Boating Safety Financial Assistance

The mission of the National RBS Program is to ensure the public has a safe, secure, and enjoyable recreational boating experience by implementing programs designed to minimize the loss of life, personal injury, and property damage while cooperating with environmental and national security efforts via formula grants to designated state agencies.

Statutory Formula: Title 46, Part 13104,Per 46 U.S.C. �13104 (b): The amount received by a State under this section in a fiscal year may be not more than one-half of the total cost incurred by that State in developing, carrying out, and financing that State�s recreational boating safety program in that fiscal year. All eligible, approved RBS expenditures may count towards the state share (unless those expenditures are already counted towards another federal grant) and should be reported. The total state share must be equal to, and can be greater than, the total federal share, but states are not required to match expenses item-for-item. The Coast Guard may reimburse a state for up to one-half of its total state expenditures pending the availability of federal funds. Once a state receives reimbursement, the funds no longer have a federal identity and can be spent per the state�s discretion.