Bill Text: FL S0958 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Airboats

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-14 - Unfavorable by Environmental Preservation and Conservation, laid on Table; YEAS 2 NAYS 5 -SJ 518 [S0958 Detail]

Download: Florida-2012-S0958-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 958
       
       
       
       By Senator Oelrich
       
       
       
       
       14-00655B-12                                           2012958__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to airboats; amending s. 327.391,
    3         F.S.; requiring the Fish and Wildlife Conservation
    4         Commission to establish a voluntary sound-testing
    5         program for airboats; allowing airboats that test
    6         below a specified sound level to be operated on all
    7         navigable waters of the state, including waterways on
    8         which airboats are prohibited by local ordinance;
    9         requiring a fee; providing testing requirements;
   10         amending s. 327.60, F.S.; requiring a super majority
   11         vote to enact certain ordinances regulating airboats;
   12         amending s. 327.65, F.S., relating to muffling devices
   13         on vessels; conforming provisions to changes made by
   14         the act; providing an effective date.
   15  
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 327.391, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   19  read:
   20         327.391 Airboats regulated.—
   21         (1) The exhaust of every internal combustion engine used on
   22  any airboat operated on the waters of this state shall be
   23  provided with an automotive-style factory muffler, underwater
   24  exhaust, or other manufactured device capable of adequately
   25  muffling the sound of the exhaust of the engine as described in
   26  s. 327.02(24). The use of cutouts or flex pipe as the sole
   27  source of muffling is prohibited, except as provided in
   28  subsection (4). Any person who violates this subsection commits
   29  a noncriminal infraction punishable as provided in s. 327.73(1).
   30         (2) An airboat operator cited for an infraction of
   31  subsection (1) may not operate the airboat until a muffler as
   32  defined in s. 327.02 is installed.
   33         (3) An airboat may not operate on the waters of the state
   34  unless it is equipped with a mast or flagpole bearing a flag at
   35  a height of at least 10 feet above the lowest portion of the
   36  vessel. The flag must be square or rectangular, at least 10
   37  inches by 12 inches in size, international orange in color, and
   38  displayed so that the visibility of the flag is not obscured in
   39  any direction. Any person who violates this subsection commits a
   40  noncriminal infraction punishable as provided in s. 327.73(1).
   41         (4) This section does not apply to a person participating
   42  in an event for which a permit is required, or of which notice
   43  must be given, under s. 327.48.
   44         (5)(a) The commission shall establish a voluntary testing
   45  program to conduct sound level tests on airboats.
   46         (b) An airboat that tests at a sound level of 107 dB A or
   47  less while traveling on plane from a distance of 100 feet shall
   48  be issued a certificate and numbered decal by the commission
   49  which authorizes the airboat to be operated on all navigable
   50  waterways of this state, including waterways on which airboats
   51  are prohibited by a local ordinance or other provision of law.
   52         (c) A person must pay a fee, not to exceed the
   53  administration costs of the commission, established by the
   54  commission after consultation with experts in the industry, to a
   55  testing facility that has been certified by the commission to
   56  use sound test equipment and testing methods pursuant to this
   57  paragraph. Tests must meet the following requirements:
   58         1. Each test shall be conducted while the airboat is
   59  traveling on plane in water 1 foot deep or less from a distance
   60  of 100 feet perpendicular to the fixed-in-place testing
   61  equipment, as measured from the closest edge of the airboat; and
   62         2. Test equipment shall be calibrated to allow for ambient
   63  noise, weather, and other factors that may interfere with an
   64  accurate and reliable reading.
   65         Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 327.60, Florida
   66  Statutes, is amended to read:
   67         327.60 Local regulations; limitations.—
   68         (2) Nothing in this chapter or chapter 328 shall be
   69  construed to prevent the adoption of any ordinance or local
   70  regulation relating to operation of vessels, except that a
   71  county or municipality may shall not enact, continue in effect,
   72  or enforce any ordinance or local regulation:
   73         (a) Establishing a vessel or associated equipment
   74  performance or other safety standard, imposing a requirement for
   75  associated equipment, or regulating the carrying or use of
   76  marine safety articles;
   77         (b) Relating to the design, manufacture, installation, or
   78  use of any marine sanitation device on any vessel;
   79         (c) Regulating any vessel upon the Florida Intracoastal
   80  Waterway;
   81         (d) Discriminating against personal watercraft;
   82         (e) Discriminating against airboats that do not bear a
   83  decal issued pursuant to s. 327.391(5), for ordinances adopted
   84  after July 1, 2006, unless adopted by a two-thirds vote of the
   85  governing body enacting such ordinance;
   86         (f) Regulating the anchoring of vessels other than live
   87  aboard vessels outside the marked boundaries of mooring fields
   88  permitted as provided in s. 327.40;
   89         (g) Regulating engine or exhaust sound noise, except as
   90  provided in s. 327.65; or
   91         (h) That conflicts with any provisions of this chapter or
   92  any amendments thereto or rules adopted thereunder.
   93         Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 327.65, Florida
   94  Statutes, is amended to read:
   95         327.65 Muffling devices.—
   96         (2)(a) Any county wishing to impose additional noise
   97  pollution and exhaust regulations on vessels may, pursuant to s.
   98  327.60(2), adopt by county ordinance the following regulations:
   99         1. Except as provided in s. 327.391(5), a no person may not
  100  shall operate or give permission for the operation of any vessel
  101  on the waters of any county or on a specified portion of the
  102  waters of any county, including the Florida Intracoastal
  103  Waterway, which has adopted the provisions of this section in
  104  such a manner as to exceed the following sound levels at a
  105  distance of 50 feet from the vessel: for all vessels, a maximum
  106  sound level of 90 dB A.
  107         2. Except as provided in s. 327.391(5), any person who
  108  refuses to submit to a sound level test when requested to do so
  109  by a law enforcement officer commits is guilty of a misdemeanor
  110  of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s.
  111  775.083.
  112         (b) The following words and phrases, when used in this
  113  section, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them
  114  in this subsection.
  115         1. “dB A” means the composite abbreviation for the A
  116  weighted sound level and the unit of sound level, the decibel.
  117         2. “Sound level” means the A-weighted sound pressure level
  118  measured with fast response using an instrument complying with
  119  the specification for sound level meters of the American
  120  National Standards Institute, Inc., or its successor bodies,
  121  except that only a weighting and fast dynamic response need be
  122  provided.
  123         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.