Education and Certification of Vessel Operators

Harbors and Navigation Code Division 3, Chapter 5, Article 1.4 sets forth vessel operators’ education and certification cards for the operation and equipment of vessels.

Section 678 required the division to develop a vessel operator card to be issued pursuant to this article.

Section 678.3 requires the division to determine the fees required under this section in amounts sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of the development, establishment, and operation of the program. The fees cannot exceed those costs.

In determining the amount of the fees imposed pursuant to this section, the division is required to establish, and consult with, a technical advisory group consisting of interested persons, including, but not limited to, representatives of the boating community. The deputy director appoints the members of the advisory group.

Section 678.5 allows the division to develop and provide a vessel operator examination on the division’s Internet Web site. The division must provide links from the division’s Internet Web site to other vessel operator examinations approved by the division that are available through a provider whose course has been approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators.

Section 678.9 requires by each April the division to prepare a report that contains four items of specified information regarding the prior calendar year. The report has to be placed on the division’s website.

Section 678.11 prohibits a person from operating on waters subject to the jurisdiction of the state a vessel that is propelled by an engine, regardless of whether the engine is the principal source of propulsion, unless the person has in his or her possession a vessel operator card issued by the division. This does not apply to seven specified types of persons.

Section 678.15 states that a violation of this article is an infraction and the punishments are for convictions.