2007 Policy Agenda

Outdoor Industry Association’s government affairs team works to ensure the health of outdoor industry businesses through our work in the legislative and policy development process.

OIA’s policy work focuses on two main areas: Recreation and Trade policy.

Recreation

OIA works to ensure that there are quality recreation experiences on public lands. One-third of all of America’s lands are managed by the federal government, so the continuous voice of recreation at the national level is essential. In tandem, OIA works to increase access to close-to-home recreation opportunities. When there are parks, greenways, playgrounds and trail systems within reach of their homes, people exercise more.

In 2007, OIA’s Recreation program will:

• Protect and Expand Outdoor Recreation Destinations including:
  • Pursuing increased investment in close-to-home recreation programs such as the Stateside Land and Water Conservation Program, federal trails funding and funding for recreation lands management by the Department of Interior and Forest Service. OIA will work to secure $125 million in funding for stateside LWCF and $220 million for federal LWCF in the FY 2008 budget.
  • Achieve passage of a National Park Service Centennial Challenge budget containing significant increases in funding for park maintenance and recreation resources.
• Educate the new Congress, the media, federal agencies and related groups on the economic contribution of active outdoor recreation to the national economy and individual state economies. Increased investment in public lands and recreation infrastructure is essential to the continued growth of the outdoor recreation economy. 

Trade

The Outdoor Industry produces some of the most innovative products in the world. Our merchandise reaches all corners of the globe and enriches people’s lives by supporting healthy and active lifestyles through outdoor recreation. Open, equitable and predictable trade is essential for our industry’s continued innovation and growth. Predictable trade policy results lower costs to consumers and ensures continued product innovations.

In 2007, OIA’s Trade program will:

• Ensure fair and proper treatment of the outdoor industry’s innovative products as they are imported into the United States
• Work with the appropriate federal agencies to establish a delineation of specialized, innovative performance apparel and performance footwear from mass consumer goods.
• Work with Congress to achieve custom tariff line breakouts specifically for performance apparel, performance footwear and certain outdoor equipment within the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
• Continue work to eliminate duties, quotas and other restrictive trade barriers on the import of specialty outdoor products.
• Protect the specialty outdoor industry against adverse trade actions.

 
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