early 1990s to a record $32 billion in 2000. Through this period, annual conservation spending held constant at less than $2 billion, a decline from 20% to 6% of spending. Without fundamental changes, the next Farm Bill will likely average $20 billion a year for traditional farm commodity programs over the next five or more years. But traditional agriculture programs at best modestly advance, and to a significant extent undermine, efforts to help family farmers, the environment, and public health.Challenges and Opportunities for Farmers and Farm Communities:Some members of Congress want to enact a new Farm Bill this year that includes only "commodity" crop programs. That would leave out conservation, forestry, research, and rural economic development programs, as well as the full range of other traditional farm bill programs including food stamps and nutrition.
A new Farm Bill should move comprehensively. Without a new, broader approach, farm spending will not help most farmers, consumers and the environment. A new Farm Bill should focus $11.8 billion per year on conservation programs and stewardship incentives, as well as programs for research, marketing, and rural economic development programs that support independent and resource-conserving farms.
Challenges and Opportunities for Public Health and the Environment: Farmers, ranchers, and private foresters can and want to take practical steps to enhance water supplies, wildlife habitat, and long-term soil productivity. However, according to USDA, roughly three out of four who seek assistance for most conservation programs are turned away because of lack of funds. A reoriented Farm Bill can help meet a broad array of challenges:
Water Quality: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 40% of the nation's assessed rivers and lakes are too polluted to allow fishing, drinking, or swimming, and agriculture is one of the leading sources of polluted runoff. But with sufficient incentives and support for expenses, farmers can significantly improve water quality by changing how and when they plow and apply fertilizer, by planting winter cover crops, by diversifying rotations, and by restoring wetlands and streamside buffers.Sprawl: Farmers and ranchers serve as the frontline against sprawling development, but according to the USDA, more than 2 million acres of rural land continue to be converted to urban uses every year. Federal funds to purchase easements can insure these lands remain in agriculture.
Safe Food: Although America's food supply is considered one of the safest in the world, large numbers of Americans still become sick each year from contaminated food, in part from bacteria found in animals. Excessive or misused pesticides still threaten worker and consumer health, and heavy use of antibiotics in large feedlots for purposes other than treating animal disease contributes to the development of drug-resistant bacteria. With adequate support, federal programs can promote safer livestock practices and help farmers adopt systems that use fewer antibiotics. Programs can greatly reduce pesticide use by encouraging such practices as crop rotations, delayed spraying until pests are observed, and, for some farmers, transition to organic farming.
Native Wildlife and Endangered Species: Most imperiled species rely heavily on private lands. According to the best scientific estimates, the survival of one-third of the nation's imperiled species depends on efforts by farmers and ranchers to preserve and enhance private woodlands, grasslands, and other habitats, conserve water, reduce farm chemicals, and shade and stabilize streams - efforts that need public support.
Enhanced Pasture, Range and Private Forest Lands: Help for farmers to preserve and enhance rangelands and private forests and increase rotational grazing of dairy cows and other livestock can improve water quality and preserve and improve habitat for wildlife.
Reduce Flood Damages: Support for farmers to restore wetlands on frequently flooded fields can reduce flood damages downstream as well as the need for federal disaster aid. According to USDA estimates, its wetland conservation program ("Swampbuster") prevents the loss of another 6 to 13 million acres of wetlands otherwise at risk.
Climate Change: Many of the practices that reduce polluted runoff or enhance wildlife habitat also help sequester carbon, turn methane into energy, reduce nitrous oxide, and otherwise reduce gasses that contribute to global warming. In addition, many of the country's best wind and solar energy resources are located on farmlands, providing farmers an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gases and generate income.
Family farmers and ranchers also face serious economic problems. When federal farm programs began, there were more than six million farms, and today there are fewer than 2 million. While the rate of decline in total farms has slowed in the last decade, the number of farmers able to make a living off their farm continues to decline sharply. Today's farmers face increasingly concentrated and diminished marketing alternatives, and record low prices. Farm policies have exacerbated these declines because they primarily support farmers only to the extent they grow large volumes of a small number of "program crops." Such limited policies have let farmers down in several ways.Farm programs can do more to help farmers and farm communities.They provide no direct support to two-thirds of all farmers.They fail to reward farmers and ranchers who meet environmental challenges through diversified farming systems that can be more sustainable and lighter on the land - including farms that rely on grass for dairy or livestock, farms that produce a diverse array of products, and farm business models that focus on qualities other than volume.
