William Tauzin: “Mr. Chairman, the amendment provides for capping the fees that are assessed for inspecting small vessels at $300 and…”

“Mr. Chairman, the amendment provides for capping the fees that are assessed for inspecting small vessels at $300 and $600, more closely related to the actual cost of inspecting these small vessels, and requiring the Coast Guard instead to assess, whenever the money is required to cap, these fees on the larger foreign cruise ships. The problem is, of course, a budget one. We cannot put a cap on the fees on the low end unless we provide for collection of those same amounts on the high end of the scale. The problem is that there is a tax in this bill. The tax is on the small boat owners. Mr. Chairman, I want to point out two things to you: The first is that under the current fee schedule small boat owners are being ripped apart. In many cases the cost of inspection bears no relationship whatsoever to the time spent by the Coast Guard in inspecting those vessels. Let me illustrate for you. In Louisiana, Mr. and Mrs. Torres operate a small swamp tour boat, 25 feet in length. They take passengers out to look at alligators. The Coast Guard says that they are charging $87 an hour to inspect the vessels. But the Torreses, who went through an inspection that took less than an hour, were billed for $545 of expenses for that inspection under this fee schedule.”