A lot of attention has gone to HB (House Bill) 639, which started out quite benignly, even adding some much needed powers to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission's ability to deal with derelict boats. It was then amended to include a '90 day and move' limitation on anchoring in Monroe County, the Florida Keys. Once you're boat had been in the same location for 90 days, you had to up anchor and move, according to some accounts, as much as five miles away.
That of course would cause incredible harm to the Keys' workforce and economy. Many Keys residents live aboard as there is no affordable housing in the Keys - well, not if you aren't a tourist, or very, very wealthy. On top of that, all the marinas are full (and that's presuming they're affordable which for many they aren't) and the moorings are also full.
As a result of the pushback from Keys' boaters, 639 has been amended to require that Monroe County install 300 moorings in the Key West area to accommodate those who would be affected by this bill before the 90 day limit can be enforced.
The end result, should 639 pass, is that the situation is now in the hands of local politicians and boaters. Keys' boaters are organized, and able to fight for their rights, and local politicians are aware of the issues. The likelihood of these moorings being installed anytime in the near future is fairly low, so that threat seems to be over. For now.
HB 1652/
S1337 are bills that would have ended overnight anchoring in several locations in North Miami, as well as North and South Lakes in Hollywood, and in Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale. Those last three are important 'staging' anchorages for cruisers heading to the Bahamas or further south.
Fortunately, these two bills are moribund and have not seen any committee action to move them forward.
The last two bills, HB 1515 and its companion in the Senate, S 1946, in my opinion present the real threat to boaters and cruisers.
These are the so called 'anchoring limitation area' bills which amend Florida Statute 327.4108. They propose to allow county governments in Florida to limit anchoring to 30 days in any designated "anchoring limitation area" - defined as up to 100 acres and to a maximum of 10% of a county's navigable waters.
There are significant problems with these bills. Disregarding the fact that these bills are a violation of the promise boaters were given in 2007 when Florida statute 327.60 was created, to wit, to disallow local governments any authority to enact anchoring legislation, there is no definition of "navigable waters".
The FWC has advised us that there is no data for any Florida county as to how much water is "navigable". There is in fact no definition of "navigable" in the bill, although an amendment, withdrawn, did attempt to make such a definition.
In addition to that, the FWC has informed me that they simply do not have the manpower to conduct the requisite surveys that would determine this information.
So tell me if you would, how do we know when that 10% limit has been reached in any county? We don't, we can't know, can we? On top of that, just what portions of the water are navigable? How do you define "navigable"? I and others have not been able to find a definition of the term in the Florida statutes.
Is it six inches, navigable for a canoe or SUP? Is it three feet, navigable for small powerboats? Or is it six feet and more, a depth useable to the vessels which this legislation will affect, since canoes and SUPs generally don't anchor overnight.
This being Florida, I won't say they never do, because, well, we're talking about Florida.
But it gets even more egregious, if you can imagine that. These bills state the following:
(b)1. For a vessel in an anchoring limitation area under subsection (2), upon an inquiry by a law enforcement officer or agency, a vessel owner or operator must be given an opportunity to provide proof that the vessel has not exceeded the limitations described in subsection (2).
Such proof may include any of the following:
a. Documentation showing that the vessel was in another location at least 1 mile away within a period of less than 30 days before the inquiry.
b. Electronic evidence, including, but not limited to, navigational devices or tracking devices that show the vessel was in another location at least 1 mile away within a period of less than 30 days before the inquiry.
2. If a vessel owner or operator fails or refuses to provide proof that the vessel has not exceeded the limitations described in subsection (2), the law enforcement officer or agency may issue a citation for a violation of this section.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this violate the Constitution? Isn't there this concept called "presumption of innocence"? Since when is it a citizen's obligation to prove s/he is innocent to avoid getting a citation?
That I am aware of, the only groups that are opposing these two bills are the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Marine Industries Association, and of course, the Cruisers Rights Network of North America, of which I am president.
The other boating organizations/businesses involved in this issue - the Seven Seas Cruising Association, the Marine Trawler Owners Association, the American Great Loop Cruising Association, Boat US and the publication, Waterway Guide (full disclosure, I worked as an editor for WG for over 10 years) are all in favour of these bills.
Beyond what I've noted above, just what other issues are there with these bills?
I'm glad you asked that.
