HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/CS/HB 261 Boating Safety
SPONSOR(S): Infrastructure Strategies Committee, Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations
Subcommittee, Agriculture, Conservation & Resiliency Subcommittee, Botana and Cassel
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: CS/SB 728
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Agriculture, Conservation & Resiliency 16 Y, 1 N, As CS Mamontoff Moore
Subcommittee
2) Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations 14 Y, 0 N, As CS Byrd Pigott
Subcommittee
3) Infrastructure Strategies Committee 21 Y, 0 N, As CS Mamontoff Harrington
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is responsible for regulating, managing, protecting,
and conserving the state’s fish and wildlife resources. FWC is also the agency responsible for regulating
boating safety in the state. This responsibility includes enforcing boating rules and regulations, coordinating
boating safety campaigns and education, managing public water and access to the waters, conducting boating
accident investigations, identifying and removing derelict vessels, and investigating vessel theft and title fraud.
According to an FWC report, in 2021, 751 boating accidents, 469 injuries, and 60 fatalities were reported. In 83
percent of reportable boating accidents vessel operators had no formal boater education.
During the 2022 Regular Session, the Legislature passed CS/SB 606, which created new regulations relating
to boating safety and liveries. The new regulations require liveries to provide pre-rental or pre-ride instructions
and to carry a policy from a licensed insurance carrier that insures both the livery and the renter.
The bill requires FWC to develop and publish on its website an educational pamphlet relating to the importance
of boating safety education and requires a person convicted of a noncriminal boating infraction to undergo
mandatory boating education.
The bill requires a livery to either obtain an insurance policy that insures a renter or present the renter with an
opportunity to purchase certain coverage. The bill also requires a livery to provide hands-on pre-rental and pre-
ride instruction.
The bill revises statutorily designated anchoring limitation areas to designate certain areas within Biscayne Bay
as anchoring limitation areas and specify that anchoring restrictions do not apply within residential docking
facilities, marinas, or existing mooring fields.
The bill may have an indeterminate positive fiscal impact on state government revenue and an indeterminate
negative fiscal impact on FWC.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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 FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Background
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), created by Article IV, section 9, of the Florida
Constitution, is responsible for regulating, managing, protecting, and conserving the state’s fish and
wildlife resources. FWC is governed by a board of seven members who are appointed by the Governor
and confirmed by the Senate.1 Pursuant to its constitutional authority, FWC exercises the regulatory
and executive powers of the state with respect to wild animal life, fresh water aquatic life, and marine
life.
FWC is also the agency responsible for regulating boating safety in the state. Through its Division of
Law Enforcement, FWC manages the state’s waterways to ensure boating safety for residents and
visitors to the state.2 This responsibility includes enforcing boating rules and regulations, coordinating
boating safety campaigns and education, managing public water and access to the waters, conducting
boating accident investigations, identifying and removing derelict vessels, and investigating vessel theft
and title fraud.3
Boating Accidents
In the event of a boating collision, accident, or other casualty, current law imposes a duty on a vessel
operator involved in the incident to give notice of the accident, by the quickest means available, to one
of the following agencies: FWC’s Division of Law Enforcement; the sheriff of the county within which the
accident occurred; or the police chief of the municipality within which the accident occurred.4 According
to an FWC report, in 2021, 751 boating accidents, 469 injuries, and 60 fatalities were reported.5 Most of
these boating accidents (77 percent) occurred on owner-operated vessels rather than livery vessels. In
39 percent of reportable boating accidents, the operator’s age was 51 years old or older. In 27 percent
of reportable accidents, the operator was between the ages of 36 and 50 years old. According to the
report, 83 percent of vessel operators involved in boating accidents had no formal boater education.6
Mandatory Boating Education
Currently, any person who is convicted of a criminal violation under chapter 327, F.S., convicted of a
noncriminal infraction that results in a reportable boating accident, or convicted of two noncriminal
infractions as specified in s. 327.73 (1) (h)-(k), (m), (o), (p), and (s)-(y), F.S., within a 12-month period is
required to:7
 Enroll in, attend, and successfully complete a classroom or online boating safety course that is
approved by and meets the minimum standards established by FWC rule;
 File proof of successful completion of the course with FWC within 90 days;
 Refrain from operating a vessel until he or she has filed proof of successful completion of the
course; and
 Pay a fine of $500.8
1 Article IV, s. 9, FLA. CONST.
2 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Boating, https://myfwc.com/boating/ (last visited Feb. 23, 2023).
