AUGUSTA – Proposed $10 fees on nonmotorized boats appeared to be headed for the legislative rocks on Thursday.
Public criticism of the fees mounted as Democrats sought to make their state budget package more palatable by preparing to scratch the fees on canoes, kayaks, sailboats and row boats used on Maine lakes and tidal waters from the spending plan that is to be voted on next week.
“A lot of people have a canoe, leave it on their property and use it every three years,” Waterville boat dealer Dave Hamlin said in a telephone interview. “Are they going to have to pay it?”
Democratic and Republican lawmakers said they were hearing from constituents opposed to the idea. An editorial in the Sun Journal of Lewiston said the fees, which surfaced without a public hearing, were “another onerous user fee and yearly hassle.”
Supporters of the fees who scheduled a news conference for Thursday abruptly called it off when word circulated that Democrats were no longer supporting the increases.
“I wasn’t willing to go down with a sinking canoe,” said George Smith of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, which planned the news conference with Maine Audubon. “It wasn’t our idea. It wasn’t the best idea but it was justifiable.”
The proposed fees on nonmotorized boats would be waived for boat owners who have fishing licenses. The fees were intended to raise about $2.5 million over a two-year period for the state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Marine Resources departments. Key lawmakers said they had found the money elsewhere.
The amendment seeking to drop the boat fees also seeks to launch a study that considers a range of ways to provide a steady stream of revenue from hunters and nonhunters alike for conservation and wildlife programs.
Rep. Thomas Watson, a Bath Democrat who co-chairs the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, said the study to be completed next year would cover such ideas as Sunday hunting – an idea already dropped this session – landowner relations and “conservation cards.”
The third idea, which is barely in concept form now, could provide a way for hikers, animal watchers and other non-hunters to contribute to state conservation programs.
Democrats on Thursday also sought to scale back big increases Gov. John Baldacci had sought in fines for failing to use seat belts while driving on Maine highways. As proposed by the Democratic governor, fines would have increased from about $60, including surcharges, to $212.
Hoping to solidify support for the state budget, Democrats prepared a proposal to scale the fines to their present level for the first offense, $125 for the second and $250 for the third offense.
The amendment would, as Baldacci proposed, make failure to use a seat belt a primary offense. Currently, police can only cite unbelted motorists who are stopped for another violation.
The proposal to ease up on fines appeared after the Maine Chiefs of Police Association changed its mind on Baldacci’s proposal. Two months ago, the chiefs endorsed the governor’s proposal, but now they say the $212 fine for the first offense is excessive.
Baldacci’s proposed budget anticipated new revenues from increased fines for seat belt and car seat violations.
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