Boating Laws

docofthebay

docofthebay

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Sep 10, 2009
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Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay Alabama
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My wife is running for AL State House of Representatives and is favored to win at this point. As she will hopefully be in a position soon to influence and improve many aspects of law and life, I was wondering what she could do to help boaters and the boating industry. Therefore, the reason for this thread;
If you were in a position to create, delete or modify any laws and regulations relating to your boating experience or the boating industry, what would you do?

FYI: Just to answer your next question, she is a conservative Republican. Check out her website at www.aprilweaver.com or visit her on face book at "elect April Weaver for Alabama House of Representatives".
Website is minimal at this point, will have a really cool one up in a week.
 
I'm afraid most of my thoughts would trend conservative Libertarian. Quit adding new laws. Cut out old ones. Absolutely crucify people who, through their actions or negligence, injure someone else or damage property, but otherwise get off the lake. As a former judge, and for several years the attorney for a number of marinas in NW Georgia, I saw a stunning number of revenue tickets written under the guise of "safety"...the hypocrisy was nuts.

If you felt like you had to do SOMETHING...then give a $20/year break on boat registrations to owners who provide a completion certificate from the Coast Guard Auxillary boating or PWC safety course.
 
"I saw a stunning number of revenue tickets written under the guise of "safety"...the hypocrisy was nuts."

I agree with this one. One of my big beefs is the plethora of laws for "safety" that really are just new avenues for revenue for the local governments.
 
  • $29.50 to take the on-line boater course.....eliminate the tag and make it free.
  • I agree with jedi, if you take the course, the a price cut on registration.
  • Towing without a OW permit up to 11 feet wide. Night towing??
 
JediJD said:
I'm afraid most of my thoughts would trend conservative Libertarian. Quit adding new laws. Cut out old ones. Absolutely crucify people who, through their actions or negligence, injure someone else or damage property, but otherwise get off the lake. As a former judge, and for several years the attorney for a number of marinas in NW Georgia, I saw a stunning number of revenue tickets written under the guise of "safety"...the hypocrisy was nuts.

If you felt like you had to do SOMETHING...then give a $20/year break on boat registrations to owners who provide a completion certificate from the Coast Guard Auxillary boating or PWC safety course.
Click to expand...

I agree with the premise but when I hear it I wonder what the individual has in mind. It seems the interpretation of negligence and responsibility is becoming warped. It's as if every situation must have a mandatory victim and regardless of his own actions someone else has to be at least partially to blame.
 
Woody said:
I agree with the premise but when I hear it I wonder what the individual has in mind. It seems the interpretation of negligence and responsibility is becoming warped. It's as if every situation must have a mandatory victim and regardless of his own actions someone else has to be at least partially to blame.
Click to expand...


Woody, that is completely fair. My personal vision is that men (and women) of fair mind act responsibility and accept the consequences of their actions or failures to act...or allow their insurance companies to do so for them. If they choose not to do so, I hope the first avenue is small claims/mediation/arbitration or some other quasi judicial resolution. If that fails, court is available as a last resort.
 
JediJD said:
Woody, that is completely fair. My personal vision is that men (and women) of fair mind act responsibility and accept the consequences of their actions or failures to act...or allow their insurance companies to do so for them. If they choose not to do so, I hope the first avenue is small claims/mediation/arbitration or some other quasi judicial resolution. If that fails, court is available as a last resort.
Click to expand...

yeah what he said.
 
Ditto on " then give a $20/year break on boat registrations to owners who provide a completion certificate from the Coast Guard Auxillary boating or PWC safety course"
 
Uh... But this discussion is about a likely future state representative asking boaters (albeit indirecty through her husband) about their opinion on what type of regulations to have or not have? This is the kind of political discussion that we NEED on here. If one state does something that works, others may follow. Give the man any good ideas that you may have. They may boomerang back at you some day.

Eliminate all road and highway taxes from marina gasoline. We're not using the roads so our boating should not be subsidizing them.

Increase the fines, and make it a manditory weekend in jail for having any child under 12 on the deck of a moving boat without a life jacket. And make sure that "moving" gets defined as something above 10 or 15 MPH. I'm not bothered by kids on the boats without them in a no wake zone, tooling around the marina, or up a quiet river somewhere. The ones that bother me are the ones cruising on plane with little kids with no life jackets running around on deck. I saw 1 kid fall overboard from a cruiser on plane. I didn't see what caused it, but I saw the splash behind the boat. I was close enough to see that it was a 6-8 year old kid when they pullled him back on board. I heard about a different one from a buddy a couple of weeks later. Maybe it shouldn't be required on a 40 footer, but it definitely should be 20 and mid 20 footers.
 
I for one would like to see all laws and reg. put in place as a result of global warming be re-evaluated. The economy as well as personal rights have been degraded as a result of this mother of all scams. Modification or out right repeal of many of these laws and regs. should be a high priority..
 
Damn Scott, you just gave me a brilliant idea. We should hire the illegal aliens to go drill for oil in Mexico.

Kill 2 birds with one stone.

Hmmm... If an American company is paying Pedro under the table to work in Mexico, would he still be an illegal alien here?
 
Two Peas said:
What's with your current Governor and his anti-casino rampage?

Seems like in a terrible jobs-market, he's causing the layoffs of thousands of workers...

For those out of the know, check out: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-04-gambling_N.htm
Click to expand...


This issue is way too deep to debate here but.......

Riley (The Governor) is between a rock & a hard place. The Alabama Constitution basically says no lottery, no gambling. The water gets brackish when you factor in local bingo parlors that pay huge tax bills & support local charities. The water becomes downright thick when electronic bingo machines (slot machines that look like you are playing bingo)arrived on the scene. Owners of these machines are not obligated to report income or jackpot payouts........I'll stop there. Its a freakin mess.

Oh yeah, just today the former Mayor of Birmingham was sentenced to 15 years in Federal Prison. His trial, a couple of months ago ended with the jury deliberating less than 1 hour for a 60 count charge. There could be a second trial for all the money he & his casino buddy's laundered. Lankford (the X-Mayor) "Won" more money than any other patron in the history of the casino.......I'll stop here for sure.
 
Some other topics for her to mull over in her freshman year:

- Please dont reclaim land (i.e. give it back to the tree-huggers), already in use for marina's, fueling etc. Florida has had issues with this and there is a lack of slips now in places, causing prices to go up.

- Please insure all discharge laws apply appropriately. i.e. large container ships should be treated differently than the recreational boater.

- This topic is controversial - Please dont legislate mandatory licensing for boaters. Yes, there are A-holes everywhere, but you cant legislate common sense. Give incentives for safety courses and enforce the laws you ALREADY have on the books.

I'll think of more later when i get another cup of coffee.....

-
 
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