Florida paddlers 'dodged' vessel registration (again)

State agency (FWC) decided yesterday to not pursue vessel registration for canoes, kayaks and paddle boards. This idea comes up from time to time. Thankfully, it doesn’t find a lot of support.
Article link: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-kayak-registration-nixed-florida-20170201-story.html
Regards,
Mark L.

In the twisted minds of lawmakers, there’s always something that needs to be taxed, or regulated, or both.

My opinion:

Registration of canoes. kayaks, paddle board is designed to do one thing.
That is to generate revenue.
The additional revenue is typically needed because “the clowns” have foolishly wasted tax dollars on unnecessary, expensive, personal agenda, and/or brother in law projects.
The clowns love photo ops to show what they’re “doing for you”.
What they’re often doing for you is wasting your tax dollars, and they need to generate more revenue to waste some more.
What the clowns should be doing is thinking of ways to save money, and how to make & use a budget. NOT dreaming up new ways to generate more money to replace what they wasted.

BOB

Well said Bob.

This is just another tax. Why not tax bikes, skates, skateboards, running shoes, skis, skimboards, surfboards, baby strollers and maybe even kites for using the wind. I hope this fails. Idiots.

One thing that we here in CT learned was that flooding a legislative committee hearing goes a long way in killing proposed legislation like that.

We did it two years in a row in 2003 and 2004, and got the issue killed.

The proposed bill stated that all human powered craft would not only have to register, but would also have to display clearly visible registration numbers on their hulls. I was president then of a sea kayak club that had really good internet savvy for the time, and a couple of members who were connected with lobbyists that would give us the heads-up on issues that concerned us.

We were able to get a large number of people (Including a couple of legislators) to show up for the hearings in a matter of days, and basically took them over. State law says that every individual that shows has the right to be heard, so we all took turns speaking, much to the dismay of a few legislators. The hearing took a little longer than the legislators wanted. The chairman was surprised (And probably worried) that people could use the internet to do things like that – it was a new concept for them then. Worked really good, too.

Point is, get large numbers of people to show their displeasure before the issue goes very far.

I can’t imagine the “man” devoting the resources to monitor the many thousands of paddle craft that tourists bring with them. Many operate in “No Motor” zones and can’t be pursued anyway.

They tried the same thing in Maine before I moved south—glad to see it didn’t happen in either state—It’s a money grab pure and simple. Legislators try to rationalize it in terms of making kayakers pay for search and rescue services but always with no figures to back it up.

I like how the video report’s cites their source as “advocates of boating regulation reform.”
–Aren’t they the very same politicians and bureaucrats that also try to regulate farts?

I hope passing gas stays free. My wife loves feeding me broccoli.

The registration/permit question in Florida is not completely dead - but damn near it. The report being generated by the Non-Motorized Boat Working Group is not yet complete. This report will then go to the Florida Boating Advisory Council. This Council will then make recommendations/or not based on this finalized report. However, several people of influence and political power within Florida’s political elite have come out against the idea. You don’t have to go very far to connect the dots to see that this idea will probably go no where - at least for now. To stay up on this issue you can request e-mail notifications through the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission website: http://myfwc.com/boating/advisory-council/nmbwg/