HB255 Boat Owner Education Course

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dubob

dubob

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HB255 is the new bill that just passed the legislature and was signed by the Governor and makes changes to the existing Utah Aquatics Invasive Species (AIS) Program. It will start on July 1, 2020. I was very much against this bill because it was poorly written and didn’t fix some major problems with the old system. Be that as it may, here is an update on one of the new requirements directly from the Utah DWR AIS Office: the newly required Boat Owner Education Course.

The current course available online (which I already completed for 2020), will fulfill the Boat Owner Education Course requirement set forth in HB255. The course may be revised slightly to account for non-resident boaters taking the course, but regardless, a completion certificate from any 2020 version will satisfy the HB255 requirement for Utah residents. So, if you are a Utah resident and have completed the 2020 on-line version and printed out the completion certificate, you are good for the rest of your 2020 boating season.

The DWR is currently working out the details for a payment portal and Boat Owner Education Course for non-residents. So, if you are a non-resident, you may want to hold off on taking the current AIS course, or you may be required to take the course again after then non-resident requirements have been established.

If any of you would like to reach out to the AIS Coordinator, contact me directly via PM/email and I will be glad to forward your concerns to him.
 
If I am reading the text of the HB 255 correctly it states any out of state boat owner that uses his boat on Utah waters will have to pay $20, display a certificate of completion of mussel education and travel with his drain plug out after draining his boat completely. It also looks like they will be using GPS and traffic type cameras to track boats that are not in compliance and insure fees are paid along with road side stops and inspections. I wonder how they will collect the fees and how they will identify who has paid as most boats travel with covers that conceal the bow numbers. I doubt the National Park Service would be willing to collect their fees. Hope they have better luck keeping their cameras working than the ones on the launch ramps! Looks like it goes into effect on 1 July 2020 just in time for 4th of July weekend! I'm beginning to feel like that cartoon character in "Little Abner" that the dark cloud always followed around!
 
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Concerned Soldier said:
If I am reading the text of the HB 255 correctly it states any out of state boat owner that uses his boat on Utah waters will have to pay $20, display a certificate of completion of mussel education and travel with his drain plug out after draining his boat completely. It also looks like they will be using GPS and traffic type cameras to track boats that are not in compliance and insure fees are paid along with road side stops and inspections. I wonder how they will collect the fees and how they will identify who has paid as most boats travel with covers that conceal the bow numbers. I doubt the National Park Service would be willing to collect their fees. Hope they have better luck keeping their cameras working than the ones on the launch ramps! Looks like it goes into effect on 1 July 2020 just in time for 4th of July weekend! I'm beginning to feel like that cartoon character in "Little Abner" that the dark cloud always followed around!
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It's not just following you. We all get a taste from time to time. Sometimes more than we can handle.
 
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Concerned Soldier said:
If I am reading the text of the HB 255 correctly it states any out of state boat owner that uses his boat on Utah waters will have to pay $20 (That is correct.), display a certificate of completion of mussel education (Also correct - it will be displayed on the dash of your launch vehicle after you launch your boat) and travel with his drain plug out after draining his boat completely. (Again - correct.) It also looks like they will be using GPS and traffic type cameras to track boats that are not in compliance and insure fees are paid along with road side stops and inspections. (NONE of that is in the text of the HB255. A scanning system is being studied by the Utah DWR to log each boat into a database to track which bodies of water in which the boat has been launched. I doubt seriously that the system will use traffic cameras.) I wonder how they will collect the fees and how they will identify who has paid as most boats travel with covers that conceal the bow numbers. (The collection system/proof of payment is still under research.) I doubt the National Park Service would be willing to collect their fees. (They will not) Hope they have better luck keeping their cameras working than the ones on the launch ramps! (Again, the type of scanning system to log boat numbers into the database has not been determined at this point in time.) Looks like it goes into effect on 1 July 2020 just in time for 4th of July weekend! I'm beginning to feel like that cartoon character in "Little Abner" that the dark cloud always followed around! (That would be Joe Btfsplk.)
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After talking with the Utah AIS Department a couple days ago, I believe we should have an idea about what the system will look like and how it will function sometime in May. There are developed scanning systems available that will fulfill the requirements the Utah DWR have been given with this new law. The DWR is evaluating them at this time. A payment system is being developed and will be in place shortly. It will only apply to non-residents as Utah boat owners already pay the in-state $10 AIS fee as part of their boat registration. All water vessel owners will have to take and pass the education course before they will be allowed to launch ANY water vessel, not just registered boats.
 
There are license plate readers available to government entities AND see my posting yesterday about electronic fences when you cross the Utah border from outside Its under "UTAH" on the board.
THEY WILL BE TRACKING YOUR CELL PHONE SIGNAL as you enter the state. They will have a record that you came in to Utah
 
So just for a Colorado registered vessel, we have already paid the AIS fee for the Colorado tags, now we can pay again for UTAH, And all of the out of state vessels that are stored at Bullfrog Dry Storage, and other areas that may never leave the lake, can't wait til Utah hunters get tagged an extra fee to hunt in Colorado.
 
