Sitting on your hands during regulatory development is counter-productive.
The entire maritime industry complains, with justification, about the high number of rules and regulations by governmental agencies, particularly the US Coast Guard. These regulations require the purchase of new equipment, modification of existing ships, training of personnel, recordkeeping, and/or reporting. Two important steps are generally overlooked in these complaints. First, the agencies seldom initiate new rulemakings on their own. Most rulemaking projects derive from statutes adopted by Congress. Legislation is rarely enacted overnight. In most instances, a bill is introduced. It is then referred to one or more committees for consideration, which often includes an open hearing. Comments on received and considered. The committee then reports out the bill and sends it to the full House or Senate for consideration. If the bill is approved by one body, it is sent for consideration by the other body, where the process is repeated. Only when both bodies have adopted the same measure, using the same language, is the bill forwarded to the President for signing (or veto). Once signed, the bill becomes the law of the land and the federal agency begins the process of implementation. Assuming that the bill needs regulations in order to be implemented, the second step in the process begins with the agency opening a rulemaking project, which includes notice and comment. The agency publishes in the Federal Register its proposal on how to implement the new legislation and provides a period of time within which to submit written comments. Also, there are often public meetings to give stakeholders an opportunity to state their positions verbally. At each step in the process, stakeholders (including members of the regulated community) are afforded an opportunity to participate. One way to meaningfully participate is to advise Congress and/or the agency of unintended consequences, where in solving one problem, the proposal creates another. Stakeholders who are seriously concerned about the well-being of the maritime industry must be willing to participate in the process of considering and adopting statutes and regulations. It is counter-productive and inefficient to complain, for the first time, about a regulation that has spent years in the legislative and rulemaking process. Pay attention to what your government is planning and developing. Submit meaningful comments. You will be heard.