Florida Senate - 2019 CS for CS for SB 1666 By the CommitteeCommittees on EnvironmentCommunity andAffairs; Natural Resources;
and SenatorEnvironment Floresand 592-03515-19Natural 20191666c1Resources; A bill to be entitled An act relating to vessels;
and Senator Flores 578-03798-19 20191666c2 A bill to be entitled An act relating to vessels;
requiringrevising all persons, rather than only persons born after a specified date, to have a specified boating safety identification cardrequirements infor their possession before operating certain vessels;persons;
requiring any person who rents and operates certain vessels to have certain photographic and safety identification in his or her possession before operating the vessel;
authorizing the commission to appoint certain persons to issue temporary certificates;
authorizing the commission to issue boating safety identification cards tor temporary certificates in digital or electronic formats;
authorizing the commission to appoint agents to administer and charge fees for the boating safety education course or temporary certificate examination;
directing the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to conduct, contingent upon appropriation, a specified study of the impacts of long-term stored vessels and certain anchored and moored vessels on local communities and the state and to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature within a specified time;timeframe;
providing for expiration of the study;study requirements;
definingproviding therequirements termfor “atdischarge sea”;in specified areas outside the no-discharge zones;
specifying the fines for suchviolations violations;related to no-discharge zones;
conformingauthorizing provisionsthe commission to changesuse madecertain byfunds theto act;remove, or to pay private contractors to remove, derelict vessels;
2739 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
2941 Section 1. Subsection1. Section (1) of section 327.395, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
327.395 Boating safety education identification cards.— (1) A person born on or after January 1, 1988, may not operate a vessel powered by a motor of 10 horsepower or greatergreater, including the electric equivalent of 10 horsepower or greater, and a person of any age may not rent and operate such a vessel, unless such person has in his or her possession aboard the vessel photographic identification and a boating boater safety identification card issued by the commission, or a state-issued identification card or driver license indicating possession of the boating boater safety identification card, or photographic identification and a temporary certificate issued or approved by the commission, which shows that he or she has:
(a) Completed a commission-approved boating safety boater education course that meets the minimum requirements 8-hour instruction requirement established by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators;
or (b) Passed a course equivalency examination approved by the commission;
Section(2)(a) A 2. SubsectionAny (6)person ismay addedobtain toa boating boater safety identification card by successfully completing a boating safety education course that meets complying with the requirements of this section 327.4109,and Floridarules Statutes,adopted by the commission pursuant to read:this section.
(b) A person may obtain a temporary certificate by passing a temporary certificate examination that meets the requirements of this section and rules adopted by the commission pursuant to this section.
(3) Any commission-approved boating boater education or boater safety education course, course-equivalency examination developed or approved by the commission, or temporary certificate examination developed or approved by the commission must include a component regarding diving vessels, awareness of divers in the water, divers-down warning devices, and the requirements of s.
327.331.
(4) The commission may appoint liveries, marinas, or other persons as its agents to administer the course, course equivalency examination, or temporary certificate examination and issue identification cards or temporary certificates in digital, electronic, or paper format under guidelines established by the commission.
An agent must charge the $2 examination fee, which must be forwarded to the commission with proof of passage of the examination and may charge and keep a $1 service fee.
(5) A boating safety An identification card issued to a person who has completed a boating safety education course or a course equivalency examination is valid for life.
A temporary certificate card issued to a person who has passed a temporary certification examination is valid for 90 days after 12 months from the date of issuance.
The commission may issue either the boating safety identification card or the temporary certificate in a digital, electronic, or paper format.
(6) A person is exempt from subsection (1) if he or she:
(a) Is licensed by the United States Coast Guard to serve as master of a vessel.
(b) Operates a vessel only on a private lake or pond.
(c) Is accompanied in the vessel by a person who is exempt from this section or who holds a boating safety an identification card in compliance with this section, who is 18 years of age or older, and who is attendant to the operation of the vessel and responsible for the safe operation of the vessel and for any violation that occurs during the operation of the vessel.
