How new laws will reshape boating in Florida
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Changes to Florida's boating laws are on the horizon.
Why it matters: The Sunshine State is home to the most boats in the nation, with just over a million registered last year, and also sees the most accidents on the water: 685 in 2024.
- Pinellas ranks fourth in the state for boating accidents, with 42 reported last year. Six resulted in fatalities, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Dive in: DeSantis signed a handful of boating bills Monday, one of which he championed as the "Boater Freedom Act." The bill, SB 1388, requires officers to have probable cause to pull over boaters.
- SB 1388 also bars local governments from limiting the use or sale of boats based on their power source, such as gas-powered boats.
- HB 481 allows counties with more than 1.5 million people, like Miami-Dade and Hillsborough, to limit boats from anchoring overnight for more than 30 days in a six-month period.
- HB 735 directs the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission to create and manage competitive grant programs for the construction and maintenance of boat ramps, piers, docks and more.
What's next: The Legislature also sent DeSantis a bill, HB 289, that would raise penalties for leaving the scene of a boating crash that resulted in death, injuries or property damage.
- HB 289 sets a four-year minimum sentence for a boating under the influence (BUI) manslaughter conviction and makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to give a false statement to officers after a crash.
The intrigue: Lawmakers had proposed expanding the state's boater education requirement to all operators as well as suspending driver licenses for BUI convictions, but neither made it to the final version.