At long last, I have gotten around to summarizing the input you all made re: registraton fees your state demands for kayaks or other small paddlecraft. I apologize for the long delay. Extended comments in [] were volunteered by the source named after the state name. Alaska (Seng): Newly enacted fee: $10 per boat for a three year period. Boats under 10 feet are exempt. Motorized craft are $24 for a three year period. [There is no clear direct return stipulated in the legislation, but there is a phrase in the bill that makes me wonder if the underlying reason for the bill is to get more federal money - Paragraph 1 line 7 - "at least 75 percent of any federal funds generated as a result of this Act be used to fund a statewide boating safety and education program,..." The url for any fellow Alaskans interested is: http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/boating/hb0108g.pdf ] California (Myers): No fee. See http://www.dmv.ca.gov/faq/boatfaq.htm for infomation about California boat registration. Illinois (Sprenne): Fee (new): $13 for a first-time registration, which is for a three-year period, and then $6 for subsequent three-year registrations. The fine for not registering your boat is $75, so it really doesn't pay to protest the registration law by not paying. See http://131.230.57.1/stat_rul/ILLREG.HTM for the text of the Illinois Boating Safety Law. Indiana (Boyd): No fee. Iowa (Qajaq303): Fee: $6/2 years (varies? see below) [Kemmer: Iowa requires registration of kayaks and canoes. I believe the actual registration is left up to each county, that each county sets its own fees, and that paddlers from non-registration states are expected to contact the appropriate Iowa county and register. Every craft is required to exhibit all the 3" federal numbers plus a large sticker, so that one has at least 23 stick-ons plastered all over the boat. Enforcement rests with local DNR agents. The law magnanimously exempts replicas of Native American craft from displaying the numbers, but the DNR interprets that to mean your canoe must actually be made from birchbark or your kayak from sealskin!] Louisiana (Hebert): No fees. Maryland (Bliven): No fees. [MD.. no regristration fee presently... however a well known environmentalist with ties to a very powerful and well funded Politacal Action Group is advocating boat fees. His view has appeared in newspapers and I have heard a local politician say that the PAC view is often adopted by the state. the claim is that the fees will give paddlers a 'larger voice' in state gov and help fund things like watertrails. Some MD counties have fees for use of boat ramps. in other counties, public boat ramps are free to cartopped boats. One paddle club has vocal members that support all kinds of government regulations... including manitory wearing of PFD's and cold weather gear.] Massachusetts (Olsen): No fee. Michigan (Boyd): No fee. Minnesota (Culpepper): Fee for each paddlecraft, with reciprocity with other states requiring registration; Full details at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/boating.html Knapp added: [Here are a few more points about the Minnesota registration law. there are both plusses and minuses to the way it's set up. The registration is $7 for three years for canoes and touring kayaks; however, there is currently an added $5 fee for all watercraft to fund the Eurasian Milfoil (a nuisance waterplant spread by powerboat props) cleanup and enforcement efforts. The $7 portion goes to a dedicated fund that has actually resulted over the years in a several thousand-mile network of access points and primitive campsites on over a dozen of the state's non-technical rivers. Excellent maps of these routes are available from the Minnesota DNR. These are a very underutilized resource and an excellent alternative to the crowded BWCA canoe wilderness for those who can figure out how to do a shuttle. The funding also provides for a staff person who has put in many hours of work on the Lake Superior Water Trail of Minnesota, a 150-mile section of the Lake Superior coastline. Unfortunately, the law also requires that watercraft not registered by other jurisdictions must obtain a Minnesota license before being used in the state- and this includes the BWCA and the Lake Superior Water Trail. Many irate out-of state visitors have run into trouble because of overzealous enforcement of this provision. Recently, the DNR has made it much easier to obtain the licenses from local parks, etc. but it still has a negative impact on our tourism image. The bottom line: if you can't prevent your state or province from licensing paddlecraft, make sure the money goes into a dedicated fund.] New Hampshire (Noyes): No fee. New Jersey (Pylka): Fee; amount unknown. New York (Joan Volin): No fee. Ohio (Boyd/Lammers): Fee: $20/3 years. Oregon (Kruger): No fees. Pennsylvania (Stauffer): No fee except: in State Park waters and for use of Fish and Boat Commission ramps. [State Park registration: $10 per year Fish & Boat Commission registration: $10 every two years. In addition, they attempt to collect sales tax (6%) on boats purchased from an out-of-state dealer. If you bought the boat from an individual, they do not attempt to collect sales tax unless the boat can accept a motor. On many of the big rivers, there are few launch facilities that are not owned or run by the fish commission. They tend to be the most convenient facilities and offer a fairly safe place to leave your car. For non-motorized craft, the park registration offers an alternative to the state registration covering only state park lakes but there is no tax collection associated with it.] Pennsylvania (Pylka): Fee: $12 every 2 years (Actually $5 per year but additional is issuers fee.) Texas (Lammers): No fee, with some local exceptions. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
--Gotta bring up something else in PA I was unaware of. I've had registration for some time so I just send in the biennial registration form and get the sticker back by mail. However, agents for the F&B Commission are allowed to set their own fees with no restrictions. This has been as much as $20 per boat!!!!! I was directed to a letter to the editor in the May 2000 Canoe & Kayak about this. Evidently, F&B has no interest in doing anything about it, saying normal market forces will ultimately bring this down. I don't believe it will happen, let alone that it could... Joe P. >Pennsylvania (Stauffer): No fee except: in State Park waters and for use of >Fish and Boat Commission ramps. >[State Park registration: $10 per year >Fish & Boat Commission registration: $10 every two years. In addition, >they attempt to collect sales tax (6%) on boats purchased from an >out-of-state dealer. If you bought the boat from an individual, they do >not attempt to collect sales tax unless the boat can accept a motor. >On many of the big rivers, there are few launch facilities that are not >owned or run by the fish commission. They tend to be the most convenient >facilities and offer a fairly safe place to leave your car. For >non-motorized craft, the park registration offers an alternative to the >state registration covering only state park lakes but there is no tax >collection associated with it.] > >Pennsylvania (Pylka): Fee: $12 every 2 years (Actually $5 per year but >additional is issuers fee.) > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> From: Dave Kruger <dkruger_at_pacifier.com> > At long last, I have gotten around to summarizing the input you all made re: > registraton fees your state demands for kayaks or other small paddlecraft. I > apologize for the long delay. Extended comments in [] were volunteered by the > source named after the state name. Thanks for doing this Dave. I know it was no small task, especially with contradicting input from some locations. This is very useful stuff. Cheers, Jackie *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Sun, 2 Jul 2000, Dave Kruger wrote: > New Hampshire (Noyes): No fee. According to my brother-in-law, who took a class from the NH DWR last week this is changing for 2001 :-( I'll try and get the paperwork and exact fee schedules from him. It sounded like the "stock" federal licensing - I recall $6 registration and $150 fine for not being registered. kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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