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Idaho could require canoe and kayak registration 6/30/2008 BOISE (AP) Idaho could become the first western state in four years to require registration for nonmotorized boaters such as canoes and kayaks. Seven states now require registration of nonmotorized boats, including Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Connecticut. Alaska ditched the requirement in 2004, so did Arizona in 2000. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter is behind the push to require nonmotorized boat users to register before going out on the water because they enjoy some of the same facilities supported by motor boat registration fees. “It’s user pay,” Otter told the Spokesman-Review. “I see a value in establishing that idea in government, where if you’re going to use the facility, you’re going to be the one that pays.” Otter has commissioned a task force to study the proposal, which would include jet boaters and whitewater paddlers. Otter said he may propose legislation as soon as next year. “I think it warrants taking a look at it,” Otter said. Alaska boating safety administrator Jeff Johnson said nonmotorized boat users in his state complained the requirement was “ridiculous.” “We almost lost the boating program over it,” Johnson said. Alaska created a state boating program in 2000, when the state had a boating fatality rate 144 times the national average. Johnson said power boating groups agreed to the program, which included boat-safety laws, educational programs and boat registration, but only if nonmotorized boats longer than 10 feet were included as well. When the law came up for reauthorization in 2004, the nonmotorized craft registration was dropped from the law. Arizona stopped requiring registration for nonmotorized boats in 2000, partly because administrative costs exceeded the revenues the state collected through fees. “It was a lot to do for a boat that might be worth $10,” said Arizona watercraft registration supervisor Madelynn Fenske. “Our fees are charged by the length of the watercraft, so the smaller boats didn’t bring in as much revenue.” Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d’Alene, is one of three state lawmakers on the task force that will recommend whether Otter should propose legislation to require nonmotorized boat registration in Idaho. “It’s to see if we can find a resolution to the perceived, I guess, injustice the motorized boaters feel that the nonmotorized vessels are not paying their way in terms of search-and-rescue and use of facilities,” Sayler said. According to the Idaho parks department, the state had 45 boating-related fatalities during the five-year period that went from 2002 to 2007. Of those fatalities, 19 involved nonmotorized boating. Otter said any proposal that develops will go before public hearings before being completed. |
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