Senate Bill S5685 - Boating Safety (Brianna's Law)

PMC

PMC

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Apr 10, 2009
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Long Island, NY
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NY Governor signed this today. This is a take 2 for those in Suffolk County to require an 8 hr boating safety course (effective Jan 1 2020)


https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s5685


PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to provide for boat safety instructional
courses as a prerequisite for obtaining boating licenses.


Section 2. amends section 49 of the navigation law by extending require-
ments for boating licenses for all navigable state waters and the tide-
waters of Nassau and Suffolk county to all eligible individuals over ten
years old
 
If your a transient boater, are yourequired to have this?
 
dtfeld said:
If your a transient boater, are yourequired to have this?
Click to expand...
It does not seem like that is the intention (yet). If you purchase a boat, you have 120 days to complete the safety course though.
 
I see not exemption for "loopers" or transients. So navigate at your own risk.

And what a stupid law. Gives 6 months after you buy to take the course to "learn the laws." Seems to me the most dangerous boaters are the new boaters. Government sucks.
 
Golfman25 said:
I see not exemption for "loopers" or transients. So navigate at your own risk.

And what a stupid law. Gives 6 months after you buy to take the course to "learn the laws." Seems to me the most dangerous boaters are the new boaters. Government sucks.
Click to expand...
NY government sucks the most!!! This governor is a sham, wannabe president, with out the wherewithal to recognize he sounds like a monkey with marbles in his mouth.
 
Long overdue.
PIA for experienced boaters, but might save a life or two.
The days of “have checkbook, will cruise” need to come to an end.
Got mine years ago. DMV will even put the little anchor on your driver license so you don’t need to carry a separate boating license.
Amazing how many people are out on the water around here, especially on weekends, that have no clue.
Sometimes it is really dangerous.
Seems like every weekend I see something even dumber than the week before.

https://patch.com/new-york/deerpark-northbabylon/today-was-best-day-my-life-cuomo-signs-brianas-law
 
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Golfman25 said:
I see not exemption for "loopers" or transients. So navigate at your own risk.

And what a stupid law. Gives 6 months after you buy to take the course to "learn the laws." Seems to me the most dangerous boaters are the new boaters. Government sucks.
Click to expand...

I don’t think they’ll bother out of state boaters.
Several months after boat purchase is kind of dumb but at least it’s a start. Should be required for anyone registering a boat, or current registrants, in the State.
 
JVM225 said:
Long overdue.
PIA for experienced boaters, but might save a life or two.
The days of “have checkbook, will cruise” need to come to an end.
Got mine years ago. DMV will even put the little anchor on your driver license so you don’t need to carry a separate boating license.
Amazing how many people are out on the water around here, especially on weekends, that have no clue.
Sometimes it is really dangerous.
Seems like every weekend I see something even dumber than the week before.
Click to expand...
Well they give Mr. Checkbook, speedo and gold chain 120 days to take his class. In the mean time he's out on the water tearing up the place. And if you think taking some class on the internet in your underwear is really going to make a difference with the a-holes out there -- good luck with that.
 
kvduff said:
NY government sucks the most!!! This governor is a sham, wannabe president, with out the wherewithal to recognize he sounds like a monkey with marbles in his mouth.
Click to expand...

I wish I could name a bridge after my dad. (For you non-NY people, Cuomo did just that)
 
I dont understand the reason behind the age based cut in plan. I already have my certificate (anchor on my license), so it does not matter ....but according to the step plan, I dont need my cert till 2025.....if I'm a new boater, how does my age factor? This makes no "common sense" as Cuomo says this is all about.
 
JVM225 said:
Long overdue.
PIA for experienced boaters, but might save a life or two.
The days of “have checkbook, will cruise” need to come to an end.
Got mine years ago. DMV will even put the little anchor on your driver license so you don’t need to carry a separate boating license.
Amazing how many people are out on the water around here, especially on weekends, that have no clue.
Sometimes it is really dangerous.
Seems like every weekend I see something even dumber than the week before.
Click to expand...

I'm actually in favor of this type of law, but my concern is that as written it would seem to require anyone operating in NY waters to have this. I would like to see an exclusion for transients, or better yet a reciprocity clause for other boat safety courses.
 
PMC said:
I dont understand the reason behind the age based cut in plan. I already have my certificate (anchor on my license), so it does not matter ....but according to the step plan, I dont need my cert till 2025.....if I'm a new boater, how does my age factor? This makes no "common sense" as Cuomo says this is all about.
Click to expand...

