Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
Senate bill 1548 "known as the vessel safety act" has passed two committees. They have brought the subject up at the very end of those committee meetings and have let very few people speak in opposition.
I attended the first EP meeting and was only allowed to say I was in opposition of the bill.
Charles Dean is still hanging on to the 200' set back but has added an amendment that would allow boats to anchor overnight if the captain is exhausted and cannot continue navigation.
House bill HB 7123 has passed through three committees. An attempt was made to add a 200' set back amendment to that bill. And was added at the last meeting. Thankfully a number of boaters showed up at that meeting and were given time to speak. The amendment to add the 200' set back was withdrawn. Some very good points were made at that meeting. You can watch video of the meeting here, skip to about the 45 min. mark:
Based on that information, SB 1548 would allow boaters to anchor most anywhere for one day or night. All you'd have to say is "I'm exhausted and cannot continue navigation." Under the terms of the law, the enforcement officer would have to allow you a reasonable amount of time to rest, probably 12-24 hours. That would be too restrictive. It would cause boaters to always be looking over their shoulders for the enforcement officer.
Based on your first ETA, it sounds like HB 7123 would be acceptable to boaters, since it only targets "derelict" and "at risk" vessels and currently does not restrict anchoring to navigating boats.
I'd say, keep up the fight against SB 1548, but not HB 7123 if that's a correct statement of it's present form.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.