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Florida Statutes
327.395
Effective Date October 1, 1996
Updated 2002.
OVERVIEW
Anyone 21 years of age or younger,
is required to either have successfully
completed a National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA)
approved boating education course or have passed a course equivalency or
temporary certificate examination and have in their possession a boating
education ID card and a photo identification card before operating a vessel
with a motor of 10 HP or more in Florida. Identification cards for persons
completing the course or the equivalency exam are good for a life time.
Temporary Certificate exams are made available to the public through
contractors. The temporary certificate is valid for a period of 12 months
from the issue date.
The law does provide for some exemptions to the boating education
requirements. The following are exempted from the requirements of boater
education:
- Persons licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard
as a master of a vessel.
- Persons operating on a private lake or
pond.
- Persons accompanied in a vessel by a
person exempt.
- Persons who are nonresident and have proof
of completion of a NASBLA approved course from another state and are
visiting the state for 60 days or less in an out-of-state boat.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) must ensure that boating education courses and examinations
are available in each county of the state. To supplement the many courses
offered by the U.S. Coast
Guard Auxiliary and the
U.S. Power Squadrons, and the many National Association of State Boating
Law Administrators (NASBLA), the FWC will be expanding its use of the "How
to Boat Smart" correspondence course. This course has a test in the back of
the book which can be completed and returned to the FWC to be graded and
scored. The test requires a 80% passing score. A boater safety
identification card will be issued to those successfully completing the
course. People who have completed a NASBLA approved course and wish to
receive a boater safety identification card may mail a copy of their NASBLA
approved certification of successful completion to the Boating Safety
Section at:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Division of Law Enforcement
Boating Safety Section
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600
Coast Guard Auxiliary and Power Squadron course instructors can mail in a
certified list of those people successfully completing their course to this
same address to have boater safety cards issued to their students. Cards are
processed at no cost by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission.
Vessel Liveries:
Persons affected by F.S.
327.395 must present a valid boating safety identification card to a
livery when renting a vessel with 10 HP or more. Liveries must also provide
pre-ride boating safety instruction and display boating safety information
to all persons renting vessels.
Mandatory Education for Violaters: F.S. 327.731
Every person convicted of a criminal violation of this chapter, a
non-criminal infraction of this chapter if the infraction resulted in a
reportable boating accident, and every person convicted of two non-criminal
boating safety infractions occurring within a 12 month period must enroll
in, attend, and successfully complete a boating safety course that meets
minimum standards established by the commission. However, the non safety
related infractions were removed from the requirements for mandatory
education. Such violations as numbering, decals, operating without a
registration, regattas & races, and marine sanitation were eliminated from
the violations that will require mandatory education. The bill also exempts
those people who already completed a NASBLA approved course from taking a
mandatory education for violators course.
Another provision of the law provides that all civil penalties collected for
boating violations are to be deposited into the Marine Resources
Conservation Trust Fund to be used for boating safety education purposes.
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