Since when do lawmakers make sense? Most of the time it is a reaction to lobby pressure for money or to get face time on the news capitalizing on public interest after a tragedy.

-Kevin
 
PMC said:
I dont understand the reason behind the age based cut in plan. I already have my certificate (anchor on my license), so it does not matter ....but according to the step plan, I dont need my cert till 2025.....if I'm a new boater, how does my age factor? This makes no "common sense" as Cuomo says this is all about.
Click to expand...

My guess is that they don’t think they have the ability to get a million people certified by the private vendors who run the courses in a shorter period of time so they started with the higher risk ages and worked their way back to us old guys.
Kind of stupid, like most things they do here, but at least it’s a start.
Hopefully they’ll do some enforcement around here. Especially during prime boating times when it can be a drunken free for all. I rarely see any police boats or bay constables on the water these days. They can make all the laws in the world but if nobody enforces those laws they’re useless.
 
Marine Industry should self regulate like the Diving Industry - Try to do anything without a PADI card - nope. That industry was smart enough to do something before the govt got involved.

The marine industry (specifically manufacturers and suppliers) are likely the ones behind the 120 day delay - they have no interest in our safety, they just want to move fiberglass - why do you think $200 PLBs aren't mandatory in open water? Again, the marine industry wants NO roadblocks to boat sales......The industry should instead come up with a standard and form a body to administer and issue credentials, then marine brokers, insurers, lenders etc. can control who buys and operates boats - if people can't get insurance or a loan, they will comply - industry regulation is WAY better and more effective than Government regulation.
 
dtfeld said:
I'm actually in favor of this type of law, but my concern is that as written it would seem to require anyone operating in NY waters to have this. I would like to see an exclusion for transients, or better yet a reciprocity clause for other boat safety courses.
Click to expand...

I doubt it will be much of an issue with reciprocity. They probably don’t want to start a border war with New Jersey or Connecticut. While it’s rare for out of state boaters to operate inside the Bays along the south shore of Long Island, New York Harbor, the lower Hudson River and Long Island Sound probably have as many New Jersey and Connecticut boaters operating in them as there are NY boaters.
When they put a similar law in effect in Suffolk County a couple of years ago it only applied to Suffolk County boaters operating in Suffolk County waters.
 
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On a related note:
If any of you guys are on Instagram, check out thequalifiedcaptain. My nephew, who lives and boats in southeast Florida, told me about that user.
While some of the stuff can be pretty funny, it also really scary.
Probably a pretty good argument for some kind of education, licensing or regulation.
If I had a camera rolling or ready to go while boating on the weekends around here I could capture some pretty crazy stuff too.
 
JVM225 said:
While it’s rare for out of state boaters to operate inside the Bays along the south shore of Long Island, New York Harbor, the lower Hudson River and Long Island Sound probably have as many New Jersey and Connecticut boaters operating in them as there are NY boaters.
Click to expand...

Accurate. On any given weekend, half the boats anchored in Port Jefferson Harbor are from Connecticut.
 
JVM225 said:
Hopefully they’ll do some enforcement around here. Especially during prime boating times when it can be a drunken free for all. I rarely see any police boats or bay constables on the water these days. They can make all the laws in the world but if nobody enforces those laws they’re useless.
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's different on the North Shore? I see the Brookhaven harbormaster patrolling every weekend that I'm out. Last weekend I saw the harbormaster, Suffolk Police Marine, and USCG in Port Jeff and Mount Sinai. Although this weekend I had a guest on the boat that's a Suffolk PD officer and he called over the Suffolk Marine "N" boat to chat when they passed through the mooring field. I learned that their patrol hours are limited by the available budget for fuel.

I don't mind seeing the patrols. Helps keep the knuckleheads and PWC operators in check.
 
b_arrington said:
Perhaps it's different on the North Shore? I see the Brookhaven harbormaster patrolling every weekend that I'm out. Last weekend I saw the harbormaster, Suffolk Police Marine, and USCG in Port Jeff and Mount Sinai. Although this weekend I had a guest on the boat that's a Suffolk PD officer and he called over the Suffolk Marine "N" boat to chat when they passed through the mooring field. I learned that their patrol hours are limited by the available budget for fuel.

I don't mind seeing the patrols. Helps keep the knuckleheads and PWC operators in check.
Click to expand...

Just got boarded by the USCG this weekend going out to Fire Island. The crew aboard were very nice, polite and quick. The boarding was done inside a 5 mile zone and completed underway by the end of the speed restriction. I sent them off with some thanks for keeping us safe. If perhaps the word gets around people will not think its a free for all out there.

-Kevin
 
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