Events

CT passes multiple boating bills

Certification Reciprocity

"Effective January 3, 2007, any person who possesses a Safe Boating or Personal Watercraft Operation Certificate issued by a state having an agreement of reciprocity with the Commissioner of DEP, which states currently include Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, may now present such certificate as evidence to satisfy the educational requirements for issuance of a Connecticut Safe Boating Certificate or Certificate of Personal Watercraft Operation." For information on other aspects of the regulations, click here. (Believe it or not, before this new legislation, if you were not certified in CT, you were not legal in their waters. That's just as friendly as Greenwich not allowing non-residents on their beaches. Imagine if NJ had a special driver's license and no one else could drive through the state without one. Hmmmmmm! Heck of a way to raise money and keep the roads clear, eh?)

As of January 2007, persons under 12 years old can operate a vessel if a Coast Guard licensed captain or person with valid CT boater's safety certificate is aboard. For more information, click here.

As of January 3, 2007 all persons aboard manually propelled vessels must wear a life jacket between October 1 and May 31. That includes canoes, kayaks, and rowboats. For more information, click here.

The following bill, being taken up in the 2007 session proposes to penalize anyone teaching an unapproved boating course. Furthermore, they propose to restrict children under sixteen from operating a vessel without a certificate. (Okay, so how will that work with the new law enacted in January which allows those under 12 to operate a boat under supervision? They don't really mean any boating course do they? Who on earth thinks these things up? That's really friendly to sailors isn't it? So how are kids going to learn anything about how to handle a boat? You are going too far people!)

Raised H.B. No. 7184
Session Year 2007

AN ACT CONCERNING BOATING SAFETY.

To expand the scope of and streamline abandoned vessel statutes, to specify hearing and appeal procedures regarding abandoned vessels, to amend boating statutes to incorporate by reference federal safety, navigational, lighting and equipment requirements, to specify procedures to be followed in cases of boating collisions and accidents, to hold a person in control of a boat or personal watercraft responsible for permitting a person under sixteen years of age to operate a boat or personal watercraft without a safe boating certificate or certificate of personal watercraft operation, to authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to penalize persons teaching unapproved boating courses, to define the term "boat livery" and place certain restrictions on persons who rent and persons who operate rental boats and to update state law to coincide with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements regarding safety controls and warning devices on approaches to dams on the Housatonic River.

For more information, click here.

Posted April 2007.