Yet another example of state rights. Many people live on the road in RVs, it has made boat ownership,fishing and hunting expensive and difficult. A national registration like something the reserve coast guard members have for their boats would be great if offered to the general public. Buying a fishing license for Lake Powell is great as both Arizona and Utah recognize each others license on Lake Powell, too bad it doesn't work for the rest of their state waters.
 
birdsnest said:
How will this affect boat renters?
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If the boat is moored and rented at Lake Powell, it won't effect you at all. The boat owner will bear all the responsibility for the new procedures. If you rent a boat and haul it to Lake Powell and then launch, you will be responsible to provide evidence that the requirements have been met.
 
WaterDog19 said:
So just for a Colorado registered vessel, we have already paid the AIS fee for the Colorado tags, now we can pay again for UTAH, And all of the out of state vessels that are stored at Bullfrog Dry Storage, and other areas that may never leave the lake (Yeah, ain't life grand? :giggle:)

can't wait til Utah hunters get tagged an extra fee to hunt in Colorado. (They already do - it's called a non-resident hunting license fee.)
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So by your reasoning, if I already have a hunting license for Utah, I shouldn't also have to have a hunting license to hunt in the adjoining state of Colorado. Help me out here somebody - what's wrong with this picture.
 
Concerned Soldier said:
Many people live on the road in RVs, it has made boat ownership,fishing and hunting expensive and difficult.
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And for most of the full time RVers, it was an informed lifestyle choice. They knew the choice would bring with it some increased costs in certain areas of their lives. Some could afford it; some could not. If you have come to Utah in the past and enjoyed those visits, I'm happy for you. If you think the new $20 fee you will be charged to bring your boat here again is too much, and/or the 30 minutes time it will take you to complete the new AIS Education Course is too much to ask, then don't come back. It's an easy choice to make. Nobody is holding you at gun point to make you do either. It's a free choice and it is your choice to make.
 
The challenge with the AIS/ANS fees is that you're required to pay for them in every state you boat. We usually go to Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Utah. The Wyoming fee (plus all their other fees and the PITA to get the boat decontaminated when I come back) has made us reconsider boating there. I'm sure I am not the only one who feels that way.

It would be nice if it was more like autos - where your registration in one state is all you need. But I doubt that will ever happen.
 
Like many things the mussel infestation does not recognize state lines. It should have been treated as a national threat when it first broke out and should have been contained, but that was left up to local and state authorities that did not have the resources or knowledge to deal with it, so here we are with them in most states trying to deal with them all differently.
 
Clarkatlake said:
Look up the COMMERCE CLAUSE in the United States constitution. Because the Colorado River and lake Powell is the border between states(California,Arizona,Nevada and Utah). It limits what laws that the state enact and try to enforce. That is why the coast guard is on Lake Powell.
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That is so lame, its hard to know where to start. How about we start with the FACT that the US Coast Guard has exactly ONE office/station in Utah. That office is in Roy, UT and it is a recruiting office. It is 327 miles from Bullfrog and 419 miles from Page, AZ and has absolutely no responsibility for any function at Lake Powell, State or Federal. USCG District 11 has a small portion of southern Utah within its jurisdiction, but has no active presence there. Look it up. USCG District 11

The Colorado River does form a border between part of Kalifornia and part of Arizona. It also forms a border between part of Nevada and part of Arizona. It does NOT form a border between Utah and any other state. Lake Powell does NOT form a border between any states - it STRADDLES the border between Utah and Arizona.

As to the mission of the USCG, it is this: The mission of the United States Coast Guard is to ensure our Nation's maritime safety, security and stewardship.

The Coast Guard Manages six major operational mission programs, one of which is Maritime Law Enforcement.

Organization/Missions said:
The Maritime Law Enforcement program protects America’s maritime borders from encroachment, defends our Nation’s maritime sovereignty from illicit activity, facilitates legitimate use of the waterways, and suppresses violations of federal law on, under and over the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The Coast Guard is the lead federal maritime law enforcement agency and the only agency with both the authority and capability to enforce national and international law on the high seas, outer continental shelf, and inward from the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to inland waters. Coast Guard responsibilities include detecting and interdicting contraband and illegal drug traffic; at sea enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and policies; enforcing our Nation’s fisheries and marine protected resource laws and regulations; ensuring the integrity of the EEZ, monitoring compliance with international living marine resource regimes and international agreements to which the U.S. is party; and through compliance with international agreements, combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing that negatively impacts maritime and economic security in coastal and regional areas worldwide.
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Where in that description of their Law Enforcement Program is there one, single word about interaction with any state law(s)?

Nobody is asking you to like Utah's laws and nobody is forcing you to come to Utah to recreate. We do, however, ask that if you do come to Utah that you suck it up and obey our laws. The $20 AIS fee and AIS Education Course will be required, by law, for out of state visitors who want to place a registered water vessel in/on water within the Utah State Boundary lines.
 
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