They encourage increased production of a few "program" crops, which shifts lands from pasture to crops that provide less habitat and use more fertilizer and pesticides.
They increase the likelihood of crop surpluses, which drives down prices for all grain and cotton farmers.
They direct the bulk of funds to a small number of large farms, encouraging consolidation of land into fewer hands and failing to help many family farmers and agricultural communities.
They provide little to help a new generation get started in agriculture.
They invest little in research, food production, and marketing systems for "sustainable" farming and fail to address increasing concentration and market access problems.
Stewardship incentives can be shaped to support income, not just defray some of the costs of environmental measures, and can be offered to all kinds of farmers. Programs can help farmers make the transition to new promising markets that reward environmental stewardship, to diversify their production, and to find new marketing opportunities to increase their share of the food dollar.There is an alternative.
Farm Policy Can Work Better for Farmers, Ranchers, Private Foresters, Rural Communities, Public Health, and the Environment. Congress should:Provide stewardship payments to farmers and ranchers who reduce fertilizer and pesticide use, prevent soil erosion, rotate crops, adopt resource-friendly grazing systems, and manage manure more effectively as a resource. Such programs should be structured both to achieve environmental benefits and to support income.Purchase easements to preserve farmland, rangelands, and forests threatened by sprawl.
Create incentives for farmers to enhance and preserve native grasslands, restore wetlands, stream buffers, and other sensitive lands and enhance habitat for native species.
Target farm payments more toward medium-sized and smaller farms and support new farmer programs.
Provide grants to help family farmers and ranchers develop markets and add value for resource-conserving farm techniques and diverse farm products, to retain that value in farming communities, and to take steps to restore competition to the marketplace.
Increase funding for research programs to develop and test new environmentally oriented farming techniques and systems and marketing policies to assist family farmers to meet resource conservation and farm income goals.
Increase the technical assistance needed to deliver programs and respond to farmer needs.
RIVERS, TRAILS, & CONSERVATION ASSISTANCE
American Whitewater helped to write this letter with the following list of national conservation organizations, signed April 2, 2001.
The Honorable Chairman Joe Skeen
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Ranking Member Norm Dicks
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
April 2, 2001
Dear Chairman Skeen and Ranking Member Dicks:
In the House FY 2001 Interior Appropriations Bill, your predecessors provided a small increase in funding for the operating budget of the National Park Service (NPS) Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program. We respectfully request that you recommend another budget increase this year.
This effective program yields enormous conservation benefits nationwide by building partnerships between federal and local interests to revitalize communities and improve quality of life. Last year, the committee increased NPS Natural Programs by $1,212,000, providing $212,000 to cover fixed costs, $500,000 for RTCA, and $500,000 for projects involving assistance with hydropower relicensing. Even with these increases, RTCA still receives less than 1/2 of 1% of the total funding for the Park Service. While we greatly appreciate the increases in FY 2001, we firmly believe that for the program to accomplish its mission of meeting local conservation needs, it must continue to grow.
We believe RTCA is a fine example of good government and truly represents the wave of the future. Assistance from RTCA professionals is only given at the expressed request of a local community, fostering a partnership between the federal government and those requesting help. Furthermore, the RTCA has a special knack for building local partnerships that enrich the projects and attract substantial local funding. In one typical region, RTCA assistance in some 50 projects in the year 2000 attracted a total of $9.1 million dollars from other public and private sources. That means for every dollar spent on RTCA, $7 dollars were invested in projects from other sources, making this program a great value for the American taxpayer.
In 2000, RTCA's field based program participated in over 200 projects around the country, helping to develop more than 2200 miles of trails, protect over 1000 river miles and to preserve more than 270,000 acres of open space. However, America's cities and towns face difficult conservation challenges daily and more and more local communities are requesting technical assistance from the Park Service. As the Federal government seeks to enable communities to take their future into their own hands, it must enlarge those Federal programs that coach communities in much needed technical and institutional skills. By continuing to increase the base funding for Rivers and Trails to $12 million, the committee will ensure that RTCA serves every community that wishes to manage their recreational and natural resources.
We urge you to include an increase of $ 3.9 million for RTCA and $1 million for hydropower recreation assistance in the 2002 Interior Appropriations bill.
USGS Streamgaging
Link to to learn more about what American Whitewater is doing to support and fund the USGS streamgaging network.
RECREATION BUDGETS
American Whitewater is working on making a copy of the conservation-oriented recreation community's proposal for funding human powered recreation in the federal agencies. Please be patient and check back at this site in a couple of weeks for an update.