Tour Permits

[Beavah]

Yah, Scouterclaude, I think where you're gettin' hung up is this...

 

The G2SS is not "the law." Yeh can't think of it that way. It's a compilation of safety stuff pulled from a bunch of different sources and written by office folks. It's meant, both bold and regular type, to be a guide to help yeh do things well for your kids. It doesn't affect insurance coverage directly or anything else.

 

Your local council has complete discretion on when and whether to accept a local tour permit application within its service area. Increasingly councils are only accepting/requiring tour permits for travel outside of the district/council service area. You should follow the direction that your council gives you. In some councils near da U.S./Canadian border, local tour permits will be accepted for travel into Canada as well, even though G2SS specifies those should be National Tour Permits. Just a practical exception to keep da regional office sane.

 

Only the law is the law, eh? All da rest is documents to help yeh run a great youth program.

 

Beavah

 

[Beavah]

Once out of pocket expenses were submitted to the insurance company, it was brought to the District committee's attention that oops -- the unit's insurance was null because the boy in the accident was the boy left off the permit.

 

Yah, you've been da victim of a rumor, jhankins. First off, you're talkin' about accident insurance not liability insurance, eh? Accident insurance is an optional purchase by the unit in some councils; in other councils it's provided by the council or required at recharter.

 

I suspect that the story originates from a unit that had not purchased the optional coverage.

 

A district committee has nothing to do with determining insurance coverage. That stuff is handled by da professional staff in your council office.

 

Beavah

 

[Phibbles]

My council requires a Tour Permit for all trips out-of-town. Pack or Den outing, all the same. If it is out of town a permit is required.

[jhankins]

I didn't say the committee was involved, we were *informed* of what occurred since it happened in our district, and we were to help develop measures and training so it wouldn't happen again. It's not a rumor, it's a very real situation. The G2SS and its adherence is a very real part of keeping membership fees low, optional insurance fees low (and what a price reduction we got this year because of it!), and training goes a long way to support that.

 

Optional insurance is no longer optional in our council. Have you seen the new tour permit form? It's a strong suggestion for optional coverage and because of this incident (and another, thanks to the unit not reading the G2SS), it's now mandatory in our council.

 

 

[Beavah]

because of this incident (and another, thanks to the unit not reading the G2SS), it's now mandatory in our council.

 

Yah, thanks for da clarification, jhankins. That's what I suspected. The unit did not have accident insurance in place. If yeh don't pay for insurance, yeh don't have insurance. Has nothing to do with G2SS or tour permits.

 

Personally, I'm one of da fellows that sorta disagrees with making the HSR accident coverage mandatory. At some point, I reckon people should make their own choices with respect to insurance, eh? If folks have decided to have higher deductibles for health coverage in general, why should they expect that their deductible will be paid for an accident while they're camping when it wouldn't be paid for an accident while they were playin' in the yard? Da CO was nice and charity-minded to do it in this case, but they were under no obligation.

 

Of course, from an overall perspective, it's cheap coverage (in more ways than one). It gets our uninsured lads through a simple ER visit, and it avoids a lot of ill will and angst from some parents who don't get that whole personal responsibility thing. If that's worth it to da units in your council, that's great.

 

Beavah

(This message has been edited by Beavah)

[Jeffrey H]

Scoutclaude,

 

I agree with you. When in doubt, fill out a tour permit. You can never be punished by your council for filling out too many. At the Cub Scout level, we always filled one out whenever the Pack went on a campout or the Webelos went on a campout. We did not fill one out if our Den was going on in-town "day trip". Again, if any doubt, fill one out.

 

Tour permits are easy to fill out and don't get frustrated if you can't fill out every last detail on the form. Just turn it in or mail it in and be done with it. Our Troop is concientious about vehicle information, but we have had several instances where an extra vehicle was needed for the campout and that information never made it on the Tour Permit because it was already turned in to the Council. A good rule of thumb here is to put all available vehicle information on the form because changes can occur at the last minute.

 

If you are late turning it in, don't worry, at least your Council has a record your outing or campout. Our Troop has never cancelled a campout because we were still waiting to obtain "approval" from the Council.

 

Permit or No Permit, BSA insurance will cover all registered Scouts and Scouters. You may get your hand slapped for not filing a Tour Permit, but that will not prevent BSA insurance coverage. Some may argure with me on this point, but that is the counsel I received from my Council and District Executive.