1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	memorializing Congress to effect change in U.S. Coast Guard law relating to fishing 
1.3 	guides.
1.4 	WHEREAS, Minnesota's tourism industry and businesses support licensing and oversight 
1.5 	to ensure public safety on Minnesota's lakes and rivers; and
1.6 	WHEREAS, leisure and hospitality is an $11.2 billion industry in Minnesota that accounts 
1.7 	for 16 percent of Minnesota's state sales tax and provides over 245,000 full-time and part-time 
1.8 	jobs; and
1.9 	WHEREAS, Minnesota has over 500 guides who take anglers on inland navigable waters 
1.10 	and hundreds of resorts and businesses that offer casual boat and pontoon rides to their guests; and
1.11 	WHEREAS, the U.S. Coast Guard's qualifications for licensing of an operator of an 
1.12 	uninspected passenger vessel, also known as the "six-pack" license, was not designed for 
1.13 	most inland lakes or rivers nor for small vessels such as 16- to 20-foot outboard boats; NOW, 
1.14 	THEREFORE,
1.15 	BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the State of Minnesota requests that Congress 
1.16 	speedily enact legislation requiring the U.S. Coast Guard to develop licensing appropriate to 
1.17 	smaller vessels operating on inland waters and to establish interim enforcement that addresses 
1.18 	safety issues without penalizing small vessel operators for issues that do not relate to inland lakes.
1.19 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is 
1.20 	directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United 
1.21 	States, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of 
2.1 	the United States House of Representatives, the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, 
2.2 	and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.