SECOND REGULAR SESSION
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES DAY (Sponsor), KUESSNER, BROWN (149), SMITH (150), WETER, NANCE, WALLACE, CASEY, SCHIEFFER, PACE, SANDER, QUINN, GRISAMORE, NOLTE, ATKINS, MEADOWS, COOPER AND SCHARNHORST (Co-sponsors).
4283L.02I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 306.109, 306.127, and 306.903, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to boating, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 306.109, 306.127, and 306.903, RSMo, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 306.109, 306.127, and 306.903, to read as follows:
306.109. 1. No person shall possess or use beer bongs [or other drinking devices used to consume similar amounts of alcohol] on the rivers of this state. As used in this section, the term "beer bong" includes any device that is [intended and] designed for the rapid consumption or intake of an alcoholic beverage, including but not limited to funnels, tubes, hoses, and modified containers with additional vents.
2. No person shall possess or use any large volume alcohol containers that hold more than four gallons of an alcoholic beverage on the rivers of this state.
3. No person shall possess expanded [polypropylene] polystyrene coolers on or within fifty feet of any river of this state, except in developed campgrounds, picnic areas, landings, roads and parking lots [located within fifty feet of such rivers]. This subsection shall not apply to high density bait containers used solely for such purpose.
4. Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
5. The provisions of this section shall not apply to persons on the Mississippi River, Missouri River, or Osage River.
306.127. 1. [Beginning January 1, 2005,] Every person born after January 1, 1984, or as required pursuant to section 306.128, who operates a vessel on the lakes of this state shall possess, on the vessel, a boating safety identification card issued by the Missouri state water patrol or its agent, or a Missouri driver's license or nondriver's license with an endorsement, which shows that he or she has:
(1) Successfully completed a boating safety course approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and certified by the Missouri state water patrol. The boating safety course may include a course sponsored by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary or the United States Power Squadron. The Missouri state water patrol may appoint agents to administer a boater education course or course equivalency examination and issue boater identification cards under guidelines established by the water patrol. The Missouri state water patrol shall maintain a list of approved courses; or
(2) Successfully passed an equivalency examination prepared by the Missouri state water patrol and administered by the Missouri state water patrol or its agent. The equivalency examination shall have a degree of difficulty equal to, or greater than, that of the examinations given at the conclusion of an approved boating safety course; or
(3) A valid master's, mate's, or operator's license issued by the United States Coast Guard.
2. The Missouri state water patrol or its agent shall issue a permanent boating safety identification card to each person who complies with the requirements of this section which is valid for life unless invalidated pursuant to law.
3. The Missouri state water patrol may charge a fee for such card or any replacement card that does not substantially exceed the costs of administrating this section. The Missouri state water patrol or its designated agent shall collect such fees. These funds shall be forwarded to general revenue.
4. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who:
(1) Is licensed by the United States Coast Guard to serve as master of a vessel;
(2) Operates a vessel only on a private lake or pond that is not classified as waters of the state;
(3) [Until January 1, 2006, is a nonresident who is visiting the state for sixty days or less;
(4)] Is participating in an event or regatta approved by the water patrol;
[(5)] (4) Is a nonresident who has proof of a valid boating certificate or license issued by another state if the boating course is approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA);
[(6)] (5) Is exempted by rule of the water patrol;
[(7)] (6) Is currently serving in any branch of the United States armed forces, reserves, or Missouri national guard, or any spouse of a person currently in such service; or
[(8)] (7) Has previously successfully completed a boating safety education course approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA).
5. [The Missouri state water patrol shall inform other states of the requirements of this section.
6.] No individual shall be detained or stopped strictly for the purpose of checking whether the individual possesses a boating safety identification card or a temporary boater education permit.
[7. Beginning January 1, 2006,] 6. Any nonresident born after January 1, 1984, desiring to operate a rental vessel on the lakes of this state[,] may obtain a temporary boater education permit by completing and passing a written examination developed by the Missouri state water patrol, provided the person meets the minimum age requirements for operating a vessel in this state. The Missouri state water patrol is authorized to promulgate rules for developing the examination and any requirements necessary for issuance of the temporary boater education permit. The temporary boater education permit shall expire when the nonresident obtains a permanent identification card pursuant to subsection 2 of this section or thirty days after issuance, whichever occurs first. The Missouri state water patrol may charge a fee not to exceed ten dollars for such temporary permit. Upon successful completion of an examination and prior to renting a vessel, the business entity responsible for giving the examination shall collect such fee and forward all collected fees to the Missouri state water patrol on a monthly basis for deposit in the state general revenue fund. Such business entity shall incur no additional liability in accepting the responsibility for administering the examination. This subsection shall terminate on December 31, 2010.
306.903. 1. Any person who abandons a boat dock and permits it to float freely without being moored upon lakes having at least nine hundred fifty miles of aggregate shoreline is guilty of an infraction, the penalty for which shall be a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars or more than one hundred dollars.
2. Any person who abandons a boat dock shall be responsible for the retrieval and disposal of such boat dock. Any person who violates subsection 1 of this section and who does not properly retrieve and dispose of such abandoned boat dock shall, upon a plea of guilty or a finding of guilt for such an offense, be ordered to reimburse the appropriate law enforcement agency, including the state water patrol, for the costs associated with the retrieval and disposal of the abandoned boat dock. The law enforcement agency may establish a schedule of such costs. However, the court may reduce the costs if it determines that the costs are excessive.
3. The state water patrol may accept gifts, grants, in-kind services and appropriations, and may enter into contracts with private or public entities for the enforcement and administration of this section.
4. [Beginning January 1, 2010,] Any person owning a boat dock on lakes having at least nine hundred fifty miles of shoreline [and] or lakes constructed or maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers except bodies of water owned by a person, corporation, association, partnership, municipality or other political subdivision, public water supply impoundments, and except drainage ditches [construction] constructed by a drainage district, but not to include any body of water which has been leased to or owned by the state department of conservation shall display identifying information on the dock, including but not limited to, a permit number issued to the owner by an entity having authority to issue such identification or permit number and the appropriate 911 address or in the absence of a 911 system, the physical address nearest to the dock by land. The permit number and appropriate 911 address or nearest physical address shall be posted on the lake side of the dock in a location most visible from the channel or cove. The permit number and address shall, at a minimum, be legible, not less than three inches in height, and shall have a contrasting color to the dock. Signs posted prior to August 28, 2010, shall be exempt from the three-inch height requirement of this subsection. Any person owning a boat dock [on lakes having at least nine hundred fifty miles of aggregate shoreline] who violates this subsection may be guilty of an infraction, the penalty for which shall not exceed twenty-five dollars.
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