3 FWC, Law Enforcement, https://myfwc.com/about/inside-fwc/le/ (last visited Feb. 23, 2023). See s. 327.70(1) and (4),
F.S.
4 Section 327.30(2), F.S.
5 FWC, Boating Accident Statistical Report, https://myfwc.com/boating/safety-education/accidents/ (last visited March 7,
2023).
6 Id.
7 Section 327.731(1), F.S.
8 Section 327.731(1)(a)-(d), F.S.
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 The clerk of court remits all fees assessed and collected to the Department of Revenue to be deposited
into the Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund to support law enforcement activities.
Regulation of Liveries
A livery vessel is a vessel that is leased, rented, or chartered to another for consideration. 9 A facility
that rents and leases such vessels is called a livery. 10 During the 2022 Regular Session, the Legislature
passed CS/SB 606 (ch. 2022-197, L.O.F.), which created new regulations relating to boating safety and
liveries.
A livery is now required to carry a policy from a licensed insurance carrier that insures the livery and the
renter of a livery vessel against any accident, loss, injury, property damage, or other casualty caused
by or resulting from the operation of the vessel. Coverage for at least $500,000 per person and $1
million per event must be provided. Proof of insurance must be available for inspection at the location
where livery vessels are being leased or rented. Previously, a livery was not required to carry a policy
for the renter. Since the passage of these new regulations, there has been growing concern that most
insurance companies do not offer the type of insurance policy for renters that is now legally required for
liveries.11
Additionally, liveries are now required to provide pre-rental or pre-ride instructions to renters, which
must include:12
 Operational characteristics of the vessel to be rented;
 Safe vessel operation and vessel right-of-way;
 The responsibility of the vessel operator for the safe and proper operation of the vessel;
 Local characteristics of the waterway where the vessel will be operated, such as navigational
hazards, boating restricted areas, and water depths; and
 Emergency procedures, such as appropriate responses to capsizing, falling overboard, taking
on water, and vessel accidents.
Any person providing the instruction must have successfully completed a boating safety education
course approved by NASBLA and the state. A person who receives the instruction regarding the safe
operation of vessels or pre-rental or pre-ride instruction must provide the livery with a signed form
attesting to each component of the instruction.
Anchoring
Anchoring refers to a boater’s practice of seeking and using a safe harbor on the public waterway
system for an undefined duration. Anchoring is accomplished using an anchor carried on the vessel.13
Anchorages are areas that boaters regularly use for anchoring, whether designated or managed for
that purpose or not.14
State Regulation of the Anchoring of Vessels
The Legislature has delegated the responsibility of managing sovereign submerged lands to the
Governor and Cabinet, sitting as the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund
9 Section 327.02(24), F.S.
10 “Livery” means a person who advertises and offers a livery vessel for use by another person in exchange for any type of
consideration when such person does not also provide the lessee or renter with a captain, a crew, or any type of staff or
personnel to operate, oversee, maintain, or manage the vessel. The owner of a vessel who does not advertise his or her
vessel for use by another for consideration and who loans or offers his or her vessel for use to another known to him or
her either for consideration or without consideration is not a livery. A public or private school or postsecondary institutio n
located within this state is not a livery. Section 327.54(1)(c), F.S.
11 WUSF Public Media, Three words in a new law threaten Florida’s rental boat industry,
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/economy-business/2022-12-20/three-words-new-law-threat en-florida-rent al-boat-industry
(Dec. 20, 2022).
12 Section 327.54(3)(e), F.S.
13 Ankersen, Hamann, & Flagg, Anchoring Away: Government Regulation and the Rights of Navigation in Florida, (March
2011), https://repository.library.noaa.gov/ view/noaa/36905 (last visited April 12, 2023).
14 Id.
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 (Board).15 Pursuant to this responsibility, the Board is authorized to adopt rules governing anchoring,
mooring, or otherwise attaching vessels, floating homes, or any other watercraft to the bottom of
sovereign submerged lands.16 The Board has not exercised its authority to adopt rules regulating
anchoring.