Florida statute 327.4108 is the bill created in 2017 that ended our right to anchor overnight in Sunset Lake and most of the Venetian Causeway in Miami Beach, and Middle River in Fort Lauderdale. You can read more about that fiasco here.
Essentially, the legislature lied to boaters in 2016 and we lost the right to anchor overnight in those three areas. The boating groups dropped the ball on this, and we cruisers pay the price.
The current anchoring bills posit that ALAs (anchoring limitation areas) will be a maximum of 30 days out of six months. My question - and it should be yours also - is this: how long before 30 days becomes 15 days becomes one week becomes 72 hours?
How long before some county is given the right to ban all overnight anchoring? You know it's going to be demanded, and given what happened in 2017, how can any county or city be told 'no'? The precedent has been set.
How long before we return to the "wild west", as the late Claiborne Young called it, of a patchwork of anchoring rules across Florida?
Answer to all of the above? Not long at all.
The way these bills are written, the FWC is tasked with approving these ALA's. They have already indicated to myself and others that they don't want, and cannot handle, the additional workload of these bills. That is before adding in the requirement of surveying navigable waters and proposed ALAs, which they would be required to do to approve these new restrictions.
Oh, and have I mentioned that these bills clearly violate the Public Trust Doctrine, which states that the waters of the state of Florida are held in trust for the use of all?
So what would these bills actually do to cruisers like you and I?
Essentially, communities that want to eliminate anchoring in residential neighbourhoods will use them to remove boaters, shepherding them into areas that do not offend the homeowners. It is guaranteed that these locations will not be suitable for anchoring and will be inconvenient for shore access or local amenities.
But, you say, I can anchor for 30 days!
Yes, you can. Then the law rolls up in his/her police boat and demands you prove you haven't been there for 30 days. For whatever reason, you cannot prove this and you are forced to move, or get a citation to appear in court.
Can't happen? I had an assistant city attorney in a major east coast city tell me, back in 2007, that she would charge boaters under their local ordinance regardless of the terms of Florida Statute 327.60 and let them come to court to prove her wrong.
In the summer of 2020, the Chief of Police in Gulfport FL lied outright to me about the issue of their illegal enforcement of 327.60.
Just a few weeks ago, the City Attorney of a major Florida west coast city tried to BS me about whether their police were attempting to enforce their local and illegal anchoring ordinance.
So don't tell me it can't happen. It can, it has and it will. These people listen to their local taxpayers, not you and I, and really, what would you do? Fight, or move on?
This will affect every cruiser traveling in Florida who chooses to anchor.
In other words, these two proposed bills, 1515 and 1946, are a mess. They should be voted out of the House as poorly considered, poorly researched, and damaging to everyone's interests. While they seem reasonable at first glance, they are anything but.
Furthermore, they will be amended as time goes on to permit more, and more restrictive, limitations on anchoring. They will eliminate valuable anchorages that cruisers depend on to travel through Florida on their way to the Bahamas and elsewhere, or just to hang out in for a night or three as they explore the state.
Oh, but your boating organization - the SSCA, MTOA, AGLCA, Boat US, the Waterway Guide - they say it's all good, don't worry, be happy?
With the exception of the Waterway Guide, which was not then involved, they were all wrong in 2016, and all of them are wrong again today. Let me repeat that - they were all wrong. They blew it.
That statement is not going to make me any friends in that group - but since they can't stand me anyway because I don't fall in line with how they want to play this game, it's no loss. Someone has to speak the truth.
If you are a member of one of these organizations, you need to contact your president and fellow members and acquaint them with the facts as I've laid them out.
I promise you, they'll tell you I'm being a fear monger. They said that back in 2016. They'll tell you I don't know what I'm talking about.
They said that too back in 2016.
Demand that they show you where I am wrong. They can't. I've already seen them try.
We have very little time left to fight back against HB 1515 and S 1946. You need to step up and make your concerns known to your boating organizations, to your fellow boaters and to the legislators.
We have the emails and an email responder set up at the CRNNA's Facebook page for you to contact the legislators. Join us there for more information. Share this blog post far and wide with your groups and on your FB page so that other boaters become aware of what's going on. Even if you're not in Florida, you can speak out, you can help.
Lastly, what will the CRNNA do should these bills pass? We do have a plan, which will be to challenge these bills in court. According to lawyers I've spoken with, these bills are very vulnerable to a legal challenge on numerous fronts. I'd rather not have to go that route, so let's do what we need to do and stop these bills now.
