ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 123
(By Senator Dittmar)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported March 3, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article seven,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend
said article by adding thereto a new section, designated
section twelve-b, all relating to motorboat operation,
numbering and registration; increasing registration fees;
requiring education certification for certain individuals;
providing for certain exemptions; establishing the
requirements for a boating safety education certificate; and
criminal offenses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article seven, chapter twenty of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be
further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section twelve-b, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.
§20-7-12. Motorboat identification numbers required; application for numbers; fee; displaying; reciprocity; change of ownership; conformity with United States regulations; records; renewal of certificate; transfer of interest, abandonment, etc.; change of address; unauthorized numbers; information to be furnished assessors.
Every motorboat, as herein defined in this section,
operating upon public waters within the territorial limits of
this state, shall be numbered as herein provided in this section:
(a) The owner of each motorboat requiring numbering by this
state shall file an application for a number with the commissioner on forms approved by the division of motor vehicles.
The application shall be signed by the owner of the motorboat and
shall be accompanied by a fee of fifteen dollars for a three-year
registration period if the motorboat is propelled by a motor of
three or more horsepower: Provided, That beginning on the first
day of April, two thousand, the fee for a three year registration
period is as follows:
(1) Class A, motorboats less than sixteen feet in length,
thirty dollars;
(2) Class 1, motorboats sixteen feet or over and less than
twenty-six feet in length, forty-five dollars;
(3) Class 2, motorboats twenty-six feet or over and less
than forty feet in length, sixty dollars; and
(4) Class 3, forty feet in length or over, seventy-five
dollars.
The fee may be prorated by the commissioner for periods of less
than three years. There shall be is no fee for motorboats
propelled by motors of less than three horsepower. All such
fees, including those received under subdivision (b) of this
section, shall be deposited in the state treasury and fifty percent shall be credited to the division of motor vehicles and
shall be used and paid out upon order of the commissioner solely
for the administration of the certificate of number system. The
remaining fifty percent shall be credited to the division of
natural resources and shall be used and paid out upon order of
the director solely for the enforcement and safety education of
the state boating system. Upon receipt of the application in
approved form, the commissioner shall enter the same application
upon the records of the division and issue to the applicant a
number awarded to the motorboat and the name and address of the
owner. The owner shall paint on or attach to each side of the
bow of the motorboat the identification number in the manner as
may be prescribed by rules of the commissioner in order that it
may be is clearly visible. The owner shall maintain the number
shall be maintained in legible condition. The certificate of
number shall be pocket size and shall be available at all times
for inspection on the motorboat for which it is issued, whenever
the motorboat is in operation.
(b) In order to permit a motorboat sold to a purchaser by a
dealer to be operated pending receipt of the certificate of number from the commissioner, the commissioner may deliver
temporary certificates of number to in turn be issued to
purchasers of motorboats to dealers, upon application therefor by
the dealer and payment of one dollar for each temporary
certificates of number to in turn be issued to purchasers of
motorboats certificate. Every person who is issued a temporary
certificate by a dealer shall, under the provisions of
subdivision (a) of this section, apply for a certificate of
number no later than ten days from the date of issuance of the
temporary certificate. A temporary certificate shall expire
expires upon receipt of the certificate, upon recision of the
contract to purchase the motorboat in question or upon the
expiration of forty days from the date of issuance, whichever
shall occurs first occur. It is unlawful for any dealer to issue
any temporary certificate knowingly containing any misstatement
of fact or knowingly to insert any false information on the face
thereof of the temporary certificate. The commissioner may by
rule prescribe additional requirements upon the dealers and
purchasers as that are consistent with the effective
administration of this section.
(c) The owner of any motorboat already covered by a number
in full force and effect which has been awarded to it pursuant to
then operative federal law or a federally approved numbering
system of another state shall record the number prior to
operating the motorboat on the waters of this state in excess of
the sixty-day reciprocity period provided for in section fourteen
of this article. The recordation shall be in the manner and
pursuant to procedure required for the award of a number under
subdivision (a) of this section, except that the commissioner
shall not issue an additional or substitute number shall not be
issued.
(d) Should If the ownership of a motorboat change changes,
the new owner shall file a new application form with the required
fee shall be filed with the commissioner and who shall award a
new certificate of number shall be awarded in the same manner as
provided for in an original award of number.
(e) In the event that an agency of the United States
government shall have has in force an overall system of
identification numbering for motorboats within the United States,
the numbering system employed pursuant to this article by the division of motor vehicles shall be in conformity therewith with
the federal system.
(f) All records of the director made or kept pursuant to
this section shall be transferred to the commissioner and shall
be maintained as public records.
