Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993 TAG: 9302210045
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: BS-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
GENERAL ASEMBLY HANDLES WAVE OF BOAT BILLS
The Virginia General Assembly has been handling an uncommonly large volume of bills that would affect boaters. Some of them have been sunk by legislators; others remain afloat. Here's a look several:
Certain to become law is a bill that provides a penalty for failure to stop a boat when requested by a game warden. Under current law, when a warden spots a law infraction he has authority to pull over the boat, but in cases where there is no obvious violation, and the warden simply wants to check the boat registration or equipment, there is no law that says the boater must stop.
Finding favor with law makers is a bill that would allow the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to withhold registration of a boat if the personal property taxes on the craft have not been paid to the local jurisdiction.
A House Joint Resolution is expected to require a study to determine if boat registration and titling should be handled by the the Division of Motor Vehicles rather than the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
On its way to becoming law is a bill that would require watercraft equipped with engines greater than 20 horsepower to remain below planing speed while within 50 feet of the shore or a dock at Smith Mountain Lake. The counties adjacent to the lake would have to adopt the idea through identical ordinances.
A bill that would have rerouted the 2 percent boat titling tax from the General Fund to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries failed. Game officials had estimated it would have brought $2.3 million to the state's boating program.
A boat license bill that would have required a person born after July 1, 1978, to take boating safety education prior to operating a watercraft was withdrawn.
Gone is a bill that would have removed the minimum 14 years of age restriction for the operation of a personal watercraft. Kids under 12 would have had to pass a safety course and have parental consent to operate a personal watercraft.
Expected to become law is a measure that would prohibit water skiing between sunset and sunrise, which means skiers would lose an hour of sport each day. The current cutoff is one-half hour after sunrise and one-half hour before sunset.