Florida law prohibits a person from anchoring a vessel, except in case of emergency, in a manner that
unreasonably or unnecessarily constitutes a navigational hazard or interferes with another vessel. 17
Anchoring under bridges or in or adjacent to heavily traveled channels constitutes interference, if
unreasonable under the prevailing circumstances.18 Interference with navigation is a noncriminal
infraction and punishable by a fine of $50.19
With certain exceptions, the owner or operator of a vessel or floating structure may not anchor such
that the nearest approach of the anchored or moored vessel or floating structure is:
 Within 150 feet of any marina, boat ramp, boatyard, or vessel launching or loading facility;
 Within 300 feet of a superyacht repair facility; or
 Within 100 feet outward from the marked boundary of a public mooring field or a lesser distance
if approved by the local government within which the mooring field is located. 20
Local Regulation of the Anchoring of Vessels
Local governments are authorized to enact and enforce ordinances that prohibit or restrict the
anchoring of floating structures 21 or live-aboard vessels 22 within their jurisdictions and vessels that are
within the marked boundaries of permitted mooring fields. 23 However, they are prohibited from
enacting, continuing in effect, or enforcing any ordinance or local regulation that regulates the
anchoring of vessels, other than live-aboard vessels, outside the marked boundaries of permitted
mooring fields.24
Anchoring Limitation Areas
Current law designates certain densely populated urban areas that have narrow state waterways,
residential docking facilities, and significant recreational boating traffic as anchoring limitation areas. 25
The following areas are designated in statute as anchoring limitation areas:
 The section of Middle River lying between Northeast 21st Court and the Intracoastal Waterway
in Broward County.
 Sunset Lake in Miami-Dade County.
 The sections of Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County lying between Rivo Alto Island and Di Lido
Island, San Marino Island and San Marco Island, and San Marco Island and Biscayne Island.26
In an anchoring limitation area, a person is prohibited from anchoring a vessel at any time during the
period between one half-hour after sunset and one half-hour before sunrise.27 However, a person may
anchor in an anchoring limitation area if:
15 Section 253.03(1), F.S.
16 Section 253.03(7), F.S
17 Section 327.44(2), F.S.
18 Id.
19 Section 327.73(j), F.S.
20 Section 327.4109(1), F.S
21 Section 327.02(14), F.S., defines “floating structure” as a floating entity, with or without accommodations built thereon,
which is not primarily used as a means of transportation on water but which serves purposes or provides services typically
associated with a structure or other improvement to real property. The term includes an entity used as a residence, place
of business, or office with public access; a hotel or motel; a restaurant or lounge; a clubhouse; a meeting facility; a stora ge
or parking facility; or a mining platform, dredge, dragline, or similar facility or entity represented as such.
22 Section 327.02(22), F.S., defines “live-aboard vessel” as a vessel used solely as a residence and not for navigation; a
vessel represented as a place of business or a professional or other commercial enterprise; or a vessel for which a
declaration of domicile has been filed. The definition expressly excludes commercial fishing boats.
23 Section 327.60(2)(f), F.S.
24 Section 327.60(3), F.S.
25 Section 327.4108, F.S.
26 Section 327.4108(1), F.S.
27 Section 327.4108(2), F.S.
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  The vessel suffers a mechanical failure that poses an unreasonable risk of harm to the vessel or
the people onboard unless the vessel anchors;
 Imminent or existing weather conditions in the vicinity pose an unreasonable risk of harm to the
vessel or the people onboard unless the vessel anchors; or
 The vessel is attending a regatta, race, marine parade, tournament, exhibition, 28 or other special
event, including, but not limited to, public music performances, local government waterfront
activities, or a fireworks display.29
The Division of Law Enforcement of FWC and its officers, county sheriffs and deputies, and municipal
police officers typically enforce anchoring limitation areas.30 Such law enforcement officers are
authorized to remove and impound a vessel that, after being issued a citation for violation of the
anchoring limitation area, anchors the vessel in the anchoring limitation area within 12 hours after being
issued the citation or refuses to leave the anchoring limitation area after being directed to do so by law
enforcement.31
Anchoring limitation areas do not apply to vessels owned or operated by a governmental entity for law
enforcement, firefighting, military, or rescue purposes; construction or dredging vessels on an active job
site; vessels actively engaged in commercial fishing; or vessels engaged in recreational fishing if the
individuals on board are actively tending hook and line fishing gear or nets. 32
Effect of the Bill
The bill requires FWC to develop and publish on its website an educational pamphlet relating to the
importance of boating safety education and promoting voluntary enrollment in a boating safety
education course. At a minimum, the pamphlet must include:
 An overview of the importance of boating safety education and navigational rules.
 An overview of boating safety and the proper use of safety equipment.
 An overview of the dangers of careless operation of a vessel or operating overloaded vessels.
 An overview of the proper use and lifesaving benefits of an engine cutoff switch for motorboats
and personal watercrafts.
 The importance of not operating vessels while under the influence of alcoholic beverages,
chemical substances, or controlled substances.
The bill requires any person who is convicted of a noncriminal boating infraction as specified in