(g) (f) The license shall be is valid for a maximum period
of three years. If at the expiration of that period ownership
has remained unchanged, the owner commissioner shall, upon
application and payment of the proper fee, be granted grant the
owner a renewal of the certificate of number for an additional
three-year period.
(h) (g) The owner shall furnish the commissioner notice of
the transfer of all or any part of an interest, other than the
creation of a security interest, in a motorboat numbered in this
state pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of this section, or of
the destruction or abandonment of the motorboat, within fifteen
days thereof of the transfer of interest, destruction or
abandonment. The transfer, destruction or abandonment shall
terminate the certificate of number for the motorboat, except
that in the case of a transfer of a part interest which does not affect the owner's right to operate the motorboat, the transfer
shall not terminate the certificate of number.
(i) (h) Any holder of a certificate of number shall notify
the commissioner within fifteen days if his or her address no
longer conforms to the address appearing on the certificate and
shall, as a part of the notification, furnish the commissioner
with his or her new address. The commissioner may provide rules
by rule for the surrender of the certificate bearing the former
address and its replacement with a certificate bearing the new
address or for the alteration of an outstanding certificate to
show the new address of the holder.
(j) (i) No An owner shall not paint, attach or otherwise
display a number other than the number awarded to a motorboat or
granted reciprocity pursuant to this article shall be painted,
attached or otherwise displayed on either side of the bow of the
motorboat.
(k) (j) It shall be the duty of The commissioner shall on or
before the thirtieth day of August of each year, commencing with
the year one thousand nine hundred eighty, to forward to the
assessor of each county a list of the names and addresses of all persons, firms and corporations owning vessels and operating the
same vessels or other boats registered with the commissioner
under the provisions of this article. In furnishing this
information to each county assessor, the commissioner shall
include the information as to on the make and model of the
vessels and other equipment required to be registered for use by
said the owner or operator thereof of the boats under the
provisions of this article: Provided, That the commissioner need
not is not required to furnish the information to the assessor if
the cost price of the vessel does not exceed five hundred dollars
or the cost of the motor does not exceed two hundred fifty
dollars.
(l) (k) No person may operate an unlicensed motorboat upon
any waters of this state without first acquiring the certificate
of number or license as required by law.
§20-7-12b. Boating safety education certificate.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this
section, beginning on the first day of January, two thousand one,
no person born on or after the thirty-first day of December, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-six, may operate a motorboat or personal watercraft on any waters of this state without first
having obtained a certificate of boating safety education from
this or any other state, which certificate was obtained by
satisfactorily completing a course of instruction in boating
safety education administered by the United States coast guard
auxiliary; the United States power squadron; the West Virginia
division of natural resources; any person certified to teach the
course administered by West Virginia natural resources boating
safety education section personnel; or any person authorized to
teach the course prescribed by the national association of state
boating law administrators in this or any other state.
(b) Any person who is subject to subdivision (a) of this
section shall possess the certificate of boating safety education
when operating a motorboat or personal watercraft on the waters
of this state and shall show the certificate on demand of any
West Virginia conservation officer or other law-enforcement
officer authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
(c) The following persons are exempt from the requirements
of subsection (a) of this section:
(1) A person who is a non-resident of this state and who is visiting the state for sixty days or less in a motorboat or
personal watercraft from another state if that person:
(A) Is fifteen years of age or older; and
(B) Has been issued a boating safety education certificate
by his or her state of residence in accordance with the criteria
recommended by the national association of state boating law
administration;
(2) A person who is visiting the state for ninety days or
less in a motorboat or personal watercraft from a country other
than the United States;
(3) A person who is operating a motorboat or personal
watercraft in connection with commercial purposes; and
(4) A person who is operating a motorboat or personal
watercraft which was purchased by the person within the previous
one-hundred-eighty-day period and who has not been previously
charged with a violation of any provision of this chapter
involving the use or registration of a motorboat or personal
watercraft.
(d) The division shall issue a certificate of boating safety
education to a person who:
(1) Passes any course prescribed in subsection (a) of this
section; or
(2) Passes a boating safety equivalency examination
administered by persons authorized to administer a boating safety
education course as outlined in subsection (a) of this section.
Upon request, the division shall provide, without charge, boating
safety education materials to persons who plan to take the
boating safety equivalency examination.
(e) No person who owns a motorboat or personal watercraft or
who has charge over a motorboat or personal watercraft may
authorize or knowingly permit it to be operated in violation of
subsection (a) of this section.
(f) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section may
only be enforced as a secondary action when the officer detains
an operator of a motorboat or personal watercraft upon probable
cause of a violation of another provision of this code or rules
adopted in accordance with the code. A person may not be taken
immediately to a court or detention facility solely for a
violation of subsection (a) of this section.