(d) Is a nonresident who has in his or her possession photographic identification and proof that he or she has completed a boating safety boater education course or equivalency examination in another state or a United States territory which meets or exceeds the minimum requirements established by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators of subsection (1).
(e) Is operating a vessel within 90 days after the purchase of that vessel and has available for inspection aboard that vessel a bill of sale meeting the requirements of s.
328.46(1).
(f) Is operating a vessel within 90 days after completing the requirements of paragraph (1)(a) or paragraph (1)(b) and has a photographic identification card and a boating safety boater education certificate available for inspection as proof of having completed a boating safety boater education course.
The boating safety boater education certificate must provide, at a minimum, the student’s first and last name, the student’s date of birth, and the date that he or she passed the course examination.
(g) Is exempted by rule of the commission.
(7) A person who operates a vessel in violation of subsection (1) commits a noncriminal infraction, punishable as provided in s.
327.73.
(8) The commission shall design forms and adopt rules to administer this section.
Such rules shall include provision for educational and other public and private entities to offer the course and administer examinations.
(8)(9) The commission shall institute and coordinate a statewide program of boating safety instruction and certification to ensure that boating safety courses and examinations are available in each county of the state.
The commission may appoint agents to administer the boating safety education course or temporary certificate examination and may authorize the agents to issue temporary certificates in digital, electronic, or paper format.
The agents shall charge and collect the $2 fee required in subsection (9) for each temporary certificate, which must be forwarded to the commission.
The agent may charge and keep a $1 service fee.
(9)(10) The commission is authorized to establish and to collect a $2 examination fee for each card and certificate issued pursuant to this section to cover administrative costs.
(10)(11) The commission shall design forms and is authorized to adopt rules pursuant to chapter 120 to implement the provisions of this section.
(11)(12) This section may be cited as the “Osmany ‘Ozzie’ Castellanos Boating Safety Education Act.” Section 2. Subsection (6) is added to section 327.4109, Florida Statutes, to read:
limitations.— (4) (c) A county designated as a rural area of opportunity may create a no-discharge zone for freshwater waterbodies within the county’s jurisdiction into whichprohibit treated and untreated sewage discharges from live-aboardfloating vessels,structures houseboats,not floatingcapable structures,of andbeing commercialused vesselsas area prohibited.means of transportation, live-aboard vessels, and houseboats.
Within nono-discharge discharge zone boundaries, vessel operators of such floating structures, live-aboard vessels, and houseboats shall retain their sewage on boardshore for discharge at seaa pumpout facility or on shoreboard atfor adischarge pumpoutmore facility.than 3 miles off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean or more than 10 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
For the purposes of this section, the term “at sea” means more than 3 miles off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean or more than 10 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
117222 Any person cited for a violation of any provision of this subsection shall be deemed to be charged with a noncriminal infraction, shall be cited for such an infraction, and shall be cited to appear before the county court.
137242 If the person cited follows either of the above procedures, he or she shall be deemed to have admitted the noncriminal infraction and to have waived the right to a hearing on the issue of commission of the infraction.
(c) From the vessel registration fees designated for use by the counties in subsection (1), the following amounts shall be remitted to the state for deposit into the Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund to fund derelict vessel removal grantsgrants, as appropriated by the legislature pursuant to s.
(d) Any undisbursed balances identified pursuant to s.
216.301, shall be available for reappropriation to fund the Florida Boating Improvement Program or public boating access in accordance with s.
206.06.
In a given fiscal year, if all funds appropriated pursuant to this paragraph are not requested by and granted to local governments for the removal of derelict vessels by the end of the third quarter, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission may use the remainder of the funds to remove, or to pay private contractors to remove, derelict vessels.
penalty.— (6) If an owner or a responsible party of a vessel determined to be derelict through an administrative or criminal proceeding has been charged by an officer of the commission or any law enforcement agency or officer as definedspecified in s.
823.11(1)327.70 hasunder beensubsection charged(5) byfor ana officerviolation of thesubsection commission(2) or anya lawviolation enforcementof agency or officer as specified in s.
327.70 and adjudicated under subsection (5) for a violation of subsection (2) or a violation of s.