This bill enacts the New Motorboat Distributor Act.
This bill:
- defines terms;
- mandates administrative oversight and registration for the new motorboat industry;
- requires each distributor and each distributee to register annually with the Department of Commerce and pay a registration
- authorizes the executive director of the Department of Commerce to conduct adjudicative proceedings and issue an administrative fine of up to $5,000 per day;
- prohibits a distributor from engaging in coercive or unfair business practices which include:forcing a distributee to accept unordered motorboats, parts, or promotional materials;requiring a distributee to change the distributee's capital structure or refrain from selling competing lines of motorboats;implementing an unfair or inequitable system for allocating new motorboats or parts;directly or indirectly owning, operating, or controlling a new motorboat distributee or service facility; anddiscriminating between distributees regarding pricing, promotional incentives, or the distribution of customer leads;
- protects a distributee's ownership and succession rights to ensure business continuity;
- restricts the termination of an agreement and the relocation of a distributee;
- establishes strict requirements for financial compensation and inventory buy-backs by:requiring a distributor to compensate a distributee for warranty and recall repairs at a rate that is no less than what the distributee charges a retail customer for similar work;requiring a distributor to buy back unsold inventory, including new motorboats, parts, signs, and special tools upon the termination of a distributorship agreement; andrequiring a distributor to pay monthly compensation for used motorboats in a distributee's inventory that are under a stop-sale or do-not-operate order due to a recall;
- clarifies transit liability;
- provides regulation for a property agreement; and
- provides legal recourse for a distributee to ensure compliance by granting the distributee a private right of action to sue a distributor for actual damages and reasonable attorney fees resulting from a violation of the act.