State Reciprocity for

Boating Safety Education

The Reciprocity Challenge

If Ed comes to Florida with his NASBLA boating safety course completion card from Louisiana – can he operate a boat in Florida?

What if he travels to Rhode Island?

Provide models and standards that foster best practices and uniformity among the

states and territories.

2014 Education and Outreach Subcommittee

How do states treat boating visitors to their state

Are there enough similarities between the states commonalities for NASBLA to formulate a general recommendation on how states’ address visiting boaters?

2014 Reciprocity Survey

Question 11: Does your state exempt NON-RESIDENTS from having to meet your state's mandatory boating education requirements?

6.5%

30.4%

63.0%

Yes, always

Yes, with limitations (explain limitations be-low)

No

Question 14: If applicable, what information is required on an out-of-state education

certificate for acceptance in your state?

Various responses include: The NASBLA approval logo Operator photograph, name, DOB,

issuing state Course provider if not state issued Physical characteristics

Question 17: Does your state accept Canada's Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC) to meet

your mandatory education requirement?

40.0%

24.4%

35.6%

Yes, always

Yes, with limitations (explain limitations below)

No

Question 18: Does your state accept a boating education certificate from another country, other than Canada, to meet your mandatory education requirement (i.e., certificate issued under United Nations Resolution 40)?

16.7%

38.1%

45.2%

Yes, always

Yes, with limitations (explain limitations below)

No

Question 3: “If a boater can produce proof of having successfully completed any NASBLA-approved

boating education course, then that boater’s education course completion will be considered acceptable when

operating a boat in any other state.”

73%

14%

7%

6%

I support this draft statement as written.I support this draft statement in concept, but believe the lan-guage should be revised (ex-plain below).I neither support nor oppose this draft statement as written.I do not support this draft statement as written (explain below).

Top 10Lakes in the US (By Surface Area)

Top 10Lakes in the US (By Surface Area)

Lake Superior Lake Huron Lake Michigan Lake Erie Lake Ontario Great Salt Lake Lake of the Woods (Minnesota) Iliamna Lake (Alaska) Lake Oahe (North Dakota and South Dakota) Lake Okeechobee (Florida)

National Boaters Survey from 2012 (Fact Sheet from 2015)

15.4% of 3,584 million exposure hours were spent on out-of-state boats (550 million exposure hours)

Boating Accident data from the BARD database revealed that 18.4% of the boat operators involved in boating accidents reside outside of the state where the accident took place.

Next Steps

2015 NASBLA Committee Work Finalize NASBLA membership position (white

paper) on reciprocity for Visiting Boaters Update NASBLA Mandatory Education Model Act to

reflect this position Reciprocity statement for visiting boaters for states

with existing mandatory education to consider Interactive Reciprocity Map for NASBLA reference

materials (on NABLA website)

Things to Watch For

USCG Trust Fund Re-Authorization Act for 2016 Would put in place a national recreational vessel

operator education requirement Specifies that “an operator of a vessel with a

certificate, card, or other proof of successful completion, issued by the appropriate State agency in the State in which the vessel is numbered, then such operator shall be entitled to operate lawfully such vessel equipped in any State.”

Let’s make it easy on Ed.

Let’s tell Ed, that as long as he has a NASBLA approved boating safety course completion card, he can visit any state and boat with confidence that he will have a great vacation!